Shopping for the foods you’ll need on the Hippocrates diet is easy. You might have to search a bit for a store that has whole foods, but just like your past food shopping trips, you’ll make a list, pick up what you need, pay for it, and go home. Nothing’s really new here, except the products you’re buying. This chapter will steer you through health food stores, mail-order firms, organic foods, supplements, sea vegetables and algae, product labels, and basic food to fill your cupboard.
As the consumer demand grows, more and more supermarkets are stocking healthful foods. As you read through the recipes in chapter 11, you’ll see that many of the ingredients are already in your cabinets or on your grocer’s shelves. But other times, you’ll need products that are sold only in health food stores. When that’s the case, keep the following information in mind.
There are three kinds of health food stores:
Whatever kind of health food store you find in your area, be careful. You can’t assume that all the foods they sell are healthful. Many products are packaged with the words “natural,” “nature’s finest,” or “healthy choice,” but they are no more good for you than processed foods in the grocery store. The only real difference is in the price—they’re much more expensive. Beware of all “natural” canned soups, candies, cakes, pies, chips, ice creams, and frozen “nonmeat” patties. Read the ingredient and nutritional labels carefully. Always check the fat content and the use of additives and preservatives.
Mail-order firms fill a vital shopping need for those who can not conveniently get to health food stores. Many traveling musicians, actors, and salespeople, for example, follow the Hippocrates diet by ordering their food from a mail-order catalog and having it shipped ahead to the hotel where they will be staying. Many of our former Institute guests who spend a lot of time traveling or who are too ill to shop for themselves, do the same.
To find a reputable mail-order food firm, look in the back of natural food magazines such as Vegetarian Times or Organic Gardening. Start out with a small order to test the quality of the food and the reliability of the firm. You might want to try a few before settling on the one you’ll use routinely. And keep current; this is an ever-growing marketplace with more and more new and improved companies ready to offer you what you need to stay conveniently well-nourished.
On the Hippocrates diet, most of the foods on your shopping list will be living produce. To get the most from your new diet, make sure the fruits and vegetables you buy are organically grown. Organic foods are grown without the use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, or insecticides. They also are not processed, packaged, transported, or stored with chemicals, artificial additives, or preservatives—nor have they been irradiated. These foods are commonly associated with better flavor and superior nutritional value.
Right up to the mid-1940s, conventional farming was organic. The end of the Second World War found a stockpile of chemicals (designed to maim) sitting in warehouses, taking up space and creating expensive taxable inventories. To solve the problem, a market was created by applying these chemicals to our soil and agricultural plants to kill the bugs and weeds that were destroying some of our food supply.
The initial crop returns were so positive that in the 1950s the world experienced an exponential growth in the use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides, with the United States leading the way. A new economic super industry had been created. In addition, growth promoters, fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides were also used. Sometimes in one growing season, as many as a dozen applications of chemical sprays are used to produce a single crop.
Rather than eliminating the agricultural predators, these chemicals have created an imbalance in our soil, resulting in weakened, poor-quality foods that are more vulnerable to pest infestations than ever before. Rachel Carson predicted as much thirty years ago in her book Silent Spring. In more recent years, pesticides’ shortcomings have grown harder to ignore as new superbugs become resistant to the chemicals and the beneficial insects are destroyed. In fact, a growing number of agricultural experts now argue that reducing pesticide use would actually decrease pests. When DDT, the first widely used synthetic pesticide, hit the market in 1946, it looked like the silver bullet that would wipe out insect pests forever. Before DDT, American farmers lost about a third of their crops each year to insects, weeds, and disease. Today, with twenty-one thousand pesticide products to choose from and an annual pesticide bill exceeding $4 billion, farmers still lose the same—a one-third share. But the consumer gets more—more harmful chemicals in our shopping baskets.
Pesticides also have a disastrous effect on the nutritional composition of foods. Fifty years ago, wheat grown in Kansas typically had a protein content as high as 14 percent. Today, with the use of chemical fertilizers and monocropping, an all-time low of 8 percent protein in the wheat grown in this grain belt is now the norm. A comparison of an organically grown apple and conventionally grown one shows 300 percent greater Vitamin C and 61 percent greater calcium content in the organic apple.
