NATURAL HEALING JOURNEY

In any natural healing program, assuring that you are getting the proper nutrition is very important. The most nutritious foods are those which have been subjected to the least amount of processing and contamination. These are called natural foods. From the time food is harvested to the time it ends up on the grocery shelf or your refrigerator, it goes through many steps of processing. Each step may lower its nutritional value, as well as add harmful chemicals. Food provides the building blocks for cellular regeneration and the syntheses of hormones, antibodies, enzymes, and other essential factors. It is the source for the energy necessary to fuel metabolism and the processes of life. For this reason, it is essential to eat a diet free from chemical additives and rich in nutrients and fiber as nature intended. The less processing food undergoes and the fresher it is, the more beneficial it becomes. A natural foods diet is based on whole grains (unpolished and organic rice or corn, whole wheat bread, oats) and fresh locally grown, in season vegetables, and naturally grown fruits. [Bruce Fife, The Healing Crisis] The Path Starts Here 1. Eat mainly organic unpolished rice/corn and locally grown, in-season vegetables. Sprouts to strengthen your liver and gall bladder; Leafy vegetables to help your heart and small intestines; Fruit vegetables to keep your pancreas, spleen, and stomach healthy; Beans to strengthen tour lungs ands large intestines; and Root crops to reinforce your kidneys and reproductive organs.

2. Avoid commercially-produced meat from livestock fed with hormones, steroids, antibiotics and feeds, as well as fish raised in fish pens, fish cages, fish tanks and fishponds. However, meat even if free range is not good for cancer patients. 3. Avoid refined sugar (and products which use it), white rice, refined flour, refined cereals, soft drinks, MSG and other artificial flavorings, dairy products, and and alcoholic beverages. For Cancer patients even fish and fruits are not part of the diet. 4. Learn, discover and experiment in the preparation of traditional regional recipes and traditional cooking and food preparation methods to broaden your culinary fare. 5. Be flexible in your food choices by adapting to the changing

season/climate, as well as the changing needs of your body. Getting Started Step 1: Ask yourself what your favorite foods are. Meat dishes? Sweets? Dairy products? Soft drinks and flavored juices? But these are not good for your health. There are healthier and more than enough substitutes for them. For your favorite meat and poultry dishes, you can substitute meat with the following: beans, tofu and mushrooms To satisfy your craving for sweets, you can try the following: for drinks, switch to veggie shakes (cucumber and carrots, tomato), chilled or hot fruit flavored teas. for snacks, rediscover the taste of traditional unsweetened and unpolished rice cakes (biko, suman, bibingka, palitaw), puddings, vegetable pies, unsweetened or lightly sweetened carrot and unripe banana cakes . for viands, add sweet tasting root crops (camote instead of potato, squash, ripe saba banana) to your vegetable dishes

Step 2: What are your moods? What foods do you crave for? Choose your foods to suit your moods and cravings. When you feel angry, restless, frustrated, resentful or impatient, and you crave for sour-tasting food, it is highly probable that your liver and gall bladder are weak or are weakening. By choosing a meals that are heavy in sprouts (togue, mushrooms, spring onions) you can become more relaxed and calm, more assertive and expressive, and more patient and forgiving. Light mushroom soup with chopped spring onions and a dash of calamansi /lemon (you may also add lemon grass or tanglad to enhance the soups flavor). Corn on cob sinigang with lots of leafy vegetables and flavored with lemon grass. Paksiw na veggies cooked with plenty of sliced eggplant and ampalaya fruit. Pickled vegetables (achara) minus the sugar. When you feel overly excited, tense, restless, want to shout out loud, and you crave for a bitter taste,

it is highly probable that your heart and small intestines are most likely in trouble. You can be more relaxed, playful, light and cheerful by adding more leafy vegetables in your meals. Green salad tossed in lemon, pepper and salt Ginisang mongo with lots of ampalaya leaves Sinigang sa miso with plenty of mustasa leaves, flavored with lemon grass (to lower blood pressure) When you feel extra sensitive and break into frequent crying spells, and at the same time have a strong craving for a sweet taste, it is highly probable that your spleen, pancreas and stomach may be compromised. You can calm down, be more determined, focused and pacified by choosing dishes that have more fruit vegetables in them.

Squash soup Tomato soup Tinolang mushroom with plenty of sayote, green papaya, upo, or patola Eggplant salad (grilled or boiled) Ginataan or kinilaw na langka, puso ng saging, bunga ng papaya, kalabasa, etc. When you are feeling blue or depressed, lethargic, nostalgic and indecisive, and keep on craving for a pungent or spicy flavor, it is highly probable that your colon and lungs are not functioning properly. You can lift your sagging spirit and get more energized by preparing meals with lots of beans. Adobong beans Afritadang beans Menudong beans Veggie dinuguan (black/red beans with sayote fruit) When you feel overly worried, overwhelme d, confused, scared or

hesitant and have continuous craving for a salty flavor, it is very likely that your kidneys are overworked. You can gain your confidence, courage, bold and daring if you eat meals that are heavy on rootcrops. Lemon grass added to whatever dish will help a lot. Stewe d (nilaga) red/white beans mixed with mushrooms and camote, potato, carrots, saba, green beans, cabbage or pechay Poche rong beans (add tomatoes to the same ingredients for stewed or nilagang beans) Boiled camote, cassava (kamoteng kahoy) or gabi for snacks Healing your body and mind 1. Use locally grown, in-season vegetables. To keep you warm in cold climates/seasons. choose big/large and soft vegetables (cabbage, baguio pechay, brocolli, cauliflower, eggplant, etc.); choose smaller (native) and compact vegetable varieties (small okra, eggplant, ampalaya) in warm places to keep you cool. Choose succulent or juicy vegetables during summer months to keep you fresh and cool; dry and less succulent/watery vegetables during cold weather to keep you warm.

2. Choose vegetables according to your mood and health condition. Eat crisp, succulent veggies when you are feeling tense, angry, or stuck in a rut. These will help you relax, lighten up and think clearly. Eat them as salads or just lightly cooked. Eat more well cooked vegetables when feeling overly sensitive or highly emotional. These will calm you down and help you start your activities, give you a firmer grip on life and fuel more productive activity. Choose smaller vegetables if your condition is Yin (due to overconsumption of sugar and dairy products); and bigger vegetables if your condition is Yang (due to over-consumption of meat/animal products). Choose and cook vegetables according to the taste and flavors you crave for. 3. Choose cooking methods according to changes in the seasons, your moods and health conditions. Boil, blanch, or eat raw (salads) your vegetables if you are feeling tense or angry, or if your condition is Yang. Saute (gisa), grill, broil, or cook in coconut milk vegetables if you are feeling highly emotional or overly sensitive, or if your condition is Yin. You may use the following ingredients in cooking: vegetable oil, coconut oil, rock salt, naturally fermented vinegar, naturally brewed soy sauce, local herbs, noodles (make sure they are made of whole grain) 4. When eating say a little prayer of thanks for the maker of the food, and chew your food slowly and properly. 5. Sleep early and always find time to relax.

Signs of Healing
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Fading, lessening signs and symptoms of weakening body organs. Increasing duration of sound and peaceful sleep. More relaxed mind and clearer thinking. Pleasant moods and sunnier disposition. Absence of bodily aches and pains. Good and regular bowel movement.

___________________________________________________________ Reference: 1987. Turner, Kristina. The Self Healing Cookbook. Earthtones Press. Vashon Island, WA. 210 pp.