Natural body repair

Over the Easter holidays I had time to catch up on YouTube videos of Dr. William Li, Dr. Mark Hyman and Jonathan of Zoe channel on Science and Nutrition. Since I have been an unofficial “diet police” to some friends who wish to be advised, I thought it would be good to learn more tips and hacks to good eating.

Although coffee is already touted to be a good anti-oxidant, I learned a lot about matcha tea, too. Apparently, it has a lot of polyphenols which our body needs for repair. But guess what? As if adding insult to injury, consumption of ultra-processed food like chips and canned goods stop your body from absorbing the polyphenols. What a waste to spend on yogurt, real honey and fruits only to be negated by fast food choices, chips and canned processed food. Once in a while is not bad, Dr. Li says, but not as an everyday habit.

The body is a smart machine, as we all know. It can repair damage and can send text messages from gut to heart to brain. It is amazing to listen to scientists who explain it ever so clearly on how kimchi, sauerkraut, atchara and other fermented food can do wonders for our gut. The gut makes the heart healthy. And a healthy heart makes for a healthy brain. The heart also releases hormones that affect your brain and vice versa. So, they say these three areas – gut, heart and brain – all talk to each other, but only with proper nutrition and good sleep.

They emphasize that the body needs sleep to clear out toxins because the lymphatic system only works while we are sleeping. So if you are short on sleep, your body is not able to “clean out” toxins. And another warning: if you consumed alcohol, your body will not get a good sleep or deep REM sleep. We know that, don’t we? If we have had a night of drinking, our sleep is “shallow” and not restful.

The doctors believe every disease is reversible – dementia, heart disease, even cancer – if we eat right and allow the body to heal itself. But some physicians, I am sorry to say, do not ascribe to healing by nutrition and simply dispense medications but do not spend time explaining these facts. They say to cancer patients: eat anything you want. Which is completely wrong. Cancer patients can starve their cancer by avoiding sugar, processed foods and red meats. They can instead choose organic vegetables and fruits, seafood to get Omega-3 and lots of beans and legumes for protein. These whole foods and natural foods starve cancer cells and cause their inability to multiply. Coupled with targeted therapy which is now available for most cancers, the disease can now be on maintenance drugs just like any lifestyle disease, plus add nutritious food and sleep. And voila! You may be living to a hundred to claim your prize from the Office of Senior Citizen Affairs or OSCA.

Heart disease patients can try and heal themselves with correct nutrition, too. Omega-3-rich seafood like sardines and salmon (natural, not farmed) are best for heart health. If the heart is healthy, it releases happy hormones for the brain, he says. Less fried food, less saturated fat is also a habit that is healthy for the heart. Dr. Mark Hyman prescribes a pegan diet for those who have issues – it’s paleo plus plant-based choices. So you can eat dairy (except milk from cows), eat meat but only grass-fed, other free range meats and lots of tree nuts and olive oil like in the Mediterranean diets.

For Zoe’s Jonathan Wolf, he has scientists explaining the relationship between science and nutrition in his podcast. None of these scientists promote any supplements or brands. They simply explain how the body can heal itself if we eat the right food choices. Eat well and live well has always been my mantra. Even with genetics giving us the propensity to get what are now known as lifestyle diseases, we can change the course of our genetic predisposition by not eating what our parents ate so much of. My mother ate a lot of pork and fat but lived to be 93 years old. She also ate a lot of chili (which burns brown fat) and plenty of vegetables and fruits. Our Dad was not so lucky as he developed all the lifestyle issues from smoking, a little scotch here and there and not much active exercise. He went away at 67 years, a little too young, because the advances in medicine were not yet available when he got health issues.

Today, we have lots of choices on how to heal ourselves or keep ourselves healthy and well with no issues, and hopefully no medication needed, except good food. All we need to do is try and heed these scientists’ advice – eat whole foods, avoid processed food, avoid saturated fat, avoid trans fats and choose organic. They said that pesticides kill bugs and pests but also kill the good stuff in fruits and vegetables. The polyphenols from fruits are also removed when we spray them with pesticides. More reason to choose organic.

There are so many videos and content from these esteemed experts which are easy to watch. I was gifted last Christmas with Dr. William Li’s book – “Eat to Beat Disease” and I learned he wrote another best seller, “Eat to Beat our Diet” in 2023. Both books are a “nice to have” in your kitchen or coffee table, to better remind you that eating well is not about buying expensive imported treats but buying whole foods, dark chocolate (at least 70 percent), cacao nibs, fresh fruits in season and yogurt. It would also be good to find sources of organic vegetables and grass-fed beef if you want to still enjoy an occasional steak.

Every choice is from natural food sources. Make a note of that.