Not only do conventional fruits and vegetables offer less nutritive value, they pose a medical risk. Some five hundred foreign synthetic chemicals have been found in the human bloodstream. This isn’t really surprising considering that the average American consumes trace amounts of chemical residues on their foods amounting to two pounds annually. What is interesting is the correlation that now is being drawn between pesticide consumption and cancer. In one recent study, for example, Mary Wolff, a research scientist at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, found that women with high levels of DDE (a derivative of the pesticide DDT) in their blood were four times as likely to develop breast cancer as women with low levels. I think this and all the similar studies are a wake-up call to food consumers.
If you don’t want to eat chemicals along with your produce, a study released in 1995 by the Agriculture Department’s Agricultural Market Service makes it clear that organic foods are your only option. In 1993, the department tested 7,328 fresh apples, bananas, broccoli, celery, carrots, green beans, grapefruit, grapes, lettuce, oranges, peaches, and potatoes. The apples were washed and cored, the bananas were peeled, and the other samples were prepared as if ready to cook or serve.
The scientists discovered 10,329 pesticide residues on the produce, meaning some fruits and vegetables had more than 1 residue. Apples, the most popular fruit, had the highest number of residue detections. Ninety-seven percent of the 654 samples had residues. Celery came next, at 93 percent, and peaches had residues in 91 percent of the sample. The percentages then fell to 79 percent for oranges and potatoes, 75 percent for grapes, and 72 percent for grapefruit. They were followed by green beans, 66 percent; carrots, 65 percent; bananas, 61 percent; lettuce, 51 percent; and broccoli, 25 percent.
Although the EPA says that most pesticide levels found in these foods were below those considered a health risk, this is not reassuring. Some of the pesticide levels were far above the legal limits (especially on imported produce), and the government’s approach of regulating each pesticide individually fails to recognize the combined effect on the human body of the different chemicals in one piece of produce. It also ignores the effect on infants and children, who typically eat more fruit and have more sensitive bodies than adults.
All of this illustrates why your fruits and vegetables must be organically grown—even if you have to pay a bit more for this guarantee of quality. Organically grown food costs more for several good reasons. The low price we have traditionally paid for our food is partly made possible by the large scale of the agricultural business. Cheap food reflects government subsidy programs and economic support for agriculture, which in most cases is not available to organic farmers. (Fortunately, this situation is starting to change.)
Also, more time is required to grow cover crops and green manures, which provide the needed organic nitrogen. Labor costs are higher for weeding, planting, and harvesting organic crops. The majority of organic growing is still done on medium- and small-sized farms that rely on labor-intensive, nonmechanical activity. It is estimated that there can be a 10 percent to 20 percent higher production cost for organically grown foods and that the end product may cost the consumer from 15 percent to 30 percent to as high as 100 percent more in retail stores.
Organic produce is more expensive, but the bottom line is quality—high quality commands a higher price. And the price will only come down if the supply and demand continue to increase.
Organic produce is getting easier to find as consumer demand rises and a profitable market is created. Organically grown foods traditionally had been found only in natural food stores, natural food cooperatives, health food stores, and farmers’ markets. But today, you can find some large supermarkets carrying organic produce. Large grocery chains often carry a limited supply of apples, lettuce, carrots, lemons, and broccoli, for example. Mail-order and natural/organic buying clubs found in the back of health and natural foods magazines are other good sources of organic food supplies.
Wherever you buy, make sure the food is certified organic. Certification is a voluntary program followed by farmers, ranchers, producers, and processors who agree to strict regulations established by national, international, state, and regional growers’ associations. Certification assures the consumer of the authenticity of the products labeled as organically grown, and is very important for increasing the credibility of the organic food movement. Purchasing authentic, certified foods supports the industry and helps ensure that it will endure and grow.
