For a while now I’ve been mulling over how all the parts of my life fit together and essentially how I as a human being can become more at one with the life support system all around all of us, particularly in the nutrition department. We aren’t evolved to put anything in our bodies that has been excessively processed and doesn’t naturally compost – which in all honesty is just people trying to make money at the expense of our wellbeing and health. No matter how good junk food may taste, it is killing us slowly and is designed to be addictive. As a society we need to break the cycle and reject it.
Growing food was my immediate response to the nutrition factor. A noble cause but when you get down to the nitty gritty, we still buy flour, rice and a whole host of other stuff (including heavily processed rubbish). You can only eat so much food, and each piece of bread I eat, is a vegetable I don’t eat out of the garden. I’m trying to make it so that as much of my diet as possible is chemical free, nutrient dense, great food grown here at home.
Two films (on YouTube) that Lou and I watched this week really got me thinking afresh about all this. Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead is the story of Joe Cross (an Australian) going on a 60-day fruit & vegetable juice only diet and losing about 45kg in the process. Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead 2, is about how you keep healthy in a decidedly unhealthy world. Both films concentrate on the weight loss aspect a lot as this is the visually obvious change in Joe as the first film progresses.
However, the other major benefit of this body Reboot, as Joe is now promoting it, is that as your body is flooded with all the good stuff, it starts to naturally respond and heal various other maladies. Joe, and also another guy the films focus on, Phil, were cured of an autoimmune disease. Another lady who just did a 10 day Reboot cured debilitating migraine headaches. Numerous other people highlighted in the second movie reported a host of other complaints disappeared after a period on the juice only diet. You don’t have to do 60 days, any amount of time is great, your body will love you for it and will let you know it is on the mend.
I noticed myself when I went vegan that I feel so much better than before. Meat and dairy is particularly difficult for the body to process and not having it in the system is noticeable. I feel lighter and more on the ball. I’m not saying everyone should quit meat, but in my humble opinion, eating it every meal, or even every day, as most people are drawn towards is not a good thing at all. I have noticed that the energy my body expended to get meat and dairy through the system was taking away from my general wellbeing and vitality.
Coming back to the point – garden produce and using it. Citrus fruit, kale, dandelions, parsley, Lebanese cress, silverbeet, nasturtium all grow exceptionally well in my garden and all the leafy greens are easy to propagate myself and don’t cost me a cent. They also happen to be exceptionally nutritious, and rats generally don’t eat them. A massive bonus.
It is a beautiful coincidence that these ingredients could also be the basis for a daily juice replacing one meal a day that would otherwise be ‘imported’ from elsewhere. All the other produce I grow such as tomatoes, yacon, bananas, carrots, ginger, beetroot, peas, beans can also be a part of the juicing process when available. How could this not be a massive boost for our family’s health and future wellbeing? One meal a day equates to 33% of the average daily intake coming straight from the garden and going down my cake hole in a nutrient friendly form. I might have to dream up some other vernacular than ‘cake hole’ for healthy eating purposes.
It does mention in one of the films that some people are replacing one or two meals a day with smoothies or juices on an ongoing basis. This leaves them free to eat something not so nutritionally awesome for the other meal a day. It also leaves them guilt free if they pig out at Christmas or a family party – assuming a return back to good old smoothies the following morning. Really cranking the health up and having two smoothies a day from the garden would reduce the grocery bill (and our medical bills) by a significant amount. 66% of your daily diet coming straight out of your garden with no third party shipping, packaging and processing is a massive achievement in anyone’s book. I’m inspired and confident it’s realistic! Let’s Grow Shopping…..
