Day 145

Thoughts: What is health? Is it feeling good? Looking good? Just being alive? Who defines health? 

We do...the mass population have come to an “agreement” that healthy means being skinny, trim, fit, energetic, eating ‘good’.... really its down to interpretation. 

The way I can describe it is that I experience lightness, I feel graceful and at ease with my body and my self, comfortable, peaceful, love for myself and my body, I feel clean, pure, and ALIVE. 

If you look at the what’s so of a person with cancer...the what’s so is that a person has a dis-ease in the body. To me health is the absence of dis-ease. Do you experience dis-ease? 

So what's a healthy diet? Well I've played with many different diets/lifetsyles like the one 'I will never eat chocolate or lollies again' hehe, I've tried the 'On Sunday I can eat anything and as much as I want' haha, the 'I will start being really healthy on Monday' and the 'I will eat everything in moderation' haha I have a retarded mind ;) . The thing with these lifestyles/diets is that they are to ones interpretations so I can alter my whats 'moderation' at anytime. It becomes thwarted. It wasn't until the Earth Diet that I actually experienced health as I described above. 

Some interesting Diets I researched...

The Earth Diet! 
Hehe yes the one I created, eating only foods naturally provided from the Earth! So all fruits, vegetables, nuts, meats, AND you can eat as much as you want! How fun :) 

The Mediterranean Diet
The Mediterranean diet is widely believed to be one of the most healthful ways to eat, yet much of what we know about it is based on studies of people living on the island of Crete in the 1950s, who in many respects lived lives very different from our own. Yes, they ate lots of olive oil and little meat. But they also did more physical labor. They fasted regularly. They ate a lot of wild greens — weeds. And, perhaps most important, they consumed far fewer total calories than we do. 

Vegetarian
There are various types of vegetarian - Lacto vegetarian, Fruitarian vegetarian, Lacto-ovo-vegetarian, Living food diet vegetarian, Ovo-vegetarian, Pescovegetarian, and Semi-vegetarian. The majority of vegetarians are lacto-ovovegetarians, in other words, they do not eat animal-based foods, except for eggs, dairy, and honey. Several studies over the last few years have shown that vegetarians have a lower body weight, suffer less from diseases, and generally have a longer life expectancy than people who eat meat. Similarly, much of what we know about the health benefits of a vegetarian diet is based on studies of Seventh Day Adventists, who muddy the nutritional picture by drinking absolutely no alcohol and never smoking. These extraneous but unavoidable factors are called, aptly, “confounders.” 

Weight Watchers
Weight Watchers is an international company that offers various dieting products and services to assist weight loss and maintenance. Founded in 1963 by Brooklyn homemaker Jean Nidetch, it now operates in about 30 countries around the world, generally under names that are local translations of “Weight Watchers”.The term weight-watcher, in the same sense, had circulated publicly for several years before the company was formed.Weight Watchers encourages members to select a goal weight that results in a body mass index generally accepted as healthy (18 to 24.9), although a member may also establish a goal weight outside of that range after providing a doctor's note to that effect. In the United States, in order to join Weight Watchers, one must weigh at least 5 pounds (2.3 kg) more than the minimum weight for his or her height.

Vegan
Veganism is more of a way of life and a philosophy than a diet. A vegan does not eat anything that is animal based, including eggs, dairy, and honey. Vegans do not generally adopt veganism just for health reasons, but also for environmental and ethical/compassionate reasons. Vegans believe that modern intensive farming methods are bad for our environment and unsustainable in the long term. If all our food were plant based our environment would benefit, animals would suffer less, more food would be produced, and people would generally enjoy better physical and mental health, vegans say. 

Raw Food
The Raw Food Diet, or Raw Foodism, involves consuming foods and drinks which are not processed, are completely plant-based, and ideally organic. Raw Foodists generally say that at least three-quarters of your food intake should consist of uncooked food. A significant number of raw foodists are also vegans - they do not eat or drink anything which is animal based. There are four main types of raw foodists: 1. Raw vegetarians. 2. Raw vegans. 3. Raw omnivores. 4. Raw carnivores. 

