Eat Fruit!

Last weekend I was fortunate and absolutely delighted to attend and participate
in the first annual retreat on Gemmotherapy, hosted by my dear friend and the best advocate, teacher, and Gemmotherapist in the United States, Lauren Hubele.  It was a wonderful experience in a sublime setting of forested trees and meadowed grounds, complete with meals of plant-based deliciousness.  I came away with a raised level in my consciousness regarding the healing powers of trees, and fruits and vegetables.  As a homeopath, I rarely coach people on diets, except my close family members since I make it a point to practice what I preach.  Other than saying eat organic and whole foods as close to the source as possible when asked, I used to never offer any other specific direction when it came to the choices people made for food.  But, over the years, after working with many chronic issues, sensitivities, allergies, and cases of environmental toxicity, my understanding of how food plays a role in the human body has grown tremendously, especially in the last 3 years since I have embraced the incredibly powerful cleaning and drainage principles of Gemmotherapy.  As with everything, there is a correct method and application to the use of Gemmotherapy.  It absolutely works wonders at the hands of the right practitioner who knows and understands the lymphatic system, and the acid-alkaline chemistry inside the body.  In all this, FOOD plays a very important role in establishing, maintaining and supporting a balanced chemical environment inside the body, affecting all organ systems and their function, and of course, the microbiome.

The internet is abuzz with a plethora of food blogs, and dietary practices.  As more and more people are catching the drift of unpleasant side-effects of prescription medications not to mention their severe limitations, the lure of being able to fix their ailments with Food is very attractive for many.  It makes sense to get back to the basics, eating right, as they say.  After all, you are what you eat.  While all that is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (to borrow from my 9 year old’s vocabulary), I believe that there still exists a huge gap in the understanding of body chemistry, and what different types of foods do inside the body.  In short, you can end up merely stimulating or shifting the symptoms around with a particular diet, without really moving to the next level in the ever-elusive game of healing and health (that we are all playing) mistakenly thinking that you have healed a certain condition by eating a certain way.  My reaction used to be – “Wow, excellent that you have healed your ailment, abdominal pain, with food (a certain diet)!”  And, then invariably they would reply – “Yes, it’s great!  But, now I have this crazy skin symptom, whiteheads all over my face, and that’s what I am here for.”   Now, when I hear a successful dietary story, my question always is – “So, what are your new (or unresolved) symptoms?”  And, I can almost accurately guess what those new (or unresolved) symptoms might be based on whether they have been eating vegan or paleo or weston price, or GAPS, or some kind of intense weight-loss diet.  Well, let’s just say that I have started to have a general idea since I can’t really predict what the exact conglomeration of symptoms a body of a person will produce when backed into a corner, without really knowing their susceptibilities first.

In my experience, and my view point, food should be consumed to nourish and clean appropriately to keep a body healthy on a daily basis.  Each food category has a role to play in these different functions of nurture and drainage.  No-brainer so far, right?  We have all heard about carbs, and fats, and protein as broad food categories.  And, we have heard how important fruits and vegetables are when it comes to providing vital minerals to the body.  However, in this day and age, with widespread industrialized agriculture, and increased environmental toxins, plastics, etc. drainage plays a very important role to keep a body healthy.  In fact, foods that assist that function has gained, or should gain, top priority.  Everyone by now has figured out that “detox” is the new health mantra.  Detox, detox, detox.  Intense green juice fasts, elimination diets, whole 30, etc. are all geared towards following a relatively clean diet for a short period of time before reverting back to the “norm”.  But, it can take months and years to drain and clean organ systems.  I say keep it simple and consistent and persistent, make it a way of life.  Figure out your eating plan in such a way that you are accomplishing your cleaning goals DAILY.  That’s where FRUIT comes in.  

