A Healthy Life Made Simple

A. INTRODUCTION

Diseases have ever plagued mankind and they come in two main forms: communicable and non-communicable diseases. Communicable diseases (CDs), also known as infectious diseases, are transferrable from person to person, animal to person, or vice versa through contact, air, water, food or the environment. CDs are caused by disease-causing micro-organisms (germs or pathogens) that are grouped into four infectious agents: bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on the other hand, are not caused by pathogens and are not transferrable; although some viruses (called oncoviruses e.g., human papillomavirus (HPV) is implicated in cervical cancer while hepatitis C virus is associated with liver cancer & non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma) and bacteria (e.g., helicobacter pylori causing gastric cancer) are known to cause cancer, such cancers are not transferrable. NCDs can occur through injuries or physiological (bodily) malfunctions and include diseases such as ulcer, asthma, birth defects (cleft palate, haemophilia, blindness, deafness, paralysis etc.), diabetes, hypertension, stroke, cancer, kidney failure, liver failure, Alzheimer, autoimmune disorders etc.

For the purposes of this magazine, however, the focus shall mainly be on cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, autoimmune diseases and cancer. Diabetes, stroke, cancer, and hypertension are not new. Unearthed Egyptian mummies show that many of the Royals of Egypt died from such diseases. Prior to the 20th and 21st centuries, such diseases were the reserve of the rich and well-to-do, who feasted and dined on animal flesh almost every day. With the birth of the industrial revolution, commercial agriculture and industrial food animal production, the price of animal foods/products plummeted, and animal products became part of the daily diet of many western families.

The advent of automobiles and other automated machines replaced walking and physical activity (to complete daily tasks), foods were processed and preserved to avoid losses, restaurants sprang up to fill the hunger of the working masses who were now so busy at their manufacturing or industrial jobs that they had little time to cook their own food. More and more women were employed than before and the family circle’s dinner/supper were replaced with eating or buying ‘take-aways’ from restaurants. While the industrial revolution made life easier and simpler than before, it had its downsides.  

Within a few decades, many people in the industrialised nations of western Europe and North America, Australia and New Zealand began to have cardiovascular problems, increasing blood sugar and cancers, Alzheimer, arthritis and autoimmune diseases, liver and kidney failures etc. These “new” epidemics were called Western lifestyle diseases, because they were associated with the Western and Industrialised World and their affluent lifestyle (https://unchronicle.un.org/article/lifestyle-diseases-economic-burden-health-services).

Today, these diseases are the major killer of mankind worldwide, with an estimated 41 million people (equivalent to 71% of all deaths globally) being killed globally and several millions being paralysed or physically maimed by it. Unfortunately, but notably, the spread of Western civilization and lifestyle from Europe and North America to Africa, South America and Asia have led to the importation of these diseases to these continents, further evincing the fact that these diseases are caused by a shift in lifestyle than by genetic or hereditary factors.  

The most worrying of all these statistics is the increasing realisation that more people in Africa will die from these Western lifestyle diseases than any other part of the globe by 2030.  

In summary, these diseases are mainly caused by lifestyle changes such as inactivity, fatty foods, salted foods, animal diets (eggs, dairy, meat, fish), processed foods, sleeping after meals (late suppers), alcoholism, smoking, and a stressful life (working for long hours with little rest or recreation). 

It therefore stands to reason that, if these diseases are caused by a change in lifestyle, then they can be reversed and prevented by a change in lifestyle! This common-sense approach has saved the lives of many who have attempted and defied all odds to try it. The greatest challenge, however, is that people are so used to the modern lifestyle that they are unable to maintain or sustain a dietary change that will inure to their benefit. The most important milestone in the fight against NCDs is the identification of the causes. Having identified the cause, the next step is to remove the cause. But what does medical science do? Instead of advising patients to change their diet, they rather manufacture drugs upon drugs to solve a problem that was caused by lifestyle! 

The food industry, in cahoots with medicine and pharmacy, continually proffer expensive and toxic medications to unsuspecting patients who gullibly take their advice and live an eternal life of taking pills and injections and/or undergo surgeries for diseases that are preventable and reversible with a dietary change. Moreover, people would rather swallow a pill than stop taking their darling fast foods and fat-laden sweets. This brief magazine, therefore, seeks to proffer a dietary and non-medicine-based solution to those who are willing to prevent and/or reverse these conditions in themselves or in their relatives and friends.

B. The problem explained

Why do these foods and inactivity cause NCDs? I will briefly attempt to explain these here and further show why taking drugs without a change in diet is akin to fetching water with a basket. 

 Animal products 

Animal products contain cholesterol, high levels of proteins and saturated fats or lipids. If they were raised in commercial farms, then there is a high likelihood that they were given growth hormones and antibiotics (as growth promoters), which also cause health problems in the consumer. The presence of cholesterol, proteins and saturated lipids make animal products the major cause or risk factor for getting NCDs for the following reasons:  

1. 