Presently, one-third of the states have legal definitions for organically grown foods. The Organic Foods Production Association of North America (OFPANA) has recommended national standards for organic foods to serve as guidelines as the federal government considers legislation that would authorize the USDA to certify organic foods.
In the meantime, you can purchase food labeled as certified organic with a high degree of reliability. Produce and bulk foods that are not clearly marked as organic with a certification symbol should be assumed to be possibly nonorganic.
Sometimes you might not be able to buy organic foods. To help reduce the harmful effects of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and fertilizers, keep these tips in mind:
The search for supplements may be the most confusing stop on your shopping trip if you aren’t sure what you’re looking for, or if you are easily swayed by advertising. Many health food stores give more shelf space to supplements than to food! But a 1995 investigation by reporters from Money magazine revealed that more than 90 percent of the products sold by health food stores to the investigators were of questionable medical value.
Posing as ordinary consumers, Money reporters visited 186 health food stores in thirty-one cities and asked clerks for help. They said they had heard that vitamins and minerals could be beneficial but didn’t know what to buy. The clerks sold the reporters an average of $26.13 of products per store, for a total cost of $4,860.18. Nearly all that money was wasted. A full $4,590.42 worth of the products either fell short of the health value requirements of the magazine’s health experts or did not carry an expiration date on the label—meaning there was no assurance the product was still effective. In the Los Angeles area alone, supplements pushed by salespeople at five out of six stores had no expiration dates listed.
Let’s take a look at the history of supplements to find out how the honorable intent that brought us nutrients in pill form was soon marred by commercial industry.
Herbs were originally given to the human race by nature. They were used for medicinal purposes when the first human appeared on this planet. For centuries, the formulations were administered only by select individuals—often the spiritual leaders of tribes and societies around the world.
The second generation of supplements was ushered in by two significant events:
Unfortunately, this generation of supplements fell into decline in the 1930s as the pharmaceutical industry leapt into this increasingly lucrative market.
The results of encapsulated food and herbs were so positive that “snake oil merchants” began to appear. In this generation, the pharmaceutical industry expanded the market by making synthetic supplements in the laboratory at a fraction of the cost of drying and grinding real foods and herbs. This squeezed out the more expensive natural products.
Individual vitamin and mineral supplements also were introduced. They were extracted from food sources, and then put into tablets or capsules without the whole range of nutrients, called food co-factors, that work symbiotically to allow total absorption of the nutrient into the human cell. Isolated vitamin and mineral products were mass processed with little or no consideration of whole foods; enzymes and oxygen were lost in the processing.
Despite the corruption of quality, the industry continued to grow—from $500 million a year in 1972 to $4.3 billion in 1993.
Are we buying good health with all this money? No. The advertising promises and the high hopes we bring to these little pills and powders might buy us a placebo effect (see chapter 4). But the ingredients the body cells need to thrive are not present. Instead, we’re getting color dyes, synthetic binding chemicals, plastic coatings, and test-tube nutrients devoid of the symbiosis found in whole foods.
How do you think your body reacts to this assault? Well, it knows the supplement certainly isn’t a food it can use so it calls upon the immune system to launch an attack against the foreign substance. How ironic that millions of people take supplements every day in the hope of building up the immune system without realizing that they are actually wearing down immune cells’ strength and resistance.
We now see evidence that the medical community is pulling away from these “miracle” pills. According to the American Diabetes Association, the American Institute of Nutrition, the American Society of Clinical Nutrition, the National Council Against Health Fraud, and the American Medical Association, the practice of taking large doses of vitamin supplements is more than a benign waste of money; it is also dangerous. Megavitamin therapies can lead to nerve damage, internal bleeding, and an array of other health problems. Most recently in 1995, the government’s Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee argued against routinely using supplements instead of food to get vitamins, minerals, and fibers.
“But,” you say, “vitamins are supposed to be good for us!” Understand that 96 percent of the studies conducted on the effectiveness of supplements are underwritten by the companies making and marketing them. When a company invests millions of dollars to develop a product, it is fair to assume that the company will go to any length to “prove” that the supplement works.
