What is your diet philosophy? Do you have a dietary ‘code’ or style of eating which you tend to live by?… There’s everything trending from Fruitarians to Dukan Dietarians these days! Which is the best diet I wonder? Is there an ultimate nutrition scheme which will be effective for everyone & anyone? There are as many different food pyramids as there are personal diet choices. How can we construct the ultimate food plan for our unique needs from day to day?

I have people ask me, ‘are you a raw-foodist?’ Yes, I am. I lived the 100% ‘raw foodie’ lifestyle for a period of almost 2 years in which time I grew wheatgrass & sunflower sprouts, juiced ferociously, made seed cheeses, sprouted breads, tasty dressings (essential for tasty raw cuisine), delicious raw milkshakes & smoothies, linseed crackers (recipe still to come!) of all kinds, raw dips, soups, seaweed salads & chips & almond milk kefir & raw desserts, lots of varied raw chocolate recipes of course & every imaginable raw delicacy. I aimed to perfect raw living while achieving optimum nutrition & ‘alkalinity‘ & I managed to keep myself very very busy doing it! Yes you don’t have to cook, but you do have to plan ahead, & spend quite a bit of time in the kitchen if you want to be sure of getting all the nutrients you need for healthy hair, skin, nails, teeth & bones & supporting the various bodily systems. I’m still mostly what you’d refer to as a raw foodist. Only I have since learned things which I feel has improved my personal health journey without compromising my understanding of the alkaline/acid balance within the body. So to answer the question I’m a raw foodist+!

A thought provoking book to check out is Dr D’Adamo’s Eat Right 4 Your Type which dares to suggest that many of our health conditions/ailments are directly related to us upsetting our unique physiological make-up according to our blood type. By simply eating or not eating the foods which interfere with or best suit that blood type we can be healthy, or sick! I’ve learned a lot from this book although I don’t agree with absolutely everything in it, & have found it to be an excellent addition to my healthy library! So, as a blood type ‘O’ I appreciate the value of quality protein (he suggests a lot of meat for type O’s) & supplement my mostly raw diet with poached organic eggs, & occasionally fresh locally caught fish cooked simply & served with my green rice salad. Very balancing foods for type O’s & people with autoimmune conditions. There’s lots & lots to learn here & I try to keep learning as I find the time to read

Let’s also consider seasonal eating. You can read my post about seasonal fasting & there’s so much more! Consider the seasons, if we were to rely wholly upon what we could grow in them locally there would be an appropriate time & place, when you consider months of extreme cold or hot, where preserved foods, cultured foods (will enlarge cultured foods for health in a later article) & all manner of dried foods & even cooked foods come in extremely useful in maintaining a healthy balanced diet. Mmm & there’s nothing quite like a bowl of steaming vegetable soup in Winter with a fresh slice of homemade sourdough bread!

I loved the story of the Hunza people in ‘Hunza land’ (in Pakistan) & I have a book about them. Their roof-dried apricots, mountain water & long long lives in the beauty of nature! Sadly they’ve been bombarded since with so many Westerners seeking to discover the Hunza’s secrets who have left behind their own bad habits in exchange! Amongst other damage. To eat fruits, vegetables & as much as we can in season is the best way to secure optimum nutrition from fresh foods. Unprocessed foods which have been preserved by drying & preserving are also excellent for supplementing the diet in the off-seasons & this has been done with positive results in the health of many nations for thousands of years.

Another slant on diet I’ve found to be extremely beneficial to me is an anti-fungal style of eating as a temporary detoxifying programme. Lots of legumes, loads of garlic, plenty of green foods, very little in the way of grains, excluding sugars of any kind including dried fruits/honey & even fresh fruit. Including plenty of cultured foods such as sauerkraut (shall share simple recipe soon) to restore healthy bacteria within the digestive tract, this is a very strict & yet healing diet which is highly useful for strengthening the immune system, fighting candida, working to relieve auto-immune conditions & even according to some sources, inhibiting the growth of cancer. I’ve found it incredible! Powerful & restorative.

Then again, isn’t it interesting to think of peoples who have grains as the bulk of their diet & yet are super-healthy?… Like the chinese for instance. Lots of rice, lots of vegetables. We can learn so much from many varied cultures. Simplicity & keeping food as close to nature as possible is so understated & so relevant!

There’s so much more to discuss but I must end now… basically, I’m a vegetarian & incorporate all of the above & more. Mostly I tend to lean more on being vegan & a raw food vegan at that, but I do supplement my diet with extra protein if I feel the need, also superfoods (another paragraph needed) daily…& I feel best when I’ve had lots of green foods. I find my above mentioned green rice salad amazing for my body! If I was working really hard physically every day I know I’d be having more protein, grains & building foods. Think about what your body needs, don’t count calories, count NUTRIENTS, & fill yourself up accordingly! A basic little nutrition book I recently bought for my daughter is Laugh With Health. Pretty pictures & page by page info on lots of nutritious foods you need now!

Simple living & common sense can seem so basic that sometimes we can forget its relevance! We can get greedy for more, even of more of good things & forget that really the best things in life are the simple things! Returning to natures simple laws of life is the best way to begin making changes in your overall health. See my 8 Tips for Supergorgeousness to read more about things I believe contribute to a longevity & a vital life & which are accessible to almost anyone. Lets keep learning… Whether its about raw nutrition, superfoods, blood-type diets, anti-fungal/seasonal eating or even…CHOCOLATE! I always want to keep an open mind, build on what I’ve learned already & never be afraid to change.

Love to hear your thoughts!