FOODS THAT MAKE LIFE CHALLENGING
By now you know all about how certain foods can change your life tremendously for the better. There’s another element to protecting yourself: In order to adapt to the ever-shifting demands we all encounter, we also want to avoid actively moving in the opposite direction of healing. When someone can’t fend off the Unforgiving Four, one of the major reasons is that she or he is eating certain foods that get in the way of adaptation. These are foods that feed pathogens (which contributes to inflammation) and/or are inherently destructive to the body. I call these the life-challenging foods.
They’re not always obvious ingredients. In fact, you’ll hear arguments from other sources to defend most of the foods I list below. Most of them were helpful for your health, once upon a time. However, the astronomical increase in illness, along with human intervention with the genetic makeup of some of these foods, mean that we have to be much more careful about what we eat these days. Some ingredients are not what they once were. And sometimes, they’re hidden. Not every item that you’ll find at the health food store will help you with your health—it’s not just a matter of avoiding fast food and other greasy, processed meal choices.
The life-challenging foods are ones that trigger the very symptoms and conditions that the life-changing foods help alleviate. The life-challenging foods also contribute to what I call less-gevity. They make life harder and shorter.
I’m not the food police. I know how much emotion, convenience, and fitting in are tied up with eating some of the foods below. I wish I could tell you that pizza with a fried egg on top is the best thing you can order if you’re sick and looking for relief. Believe me, if that were the truth, that’s exactly what you’d be reading about here. The reality is that if you’re dealing with a health challenge, you will serve yourself much better by cutting back on certain foods until recovery.
It’s not all sacrifice. After all, if you eat more of the life-changing foods from Part II, “The Holy Four,” it means you’ll have to cut back somewhere else—and the information below will make that choice easy. Like so many of the people I’ve helped, you’re likely to find that when you remove life-challenging foods from your routine, life opens up in incredible ways.
Many people feel they can’t live without dairy products, whether in the form of cream in coffee, a morning cup of yogurt, cheese in all its delicious forms, whey protein powder in smoothies, butter on toast, kefir with granola, milk and cereal, or the like.
Dairy can make life very challenging, though, because it bogs down the liver, which prevents toxins from leaving the body efficiently, and stresses the pancreas, which causes heightened insulin resistance. For those sensitive to dairy, it creates malabsorption problems (that is, trouble absorbing the nutrients in foods because the digestive tract is too inflamed), and for many people, it creates a heightened allergic response to any slight environmental stimulus such as dust and pollen. Further, dairy feeds the pathogens that are behind so many ailments.
If you’re experiencing any of the conditions or symptoms below, you may want to consider cutting back on dairy, or cutting it out altogether while you attend to your health.
Conditions
If you have any of the following conditions, try taking dairy out of your life until recovery:
Celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, colitis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), diverticulitis, any other type of inflammatory bowel disease, chronic sinusitis, sleep apnea, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)/mononucleosis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Graves’ disease, chronic ear infections, common colds, liver disease, fatty liver, gout, interstitial cystitis, acne, urinary tract infections (UTIs), yeast infections, eczema, psoriasis, seasonal allergies, Lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), lupus, human papilloma virus (HPV), Raynaud’s syndrome, diabetes, hypoglycemia, polyps, nodules, osteoporosis, bacterial pneumonia, brain lesions, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), H. pylori infection, all autoimmune diseases and disorders, gallstones, gallbladder disease, psoriatic arthritis
Symptoms
If you have any of the following symptoms, try taking dairy out of your life until recovery:
Constipation; inflammation; hypothyroid; hyperthyroid; stomach cramps; stomach pain; dizziness; pre-fatty liver; sluggish liver; fatigue; heart palpitations; menopause symptoms; tingling; numbness; poor circulation; inflamed gallbladder, stomach, small intestine, and/or colon; hair loss; postnasal drip; sweets cravings; Candida overgrowth; food sensitivities; hot flashes; body aches and pains; joint pain; joint inflammation; eye watering; eye dryness; blurry eyes; eye floaters; ringing or buzzing in the ears; emotional eating; hormonal imbalances; headaches; heartburn; brain fog; diarrhea; clogged ears; histamine reactions; flatulence; congestion; difficulty swallowing; hives; digestive discomfort; weight gain; premenstrual syndrome (PMS) symptoms
EGGS
You’ll often hear that eggs are the perfect food. Eating them is ingrained in our culture, as they’ve been a staple for centuries. Problem is, the illnesses that are around today were not such a presence in the past. Eggs no longer work for us—they now work against us by feeding the viral explosion, especially those viruses that contribute to autoimmune disorders and cancer. This is true even when they’re pasture-raised or free-range eggs.