The Atkins Diet
The Atkins diet, officially called the Atkins Nutritional Approach, is a low-carbohydrate diet created by Dr Robert Atkins. The Atkins Diet is a departure from the previously prevailing metabolic theories. Atkins said that there are important unrecognized factors in Western eating habits leading to obesity. Primarily, he believed that the main cause of obesity is eating refined carbohydrates, particularly sugar, flour, and high-fructose corn syrups. The Atkins Diet involves restriction of carbohydrates to more frequently switch the body's metabolism from burning glucose as fuel to burning stored body fat. This process, called ketosis, begins when insulin levels are low; in normal humans, insulin is lowest when blood glucose levels are low (mostly before eating). Ketosis lipolysis occurs when some of the lipid stores in fat cells are transferred to the blood and are thereby used for energy. On the other hand, caloric carbohydrates (e.g., glucose or starch, the latter made of chains of glucose) impact the body by increasing blood sugar after consumption. [In the treatment of diabetes, blood sugar levels are used to determine a patient's daily insulin requirements.] Lastly, because of fiber's low digestibility, it provides little or no food energy and does not significantly impact glucose and insulin levels.

The South Beach Diet
The South Beach Diet is relatively simple in principle. It replaces "bad carbs" and "bad fats" with "good carbs" and "good fats." "Good carbs" vs "bad carbs"
According to Agatston, hunger cycles are triggered not by carbohydrates in general, but by carbohydrate-rich foods that the body digests quickly, creating a spike in blood sugar. Such foods include the heavily refined sugars and grains that make up a large part of the typical Western diet. The South Beach Diet eliminates these carbohydrate sources in favor of relatively unprocessed foods such as vegetables, beans, and whole grains."Good fats" vs "bad fats" Given that South Beach Diet was designed by a cardiologist, it should be no surprise that it eliminates trans-fats and discourages saturated fats. Although foods rich in these "bad fats" do not contribute to the hunger cycle, they do contribute to LDL cholesterol and heart disease. The South Beach Diet replaces them with foods rich in unsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acid which contribute to HDL cholesterol and provide other health benefits. Specifically, the diet excludes the fatty portions of red meat and poultry, replacing them with lean meats, nuts, and oily fish.

The Zone
The Zone Diet aims for a nutritional balance of 40% carbohydrates, 30% fats, and 30% protein each time we eat. The focus is also on controlling insulin levels, which result in more successful weight loss and body weight control. The Zone Diet encourages the consumption of good quality carbohydrates - unrefined carbohydrates, and fats, such as olive oil, avocado, and nuts. 

Supplements
One last example: People who take supplements are healthier than the population at large, but their health probably has nothing whatsoever to do with the supplements they take — which recent studies have suggested are worthless. Supplement-takers are better-educated, more-affluent people who, almost by definition, take a greater-than-normal interest in personal health — confounding factors that probably account for their superior health. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weight_Watchers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atkins_diet
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/5847.php
www.nytimes.com

Challenges: There are so many diets/lifestyle out there it can be overwhelming, frustrating and confusing. Each person will find something that works for them. What works for me is eating everything and anything that nature provides. The low carb diet wouldn't work as I love to eat potatoes and they are naturally provided by the Earth. And we are human beings who love to experience a HUGE variety of everything, places, people, food, emotions, experiences, music, lifestyles, and I believe the danger with sticking to one particular "diet" would be borrrring and be restricting. 

Triumphs: Stick to what nature intended and you can't go wrong...the experience of health is unavoidable. Health is one's own interpretation! 

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: A beetroot, celery, ginger, carrot juice. A pear. 

Lunch: A avocado with sprouts. Lots of sprouts. To be full and get the nutrition and energy you need, if you are eating things like vegetables, fruits, sprouts, you can eat as much as you want, don't hold back! I eat ALOT of sprouts, mmm I love them bouncing around in my mouth, they are such an energetic, light, happy food :) 

Dinner: Indian rice with yellow curry powder, onion, chilli and cooked lentils. 

Dessert: No dessert

Snacks: Walnuts! Food for the brain!

Recipe:

Holiday Juice
2 large sweet potatoes
1 bag of cranberries
3-4 Oranges
5 apples
½ Pineapple
Carrots

Exercise: Working on set "The Man In The Maze". It is my last week of playing the character 'Megan'. "The Man In The Maze" centers around four college students on a field study to learn more about the Trail of Tears. While traipsing through the woods, however, they stumble upon an Indian mound that marks the burial site of a Native American family that died on the trail. The mound was cursed by a distraught family member, and whoever disturbs it unleashes trouble and winds up lost in his maze, i.e. the woods. www.themaninthemaze.net