Good nutrition is necessary for organ development and functioning and is the basis for optimum health. Healthy eating and regular exercise will contribute to reducing your risk of many diseases including Syndrome X, diabetes, heart disease and high cholesterol - as well as helping to increase longevity, maintaining weight and overall wellbeing   Good nutrition means stronger immune systems and that means we will be able to ward off illness. 

People who follow a daily routine of good nutrition and exercise develop a lifetime of habits that will help keep them healthy throughout their years.

INCORRECT DIET

Unfortunately production and agriculture have brought with it chemicals, refined sugars, refined flours, refined vegetable oils, fast foods and dis-ease.  Incorrect diet and other factors such as environmental toxins, excess drugs/alcohol and the like, will influence your health. 

The statement that ''it is not how much you eat, but what you eat that's important'' has never been more true.

Excerpt from Dr Cabot’s Syndrome X book

‘’We have evolved for hundreds of thousands of years, subsisting on a cave man’s diet of meat, fish and vegetables and fruits – in other words totally unprocessed and low in refined carbohydrates’’. 

Food is essential for the human body to provide us with energy and nutrients. Nutrients in our daily diets can be best described as carbohydrates, fats and proteins along with vitamins/minerals and water.  A balanced diet should provide you with these nutrients. 

WHAT ARE CARBOHYDRATES, PROTEIN, FATS, VITAMINS AND MINERALS?

• Carbohydrates are your body's main energy source. You will find these in your fruit, salad and vegetables as well as pasta, rice, bread etc. Today, food keeps getting faster and faster, and we are getting slower and slower. If you eat too many carbohydrates the excess will be stored as body fat. By reducing your carbohydrate content your body will be able to burn fat more efficiently. See “Can’t Lose Weight? Unlock The Secrets That KEEP You Fat” book showing you which carbohydrates are best for weight control, including the 12 week metabolic weight loss eating plan for those of you who want to lose weight. 

• Protein is the main constituent of body cells and is essential to your skin, bones, muscles and other body tissues. Protein can be either animal or vegetable such as white meat, red meat, seafood, oily fish, eggs, tofu, tempeh etc. Men may find their daily requirement of protein to be higher than that of women.

• Fats help absorb vitamins, maintain cell membranes and also provide energy for our bodies. There are different types of fats such as saturated and unsaturated fat. When we look at the diets of people who lived in the early 1900's, we find that the amount of fat in the daily diet was generally higher than it is today. The main type of fats were butter, lard and tallow. However, they DID NOT eat the trans-fatty acids that bulk up the processed foods we eat today.

• Saturated fat – this is the one you should avoid - and is most often found in animal products, such as red meat, poultry, butter and whole milk.

• Unsaturated fat - this is most often found in vegetable products, such as olive and sunflower oils, olives, avocados and so on.

• Trans-fatty acids – today, large amounts are consumed of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils that contain trans-fatty acids. Trans-fatty acids are completely unnatural and are widely found in our diet, replacing the natural essential fatty acids. It is the consumption of trans-fatty acids, as well as excessive amounts of refined carboydrates, that have caused people to become fatter over the last century.

• Minerals are naturally occurring inorganic elements essential for good health and normal body functions.

• Vitamins are organic substances essential for many body processes and are categorised as either fat soluble or water soluble.

• Water is essential for body cleansing and daily energy. Besides drinking water, we can also obtain water from foods such as milk, eggs, vegetables, fruit, cereals and bread.  Without water, we would die.

WHAT SHOULD I EAT?

If you eat a diet that includes; wheatgerm, nuts/seeds/legumes, a variety of fresh vegetables and fresh fruits, vegetable oils and oily fish, you should be getting sufficient vitamins. So try to consume more fresh raw foods and avoid refined sugars, table salt and fried fatty foods. Limit your alcohol, coffee and other stimulants.

The best bet is to get your vitamin and mineral needs from the food you eat.  So; if your diet is one that avoids fruit, salad and vegetables, and has a high intake of white bread, coffee, soft drink and pies etc., then after time your body may not be able to fight against disease. This is when you are likely to suffer with dis-ease.

A healthy liver keeps the body clean protecting the immune system from overload and is essential for efficient metabolism and body weight control.  If you want to read more about your liver, and bowel, see  “The Healthy Liver & Bowel” book which outlines the vital healthy eating principles found on pages 20-30. These principles can be followed for life.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS

• Raw Juicing Can Save Your Life is an A-Z medical guide to juicing which includes helpful supplements to assist you with your condition.
• The Liver Cleansing Diet Book has wonderful liver cleansing recipes. Recipes are designed and tested by Audrey Tea.

DO I NEED VITAMINS?

It is believed that illness and dis-ease can be attributed to dietary deficiencies. Vitamins and minerals are nutritional substances which can be beneficial to our wellbeing and are used as food to supplement the diet, making up for insufficiencies in our modern foods. High doses are often used for therapeutic value and sometimes may be needed, particularly in our older years.

If you consume a diet high in refined and processed foods, you may not be getting your full vitamin and mineral needs each day.  This is when a multi vitamin and mineral supplement will be needed as eventually vitamin deficiency will catch up.  Multi vitamin and mineral formulas specifically designed for women and men are readily available on the market, but remember, vitamin supplements should not replace a balanced diet.

If you are going to supplement your diet with vitamins and minerals it is vital to know when and how to take them, to both extract the most value from them and avoid gastrointestinal upset.  If you are unsure as to what vitamins and minerals you may need due to poor diet or recent illness click here for one of Dr Cabot's Online support team practitioners who will assess your needs for you.  

For more information on vitamin deficiency, see our A-Z medical conditions guide - click here

SPECIAL NEEDS