Many people feel fine eating eggs. If you’re not dealing with any symptoms or conditions and eggs work great for your body, or if they’re one of the only foods you have access to, then by all means, keep eating them—just make sure they’re pasture-raised. If, on the other hand, you are dealing with a health challenge, it is best to take a break from eggs at least until you’re better. Otherwise, they will make it more challenging to heal.
Conditions
If you have any of the following conditions, try taking eggs out of your life until recovery:
Breast cancer, reproductive cancers, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, brain tumors, brain cancer, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), fibroids, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)/mononucleosis, thyroid nodules, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and other thyroid disorders, all autoimmune diseases and disorders, inflammatory bowel diseases, acne, adrenal fatigue, migraines, hormonal imbalances, Raynaud’s syndrome, insomnia, depression, anxiety, depersonalization, gallstones, gallbladder disease, Lyme disease, liver disease, endometriosis, interstitial cystitis, psoriatic arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, urinary tract infections (UTIs), vertigo, bacterial vaginosis, vaginal strep, yeast infections, tendonitis, human papilloma virus (HPV), small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), adenomas
Symptoms
If you have any of the following symptoms, try taking eggs out of your life until recovery:
Heart palpitations, brain fog, memory issues, cysts, congestion, Candida overgrowth, body aches and pains, spasms, twitches, edema, food sensitivities, weight issues, hypothyroid, hyperthyroid, vaginal burning, vaginal discharge, vaginal itching, hair loss, constipation, hot flashes, loss of libido, menopause symptoms, premenstrual syndrome (PMS) symptoms
CORN
Corn used to be a wonderful part of our existence as a species. For more than 2,000 years, corn helped humanity not only survive; it helped us thrive. It has a great deal to do with why we’ve gotten as far as we have. Corn used to be nutritious, healing, and fortifying. Then in the snap of a finger, it was destroyed by GMO engineering. Because corn’s DNA has been altered, it now has the ability to feed all manners of ill, giving fuel to the pathogens that contribute to our modern-day epidemic of chronic illness.
If you’re trying to recover from a health challenge, try keeping corn out of your diet at least until you’ve recovered. Once you’ve gotten better, make sure that the corn you choose is organic, and preferably an heirloom variety—although unfortunately, neither of these is a guarantee that the corn hasn’t been GMO-contaminated. Continue to keep limits on how much corn you consume.
If you have any of the following conditions, try taking corn out of your life until recovery:
All types of cancer, all autoimmune diseases and disorders, multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Addison’s disease, Cushing’s syndrome, Sjögren’s syndrome, lupus, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)/mononucleosis, colitis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Crohn’s disease, Lyme disease, vertigo, neurological asthma (an unknown condition), bacterial infection, acne, allergies, brain lesions, Candida overgrowth, immune system deficiencies
Symptoms
If you have any of the following symptoms, try taking corn out of your life until recovery:
Ulcers (including peptic), all neurological symptoms (including tingles, numbness, spasms, twitches, nerve pain, and tightness of the chest), bloating, abdominal cramping, food sensitivities, diarrhea, inflammation
WHEAT
I’m sure that most of you reading this have gone off wheat at some point in your healing process, or else you know someone who has. Many people feel a difference when they take wheat out of the diet—alleviation of specific symptoms as well as a general increase in well-being.
That’s because yet again, wheat is one of those foods that’s changed in usefulness over the years. What was once a staple of survival has altered since the 1950s due to human intervention. Recent tinkering especially has made wheat a highly inflammatory food, because it feeds pathogens in the body. It’s not just gluten that makes wheat a problem for so many people. There are other compounds in it, too, that give fuel to pathogens, which in turn gives rise to all types of symptoms.
If you can eat wheat and feel fine, then chances are that you’re free from the various viruses (and sometimes bacteria) that disrupt the body and cause the illnesses so often labeled as autoimmune disease, Lyme disease, and the like. If you do have health troubles, though, avoid wheat until your condition improves, then if you want to add wheat back into your diet, monitor how you feel as you reintroduce it.