In the past, I have never recommended the use of supplements as a dietary complement because I believed that a variety of whole, unprocessed, and unheated foods are intrinsically superior, have a more balanced composition, and can be more fully absorbed. However, now that a new fourth generation of supplements has become available, I am glad to recommend a certain type that complements a living-foods diet.
In the mid-1970s a small group of second generation advocates led a revival of supplements using the best technologies of the third generation. These new products marked the return of whole foods and herbs to the marketplace. Supplements available now respect the wholeness of food that is necessary for effective use by the human body. The processing of these supplements is done at temperatures below 110 degrees to preserves enzymes, oxygen, and important food co-factors; this allows the foods in the supplements to maintain their bioactive quality. Included in this group are the latest generation of green power powders, which use fresh-water, single-cell algae such as chlorella, and Super Blue-Green Algae. These should be used daily when trying to obtain superior and permanent health.
Also in this group are wild herbs and homeopathic remedies. But read the label to find out how they’ve been prepared. Some extracted herbs and homeopathic products are placed in alcohol. This alters the medicinal structure and at times makes the herbs and homeopathic remedies substantially less effective. In recent years, many herbal and homeopathic manufacturers have found ways to suspend their products in nonintrusive glycerin or water. These properly prepared products are often helpful adjuncts to a living-foods diet. But unlike the whole foods mentioned above, these should be dispensed only by highly trained individuals. They should be taken only for short periods (seldom more than two weeks). Some examples are goldenseal, echinacea, and cats claw. Lighter herbs, such as chamomile, spearmint, and wintergreen, lend themselves to more frequent use in the form of teas. When shopping for supplements, always look for those that are bioactive (made from living, whole foods) and make sure algae and pollens are nonheated. You can write to the Hippocrates Institute for an updated list on the most reputable companies.
We have conducted a series of studies at the institute to determine the benefits of this fourth generation of supplements. We have found that when people are in the process of changing to a healthful lifestyle or in the recovery process from disease, bioactive supplements can contribute up to 30 percent of their physical health gain. But after regulating their systems through lifestyle changes in exercise, attitude, emotion, and food, the majority of subjects gain only 7 percent of the physiological health benefits through this supplementation. Many of us who are healthy choose to continue to use bioactive supplements to gain greater physical endurance and mental acuity but are aware of the limitations.
Be sure to put sea vegetables on your shopping list. The sea is the richest repository of the earth’s minerals, and an excellent source of these minerals is readily available to us in sea vegetation. The oceans produce seventeen hundred different species of sea vegetables, but kelp seaweed is the most familiar. More exotic, and perhaps unfamiliar, names such as arame, wakami, nori, and hijiki—as well as the better-known dulse and kelp—are among the sea vegetation that contain twelve key minerals.
Among the health benefits attributed to seaweeds is their ability to stimulate the digestive action of the intestines. Also, the carbohydrates found in seaweed do not elevate the blood-sugar level, so it may be eaten safely by people with blood-sugar problems.
Modern interest in seaweeds started in the West when experiments were carried out in California on cattle that were fed quantities of kelp along with their regular feed. These tests were so successful in eradicating several diseases that further tests were initiated on humans with deficiency diseases. Seaweed was proven a safe and reliable nutritional supplement for correcting certain dietary deficiencies.
Iodine is the only mineral that comes from the sea. The thyroid needs iodine to manufacture a hormone called thyroxin, which aids digestion. Without a sufficient supply of thyroxin, food is burned so slowly that much of it turns to fat. The brain also requires iodine to function; iodine deficiency results in mental sluggishness or varying degrees of retardation. Iodine also kills harmful bacteria in the bloodstream; the blood passes through the thyroid every seventeen minutes for this very purpose. An iodine deficiency is also a contributing factor in enlarged adenoids, fatigue, colds, and infections.