The astringent quality of the fruits makes it the most potent food group that is able to accomplish the goals of cleansing and cellular restoration, no matter what type of chronic ailment you have.  Even more than leafy greens and vegetables.  Actually, vegetables are builders, not detoxifiers.  When you understand how the lymphatic system works and the related acid-base chemistry that is at the core of diffusion and osmosis and fluid flow in our bodies, it makes sense.   I am aware that there is a big debate in the health care world when it comes to fruits because some still consider it as sugar and therefore bad for the body, and instead green juices are at the core of most detox regimens out there.  Protein is another focus of hot debate in the same communities and are featured in many auto-immune healing diets along with the vegetables.  Something doesn’t quite add up there given that proteins are nitrogen-based compounds and therefore acid-generating when metabolized.  It has to beg the question – how is that going to heal in the long run?

In the diet recommendations on my website, I aim to provide a balanced approach as I recognize that it is never a one size fits all paradigm…. with admittedly significantly different food ratios than what is considered popular, because of what I have seen in my own practice and the results achieved, or not achieved.  Simply put, a high protein diet is acidic to the body, and therefore significantly decreases lymphatic flow creating blockage and eventually inflammation.  Protein is a stimulator and will make things better in the short term, but eventually there will arise new symptoms of blockage, such as abdominal pain giving way to unsightly whiteheads on the face.  Skin after all is considered our third kidney, and guess what, the main organs of lymphatic drainage are the kidneys!  On another note, while vegetables are a wonderful food category and provides the many necessary vitamins needed by the body, however, it is still lacking in power when it comes to cleaning, it needs the astringent power of fruits to do that.  Many people who follow a vegetable juice diet often get good results as it makes the body stronger, but they often will reach a plateau, if deeper work is needed.  Fruits are it, the main food to use when it comes to drainage and detoxification.

SO, EAT FRUITS.  But, not just willy nilly as a garnish or a small appetizer before the big meal.  The key to eating fruits is to do so alone, without mixing with other food groups.  I can not emphasize enough how important this is.  Don’t add blueberries to your oatmeal, or to your yogurt (wait, are you still eating dairy?), or add protein powder to a fruit smoothie.  No, no, no.  Fruit digests far quicker than proteins or fats or other complex carbohydrates such as grains, that means when you combine them, the fruit sugars just sit in the stomach for a long time and ferment while waiting for the protein to get digested, and not only is that a cause of digestive distress for many, it loses the basic chemistry needed to pull the waste out of the lymph.  Instead it gives an opportunity for the candida in your system to flare.  Here is a great and thorough video by Dr. Robert Morse – An open debate about fruit sugar, in response to Dr. Brian Clement’s stance on modern fruit being hybridized, and unripe and hence not good for the body.  A bit long, but great information if you are interested in understanding how body chemistry works, and how the lymphatic system works, which is nothing but actually the sewer system of the body.  It is also very important for me to mention and add a word of caution at this point, that if you now feel inspired by the power of fruits, that you should NOT switch to eating it exclusively cold turkey.  It is always a good idea to make changes slowly, and see how your body feels.  Unless, you are very sick already to begin with, then the faster you remove the sickening foods (aka acid-generating foods) from your menu, starting with the animal proteins, the better.  A simple example:  if you are in an acute state of inflammation with the flu say, consuming an all fruit diet will certainly make you feel better sooner, as the body is already in that detoxification mode, and is asking for the lymphatic drainage to happen, which the fruits are more than equipped to help accomplish.

So, there you have it.  Eat fruits, plenty of them.  Eat them for breakfast, first thing in the morning to jump start the alkalizing effect.  It is one of the best things you can do for yourself and for your health.  Find the synergy within.

UPDATE: In response to feedback from some people who claim that their bodies do not tolerate fruit well, that some symptoms get exacerbated or they get some new symptoms… please know that it is not the fruits that is the problem. Going on a fruit diet will EXPOSE the weaknesses in the body that needs to be addressed.  Eating a high protein or fat diet may take away or calm those symptoms, but, only to have them appear on deeper more chronic level.  If your body can not tolerate fruit well, be sure that it is not tolerating any other food well.