Conditions
If you have any of the following conditions, try taking wheat out of your life until recovery:
Crohn’s disease, colitis, celiac disease, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), H. pylori infection, all other intestinal conditions, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), sleep apnea, chronic sinusitis, interstitial cystitis, urinary tract infections (UTIs), yeast infections, depression, anxiety, bronchitis, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO)
Symptoms
If you have any of the following symptoms, try taking wheat out of your life until recovery:
Clogged ears, overabundance of mucus (in ears, nose, throat, or stools), bloating, gastritis, fatigue, nausea, malaise, listlessness, acid reflux, swelling, itchy skin, joint discomfort, brain fog, chest tightness, food sensitivities, headaches, chemical sensitivities, histamine reactions, cough, congestion, inflammation, hives, hot flashes, mold exposure, sore throat
One seemingly innocuous oil that has snuck into our lives is canola oil (also known as rapeseed oil). While awareness of canola’s health risks is growing, there’s a competing campaign that promotes its benefits. It has become a staple in restaurants, used mostly as a replacement for unhealthy lard, cottonseed oil, and corn oil, and as a cheaper, lower-fat alternative to olive oil. The irony is, canola has its own set of pitfalls.
Don’t be fooled when you hear that canola oil is good for you. Whatever valuable components canola oil has are outweighed by the downsides. If you found out that the wholesome dinners you enjoyed at a friend’s house every Friday night were laced with arsenic, would you still think they were wholesome? Or would you feel that any nutrition they contained were rendered obsolete? While you may not die by the end of the meal, the repeated exposure would still be extremely risky business. You would certainly experience a loss of vitality by the 100th meal. Be just as wary of canola.
Canola oil is severely damaging to the immune system, causing it to become dysfunctional and disruptive to organ and gut health. Canola oil not only feeds pathogens as the other foods above do; it also eats away at all linings in the body—from the stomach and intestinal tract linings to those of veins, arteries, the heart, kidneys, bladder, ureter, urethra, and, if you’re a woman, the linings of the reproductive system.
Conditions
If you have any of the following conditions or want to avoid them, try taking canola oil out of your life:
Any kind of intestinal distress or disorder (including gastroesophageal reflux disease [GERD], pancreatitis, fatty liver, Crohn’s disease, colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome [IBS]), any kind of neurological condition (including Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis [MS], chronic fatigue syndrome [CFS], psoriatic arthritis, fibromyalgia, and rheumatoid arthritis [RA]), Lyme disease, anxiety, depression, thyroid diseases and disorders, stroke, transient ischemic attack (TIA), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, lupus, postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS), Raynaud’s syndrome, adenomas
Symptoms
If you have any of the following symptoms or want to avoid them, try taking canola oil out of your life:
Hair loss, hypothyroid, hyperthyroid, nerve pain, ulcers, intestinal spasms, constipation, diarrhea, chronic loose stools, mucus in the stools, acid reflux, hormonal imbalances, all neurological symptoms (including tingles, numbness, spasms, twitches, nerve pain, and tightness of the chest), trigeminal neuralgia, myelin nerve damage
NATURAL FLAVORS
These hidden toxins invade our food under the guise of harmless additives. What’s labeled as natural flavors (or natural cherry flavor, natural fruit flavor, natural chocolate flavor, natural vanilla flavor, and the like) is actually MSG—a neurotoxin that builds up in the brain and destroys neurons and glial cells. MSG is incredibly detrimental to the central nervous system and can wreak havoc on your life.
And yet it’s becoming a trend for these so-called natural flavorings to be added to even the purest organic packaged foods, as well as herbal teas and nutritional supplements. If you want to avoid illness, be very discerning with food labels—if “natural” and “flavor” are anywhere near each other on an ingredients list, put the package back on the shelf. (Though don’t be afraid of vanilla extract, as long as that’s exactly how it’s labeled.)
Conditions
If you have any of the following conditions or want to avoid them, try taking “natural flavors” out of your life:
Autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), migraines, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, anxiety, depression, all other neurological conditions, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and other thyroid disorders, insomnia, stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), transient ischemic attack (TIA), sciatica, macular degeneration, Lyme disease
Symptoms
If you have any of the following symptoms or want to avoid them, try taking natural flavors out of your life:
Lack of focus and concentration, memory issues, headaches, fatigue, body aches and pains, jaw pain, tooth pain, ringing in the ears, restless leg syndrome, tingles and numbness, back pain, muscle spasms, leg cramps, frozen shoulder, Bell’s palsy, bloating, hair loss, difficulty breathing, difficulty swallowing, joint pain, body stiffness, tightness of the chest, memory loss, brain fog, head pain, seizures, muscle tightness, neuralgia, hypothyroid, hyperthyroid, pinched nerves, trouble focusing, trouble sleeping