Many years ago, my husband and I visited a homeopath, and being aware that diet and health are closely related, we asked him if he could give us some tips on healthy eating. All he said was, ‘Eat little enough.’
We went away puzzled, but realised that he was saying, eat as little as you can, but enough to stay healthy. Just as a car needs the correct type and amount of fuel for it to operate properly so does the human body. We should not allow ourselves the excuse that we love our food to dictate how much or what we eat. That way lies potential obesity and an open doorway to all kinds of illness, including heart conditions, diabetes, and cancer.
Educating ourselves
At different ages and in different circumstances we need to vary our amounts and types of food, and for this we need to educate ourselves.
About nine years ago, I was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. I quickly learnt that in illness, a broadly healthy diet may still need tweaking. You will always need to do your own research, and perhaps enlist the help of a professional. For months I had very little appetite and looked like the inmate of a concentration camp. The NHS answer to my weight problem was to throw healthy eating out of the window. The diet sheet which I was given was laughable – eat as much fat and sugar as you can possibly cram into you: fry as much of your food as possible (e.g. corned beef sandwiches), stir powdered milk, grated cheese, sugar, jam or cream into as many food and drink items as you can, according to whether they are sweet or savoury, indulge yourself in popcorn, cake and biscuits with butter or jam spread on top, and so on. I felt sick just to read it and knew immediately that I wouldn’t be following that advice.
Instead, I set about finding out what I could about the diet I needed. I consulted a private dietician as well as reading books and browsing the internet for advice. The answers that I found to my questions were vital to my recovery and can be applied to many illnesses. In fact, I discovered several rules which should be followed by everyone, including those in good health, to help them remain so.
‘Thank you so much for sending this article to me – I have just read it a second time and looked up more of the references which are all very useful. You must have done an immense amount of work to get it all together. I don’t have any chemistry in my background and have just been reading the article on Cholesterol published in 2019 on line; I did get to the end but need to look up some terminology.
I liked the way you had presented the information – it is all so clear and easy to follow the many, useful links. I shall try and get the booklet on cholesterol which you mention. I loved the illustrations too.’
~ Katherine