Many other therapeutic minerals are found in abundance in sea plants. Anemia and poor bone and tooth formation can be prevented with adequate intake of cobalt. Healthy blood and fertility rely on zinc and iron. The pituitary uses chlorine and manganese; the adrenals require magnesium; and the pancreas needs nickel and cobalt. Nowhere else can you find such a profuse source of these vital minerals in their natural and most readily usable state as in the wide choice of seaweeds that can be purchased in the better health food stores.
In 1987, after almost two years of study, the Hippocrates Institute added a food group to its diet: single-celled, blue-green and green algae. Now, research results published in the last five years support what we found in our own investigation: algae’s nutrition, simple amino acids, enzymes, and genetic coding provide vital elements that are missing from ordinary land-based foods, and it promotes cellular regeneration at the most fundamental (chromosomal) levels.
These simple plants help to convert toxic waste material into harmless substances; provide free radical protection; and supply a balanced profile of vitamins, minerals, and essential and nonessential amino acids. They also supply nutritional enzymes that assist in the digestion of all foods, especially cooked ones. The enzymes break down protein, carbohydrates, and fats.
There are three single-celled algae varieties that I recommend be incorporated into your diet:
Super Blue-Green. Currently, this algae grows wild and abundantly in only one lake in the world, Klamath Lake in southern Oregon. The main distributor of this algae is a company called Cell Tech. This company revolutionized the algae industry by introducing and perfecting the freeze-drying process, which increases the nutritional and enzyme availability of the algae. This algae comes in two forms, Alpha and Omega. The Alpha regenerates the cells of the body, while the Omega is reported to significantly improve mental facilities.
Spirulina. Pioneered in North America by Christopher Hill, spirulina is the first blue-green algae to be introduced as a food in the U.S. It grows wild in many locations around the world and is under cultivation to meet current demands. Currently, California and Hawaii lead the world in spirulina production. An immunity builder, spirulina is not easily absorbed by the cell because of its eggshell-type outer wall. We recommend the Hawaiian variety because it is more easily digested.
For years, this algae was dried at a very high temperature. But recently companies that bottle spirulina have adopted the freeze-drying technique, making it a superior product. Make sure the spirulina you buy is freeze-dried.
Chlorella. Chlorella is a green algae that first gained prominence in Asia, especially Japan. Being high in DNA and RNA, this single-celled algae is noted for enhancing overall body well-being. It has been found to be effective in building one’s immune system, normalizing bowel functions, and combating the effects of radiation.
Different algae plans have been formulated for daily use. Each produces beneficial results; the difference is in the cost. Plan A is least expensive and offers basic benefits; Plan C is most expensive and offers optimum benefits.
Plan A: Cell Tech Omega and Chlorella
Plan B: Cell Tech Omega, Spirulina, and Chlorella
Plan C: Cell Tech Omega and Alpha, and Chlorella
Dosage. Dosage varies from person to person and from product to product. Read the recommendations on the labels. Initially, reduce the recommended amounts if you want to slow down any possible detoxification reactions, and increase the dosage over several weeks as you feel comfortable. People report that the longer they use algae, the better they feel. (Although the powder form is recommended because it is most efficient, the tablets and capsules are also popular for their convenience.)
When to Take the Algae. It is best to take algae just before or with your meals. Many people like to sprinkle it on their food. Another option is to take it with your first juice for breakfast.
Improvement. After the possible detoxification reaction as the algae cleans out the waste materials that may be stored in your body’s cells, improvement is usually slow and steady. Within three months, you should be experiencing a boost in energy and improved thinking power.
Antioxidants are compounds believed to help maintain the body’s cellular machinery by mopping up dangerous free radicals that can cause cancer. These compounds, which are found naturally in living foods, have been isolated and are now manufactured into synthetic supplements. These little pills have become big business. A very popular antioxidant supplement, beta carotene (which is found naturally in many foods such as carrots, squash, cantaloupes, and peaches), brings in an estimated $75 million each year, according to the director of the National Cancer Institute. But as with other synthetic supplements, the high hopes of those who take these pills don’t match the news out of the laboratory.
Two studies funded by the National Cancer Institute and released in 1996 both found that taking a supplement of beta carotene is not equivalent to eating a diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables—in fact, it may be harmful.
