Thursday 17 February 2011

Experimental eating

Last night I was treated to a birthday surprise of tickets to see Totem by Cirque du Soleil. For anyone who hasn't seen one of their shows, Cirque du Soleil is a circus group of human acrobats who perform amazing tricks ranging from the mind-boggling feats of strength of the russian strongmen to the beauty and grace of the trapeze artists.

If you ever needed inspiration to get in shape going to one of these shows is it - all the performers are amazing physical specimens, in peak condition with total body control. They must dedicate a lot of time to physical training to keep themselves in such good shape.

Through some ear wigging I also discovered that the performers all like to eat their native cuisine, so the shows caterers have their work cut out providing authentic chinese, russian and native american food.

There's definitely some truth in the idea that eating the food of your ancestors is best for you. The Italians seem to thrive on pasta, whilst us Britons are prone to gluten allergies and are much better on a wheat free diet. Indian's are prone to develop type II diabetes if they switch to a western diet, whilst westerners can develop gastric problems when switching to the seemingly healthier asian diets.

This is why I just don't believe that there can be one diet that is right for everyone and that finding the exact right diet for each person actually requires a fair amount of experimentation. I am regularly tweaking my diet to find out what makes me feel in optimum health.

Obviously I'm in a better position than most to know what changes to try so here are some suggestions for some changes to try for two weeks (one at a time). See how it makes you feel, how does your skin look, how is your mood and energy. If you feel better keep it up, but also if something makes you feel worse - particularly cutting out a food - it may be the sign of an underlying issue that needs further investigation.

Emilie's experiments:
Avoid any of the following one at a time:
Alcohol
Caffeine
Dairy
Gluten
Sugar (added)
All soft drinks other than water and herbal or green tea
Meat
Nuts
Vinegar

Other experiments:
- have a fresh mixed vegetable juice every day
- go to bed an hour earlier (if you can't afford the time get up an hour earlier)
- eat within an hour of waking
- eat small meals every three hours
- eat larger meals every five hours
- increase your volume of protein rich foods to starchy carbohydrates to 1 to 1
- drink a glass of water 10 minutes before each meal or snack
- get half an hour of fresh air daily
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