Food is medicine.

Not the first time I’ve said or thought that but this week over the holidays was the first time I truly internalized it. It used to mean something more like eat good food to stay healthy, but then when you get sick still go to the pharmacy. But the pharmacy - medicine shoppe - drugstore (do those words look different to you now? different than they did 2 years ago? they sure look different to me.) have ceased to exist for me. When you get sick, you tweak your diet a bit to support the part your body is telling you needs help. You don't need a doctor to tell you what's wrong; your body will tell you. It's your job to listen and to help. 

 

A different mindset.

Until foods are no longer categorized as “good” or “bad” as dictated externally by the diet of the day, you will never eat intuitively or relax around food. I truly believe this. When you see food as medicine, there are no cheat days. You enjoy your food and you are satisfied knowing that every thing you eat is a choice you make to give your body what it needs to support you. Food and medicine are synonyms: two words that mean the same thing. 

 

Currently.

I’m really trying to eat upon 30 minutes of waking. If I don’t, I can feel my stomach getting really hungry and by then it’s too late. My cortisol is rising. It's hard with the kids but I've got my bedside light on a timer which is much better than an alarm during the shortest days of the year. I think it's time to add an extra 15 minutes.

I get a few gummies in me and make a coffee drink while I cook the kids’ breakfast. I fell in love with Noelle's (@noellekovary) yolky coffee over the last year, but thanks to Sophia (@raw_milk_and_honey) I’ve just started throwing the whole egg in there  (I put the egg (usually 2) in a little food chopper so the white is all properly blended up). So that, plus maple syrup or raw honey, plus steamed milk*, plus bone broth (or bloomed gelatin). And a pinch of salt.

For supplements I take:

• two calcium pills (which are ground up eggshells from the soy-free, pastured/outside permaculture eggs I get through my friend Jenn @soulmonkeywellness)
• 5 OysterMax
• 2 Vitamin K pills (@mitolife). I've done two full years of breastfeeding over the last three years which means increased prolactin to which leaches calcium (when you're not eating enough) and I’ve got some very noticeable sensitive pre-cavities that I’m hoping to fix. Hoping to bring up my baseline for those minerals and repair the damage.
• Shilajit (Panacea from Matt's @mitolife brand. I usually take a break on weekends).

 

Methylene Blue.

I never noticed the boost with MB that I noted with Shilajit. It sat unused in my cabinet for a while, and I mostly just felt silly for jumping on a bandwagon I knew nothing about.

Over the holidays I read “Ravenous: Otto Warburg, the Nazis, and the Search for the Cancer-Diet Connection” by Sam Apple as well as Mark Sloan's “The Ultimate Guide to Methylene Blue” and learned about the history of Methylene Blue and its effect on nitric oxide (and NO’s effect on the body) not to mention all the anti-viral capabilities. These books are amazing. Up until last year, the only books I enjoyed reading were fiction books. I tried reading Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" last month and just couldn't shake the feeling that I was wasting my time (which is totally unfair to Ayn Rand, but I know that story and I know how it ends. We are living it. The topics of Selfishness and Objectivism deserve their own posts).

Those books helped build my knowledge around the topics as well. I went back and re-read Adam Marafioti's blog post about MB and found I was able to understand it quite a bit better. I now take it sublingually, before bed – which is when I do about 10 minutes of NIR/IFR (I have Adam @lifebludco 's Relax). There seems to be a benefit to doing the two simultaneously. Plus, by the time I wake up in the morning, the blue is gone from my mouth. My pee is usually blue the next morning.

More reading and learning is required on all of these subjects.

 

Meal Planning.

I’m a disorganized person. With 3 other people to feed, this needs to change yesterday. Meal plans must finally become my way of life. Here’s what’s on our menu:

• Breakfasts: Eggs and bacon with toast and honey; bone broth oatmeal (soaked overnight and rinsed), Dutch baby, French toast (eggy bread). All with milk or home made OJ or a fruit juice with only the juice of the fruit as the ingredient.
• Snacks: (and again before dinner): Cheese and fruit, (beef liver) pâté and crackers, gummies, raw carrots, cucumbers & salt.
• Lunch: Smoothie (not a green one, usually with a few raw eggs and bone broth), leftovers.
• Dinner: Steak, beef cuts, ground up organ meats, pork (TK Ranch sells tenderized cutlets that make great schnitzel), whole chicken (which turns into soup the next day). For sides we do potatoes, noodles (Jovial and BioItalia for unfortified flour), broccoli, peppers, onions and Brussels sprouts. 

That's a pretty good summary of where I'm at as we roll into 2022. I expect some little tweaks as the months pass but nothing drastic. Always moving forward. 

 

Disclaimer: 

This blog provides general information and discussions about health and related subjects. The information and other content provided in this blog, or in any linked materials, are not intended and should not be construed as medical advice, nor is the information a substitute for professional medical expertise or treatment.