Dr. Mercola’s Beginner Nutrition Plan!
If you’re ready to make a change in your nutrition, but don’t know where to start, I would highly recommend you take a look at Dr. Mercola’s nutrition plan. There is no charge or signups, it is posted there for the benefit of the public.
If you have the discipline to follow the steps you can greatly reduce your risk of Type II diabetes, cancer and a myriad of other chronic degenerative illnesses. Despite the trouble of changing lifestyle and altering habits, it can make you feel quite good; if it is anything like my experience, you will wonder why you didn’t try something like this earlier.
The plan is designed to help you move from a standard diet into a progressively healthier diet, rich in whole raw foods, and without many of the harmful foods that are so commonly consumed today.
Most of us don’t realize that (un-sprouted) grains are actually quite harmful to your health and should be taken sparingly. They cause your insulin levels to be excessively high and lead to Type II Diabetes or even Celiac Disease.
So thats the plan in a nutshell, give it a shot if you’re ready for a nice change 🙂
As a vegetarian who already eats a lot of raw produce and limits dairy and processed foods, I would find it pretty hard to limit or eliminate grains, beans, and nuts as well. I’ve considered adding some form of meat or eggs back in my diet to replace grains and other less-than-ideal foods, but on an emotional and mental level I find the idea of eating animals again hard to digest.
That being said, I do like a lot of the info on his website (the dangers of soy, sugar, etc.), and find it especially swell that he talks about EFT and emotional eating.
Raezen,
You have some important points regarding the special needs of individuals who have chosen not to eat meat. I don’t agree with everything Dr. Mercola says either, though most of the information on his site seems to be quite beneficial.
I believe that it is possible, however, to eliminate most grains by simply consuming sprouted grains instead of whole grains. There are sprouted grain cereals and breads available at most health food stores; they are more expensive than “conventional” breads, but they appear to be much better for the body.
I had been a big consumer of “conventional” bread up until the last couple of weeks, but since I switched to sprouted grain breads and cereals, I’ve noticed a great change in my energy levels. No longer am I burdened with the ups and downs of rapidly fluctuating insulin levels that goes along with grain consumption.
I think that he is a little off on his assertion that most nuts should be taken out of the diet. Perhaps it would have been better to say that they should be taken in moderation and proportional to the amount of Omega-3 that is in the diet.
It seems as if we should be able to counter-balance the Omega-6 intake from nuts with Omega-3 from other sources such as Flax, Walnuts and Avocados.
The understanding I have regarding nuts is that they should be eaten after having been soaked for 24 hours, since nuts have a protective mechanism that allows them to pass through the animal digestive system. Soaking the nuts drops the protection and allows the nut to be digested; I hear it is also good to sprout nuts as well.
Thats just what I’ve experienced and researched on the matter. Thanks for the comment 🙂