The Beta Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial (CARET) ended abruptly after four years when investigators told the 18,314 participants to stop taking their supplements. Interim study results indicated that the supplements provided no benefit and might even cause harm. Compared to a group taking a placebo, those taking beta carotene pills had a 28 percent increase in the number of lung cancers and a 17 percent increase in deaths.
In the other trial, the Physicians’ Health Study out of Brigham and Woman’s Hospital, researchers examined the nutrient’s effects in a national sample of 22,071 male physicians for more than twelve years. They found that taking beta carotene conferred no identifiable health benefits or risks. Charles Hennekens, chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, echoes my beliefs when he says, “Supplements are no substitute for a healthy diet.”
Many researchers now believe it is the combination of antioxidants with other, less-studied components of foods, along with other aspects of a healthful lifestyle, that deliver the health benefits of antioxidants.
Because up to 25 percent of your food may be processed foods bought off store shelves, you need to develop the talent of label reading. The face of the package often gives little or misleading information about the value of the food you’re buying. So make a habit of reading the ingredient and nutrition labels and following these guidelines:
Usually the shorter the ingredient list, the better:
Comparison shopping is a must for carbohydrates, fats, and protein. New labeling regulations make it relatively easy to evaluate the content of these three food factors. Follow these suggestions for a one-ounce (twenty-eight gram) serving:
Recreational foods are the ones that entertain the emotions and the memory more than nutritional needs. The following items are not optimal foods, but are improvements on items normally consumed. Most of these items have appeared on the shelves in health food stores over the years, but are still not generally available in conventional supermarkets. These items should make up 10 percent or less of your daily diet. Starred items are the best choices in the category.
Look for items with no dairy, wheal, added oil, salt, or sugar (including honey, barley, corn or rice syrups, fructose, sucrose, maltose).
| Ice Cream/Fruit Bars | Hamburgers/Hot Dogs |
| organic sorbet* | tempeh |
| fruit bars | soy dogs |
| fruit sticks | tofu burgers |
| rice “ice cream” | bean patties |
Frozen Vegetables |
|
| rice crust pizza (with soy cheese) | frozen organic vegetables |
Cheese Substitute |
Wheat Bagel Substitutes |
| mochi, plain (in deli section) | spelt, rye, or quinoa bagels |
| lowfat soy cheese |
Look to eliminate fat, oil, wheat, dairy, eggs, salt, and hidden sugar.
Breads |
Cereals |
Peanut Butter Substitutes |
| essene rye | cream of rye | raw almond butter |
| corn tortilla | puffed corn | raw sunflower butter |
| 100 percent sour | puffed millet* | raw tahini |
| dough spelt, rye, | buckwheat | |
| and kamut | teff |
Chips/Snacks |
Milk Substitutes |
| baked sweet potato chips | Amazake (rice drink) |
| baked tortilla chips | rice milk beverage |
| air popped popcorn* | white almond beverage |
| baked apple chips | |
| baked carrot chips | |
Crackers/Crisps |
Sugar/Honey Substitutes |
| brown rice snaps | maple syrup (65 percent sugar) |
| rice cakes (plain is best) | stevia * |
Quick Dips |
Salt Substitute |
| lowfat refried beans * | Braggs Aminos |
| quick hummus |
Flour |
Butter Substitutes |
| quinoa flour | canola oil |
| corn flour | flaxseed oil |
| rye flour | olive oil (Carothers brand is best) |
| spelt flour | sesame oil |
| teff flour* | nonhydrogenated lowfat spread |
| amaranth flour |
Coffee Substitutes |
Chocolate |
Soft Drink |
| herb teas (caffeine-free) | carob powder | fruit juice diluted with |
| Yannoh organic grain | water | |
| coffee substitute |
When you read through the recipes in chapter 11, pick out a few you’d like to experiment with, jot down the ingredients, and go shopping! It’s fun to find new stores and products. It’s a creative experience that breaks up the boring routine of buying and eating the same foods day after day. Enjoy your venture into healthy and living foods.