Happy and Healthy New Year

Let’s talk food, one of my favorite topics.

After polishing off a large bowl of rice and beans, I started thinking about the health ramifications of eating this way, so I did a little online research.

I’m a follower/supporter of Doctor John McDougal, have been for about six months (www.drmcdougall.com) for health reasons. He promotes a history proven, starch-based method of eating. He points out that all great cultures of the world have been built on starch—rice and sweet potatoes in Asian countries, yams in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Oceania, potatoes in Peru, corn-based dough in The Democratic Republic of Congo and other parts of Africa and bread, well, bread (wheat) in too many countries to count. McDougal says that Roman gladiators were called barley men because they ate the grain as a staple.

Also, check this out:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/what-the-world-eats/

People are starting to take notice of starch’s health benefits. For example, this article in The Huffington Post:

Japanese people are, as a whole, very healthy: They have the second-highest life expectancies compared to any other country in the world (the U.S. comes in at number 43) and have an obesity rate of just 3.5 percent, which is one-tenth of America’s 35 percent obesity rate.

The reason for Japan’s superior health? Their grain-heavy, high-carb diet. (https://www.huffpost.com)

I have to say, how great is a diet when you really can eat foods you love without guilt?

I am extremely happy to have finally given up eating dairy and meat just because it is supposedly healthy for me. Dairy and meat are two very acid producing foods that attack our bodies and our health. It certainly affected mine. Well, I’ll get off my soapbox and simply say–following the starch-based eating plan has enabled me to lose more than fifty pounds (at last) and my blood levels of cholesterol, liver enzymes, etc. have improved beyond my wildest expectations—better than normal.

Another interesting thing I discovered—that white rice (which I adore)—may be better for us than brown rice (which I only tolerate). Except for Thai and California rice, which have lower levels overall, many types of rice have alarmingly high levels of arsenic and need to be rinsed before cooking. Check out this interesting article:

https://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/blogs/why-i-started-to-eat-white-rice

That’s it for today. We are settling nicely into our new senior living apartment, loving it way more than the house we moved from, and we are looking forward to a new and exciting 2019. Have a very Happy and Healthy New Year!!