I’ve worked with many “healing” diets that all include various eliminations of substances and food groups. Once I learned about the quality of foods by having done eliminations and reintroductions it became more important to take breaks from foods, as necessary, rather than eliminate. Rotation of food, herbs and substances and variation, in general, is where it’s at for me. I do this without schedule or premeditation. It is an intuitive process. I imagine the same is likely true for many others struggling to regain health: that they might do better learning to listen to their own bodies than to “experts.”
Dogma about such things would have left me completely stuck in chronic illness. Health professionals/gurus/etc can be dangerous for this reason as they spread dogmatic beliefs about food and eating.
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Salt cured black olives…the wrinkly kind soaked in olive oil. To Die For. Also good medicine. I eat them when my body needs them and then, Oh My. Just had one of those moments. When I was growing up I used to eat the ones from my grandfathers farm from the olive trees he grew.
One of the loveliest things on my intuitive-mindful food-as-medicine journey has led me back to my ancestry. Italian. Mediterranean food. These olives were from Turkey. So many foods I had eliminated come back as my Kitchen Witch reclaims her roots and medicine. I eat foods from many different culture, love them all and it’s clear, too, that those from the Mediterranean are special for me.
I am an immigrants daughter. Being only one generation removed my gut is very much Italian. I ate like an Italian growing up with splashes of really bad American stuff too…as well as some good food. There are some sub-cultures in America that do know how to eat. I went far astray once I left home and once I got sick I was told to eliminate almost everything my body knew.
Healing has required getting back to my ancestry (among many other things)…with wisdom I’ve gleaned along my American path. I’m neither Italian nor typically white American. My father was the cook in our family and loved food in general. He passed that on to me ,so while our foundation was Italian, we sought out food from all cultures when I was growing up, before it was the norm. I do appreciate that I had that up-bringing and so healing has involved letting international cuisine back in too. I am an amalgam and eating healthy is a unique journey.
Dogmatic health propoganda will tell everyone to eat the same. That’s simply not good sense.
One last thing. I do eat whole real unprocessed foods. That’s remained the case. There are some small exceptions on infrequent occasions, but chemicals and additives and preservatives are pretty much entirely avoided because my body reacts to most of them.
My individual path is mine. It’s not a prescription for anyone else. I share only because there is a lack of understanding the importance of individuality, variation and diversity in dogmatic health circles. Find what works for YOU. It will be unique.
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