   High protein diet leads to high levels of uric acid (the by-product of protein metabolism) in the consumer. Higher levels of uric acid make the blood acidic, forcing the body to extract calcium from the bones to balance the blood acidity. This leaking of calcium from the bones leads to osteoporosis and bone-associated disorders.  

2. The uric acid settles in the joints of the bones to cause gouty arthritis and other forms of arthritis or becomes crystallised in the urine and cause kidney stones. 
3. Higher uric acid levels also burden the kidneys and can cause kidney failure and other kidney diseases.

   

4. The cholesterol and saturated fats in animal products settle in the veins and arteries of the consumer, leading to atherosclerosis (build-up of cholesterol and lipids in blood vessels), arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries and veins), clogged arteries and veins (leading to hypertension, angina pectoris, heart attacks and strokes), floating fatty clots of blood called embolus that can cause deep-vein thrombosis, stroke, and heart attacks etc. 
5. Meat and animal products are addictive as drugs, making it difficult for the consumer to stop eating it. This makes it even more difficult to control or stop taking animal products. 

Therefore, one of the first and important decisions to make with regards to reversing or preventing NCDs, particularly cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), is to totally stop eating animal products, or for those who are seriously addicted, reduce it to an occasional or sparing use such as once weekly, monthly or yearly. In addition, it is better to use smoked fish/meat than fried or cooked ones. One may also decide to use only eggs and/or dairy sparingly and avoid all other animal products, albeit total abstinence offers the best health outcome. 

Fatty foods 

Fatty foods refer to foods that contain high amounts of saturated or unsaturated fats, although saturated fats are more dangerous because of their tendency to solidify at room temperature. Everyone needs some amount of fats to build important body and cell components, absorb fat-soluble vitamins, provide concentrated energy as well as insulate the body against cold during winter. However, the best form of fats for the body is polyunsaturated and unsaturated fats, which are mainly obtained from plants and are liquid at room temperature. On the other hand, saturated fats are animal-based and solid at room temperature. Saturated fats are dangerous to health for the following reasons: 

1. It settles within the arteries and veins, occluding blood flow and restricting the internal volume of the blood vessels. This can lead to hypertension, stroke and other CVDs.

   

2. It coats the blood cells, making them stick to each other to form clots. These clots, called thrombus/embolus, can cause heart attacks, stroke, pulmonary embolism, and deep-vein thrombosis (which can cause leg pain and swelling). 
3. Pulmonary embolism is the most dangerous form of deep-vein thrombosis as the clots can stop blood flow to and fro the lungs, leading to symptoms such as sudden shortness of breath, chest pain or discomfort that worsens when you take a deep breath or when you cough, feeling lightheaded or dizzy, or fainting, rapid pulse, and coughing up blood.
4. The clotting of the blood reduces the number of red blood cells that can transport oxygen to the body’s cells, tissues and organs, reducing the total volume of oxygen transported throughout the body. This affects your cell, tissue, and organ respiration (energy output/efficiency) and function. It is the absence of oxygen in the brain and heart that cause stroke and heart attack respectively. Without oxygen, your cells and organs will die. 
5. The clotting of white blood cells can also reduce the efficiency of the immune system to fight off diseases, which explains why fatty foods are highly associated with reduced immune system efficiency and increased risk to infectious diseases, diabetes, cancer etc. 
6. Fats also lead to diabetes, obesity and its associated problems, bone problems due to the increased weight resulting from the high energy content of fats, which result in more of the consumed fats being stored as adipose tissue as less of the consumed fats are used to provide the energy needs of the body. 

Fatty foods, what are they? They refer to foods that contain large amounts of saturated fats such as animal products (eggs, dairy, meat, fish), margarine or hydrogenated oils/fats (also called trans fats), mayonnaise, cream, fast foods and deeply fried foods such as french fries/chips. To cut down on your fats intake, you must either cut down or avoid the fatty foods as mentioned above. The best form of fats is from unrefined, cold-pressed and non-GMO (genetically modified organisms) vegetable oils such as virgin olive oil, canola, coconut oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, and flaxseed oil. Please note that not all these vegetables oils are unrefined, cold pressed and non-GMO, so always read the label first before buying. 

The commonest and most notorious type of lipids is cholesterol, a waxy substance found in humans and animals. Although there is good cholesterol, they are made by the body and not obtained from animals. Plants don’t produce cholesterol, although a plant version of cholesterol, called phytosterol, which has a similar chemical structure to cholesterol, is almost always misconstrued to be cholesterol. Whereas cholesterol is very important for bodily functions such as hormone biosynthesis and forms an important component of cell membranes, excess cholesterol from animals lead to hypertension, diabetes, arteriosclerosis and all other problems caused by fats as labelled above.

Sugar and sugary foods

Sugar is a simple carbohydrate obtained mainly from plants and fruits. It is an important source of energy for humans and all living organisms. In their natural state in plants and fruits, they come with a lot of fibre, vitamins and minerals with less sweetness. Sugar can come in simple (mono- and di-saccharides) and complex forms (polysaccharides). Simple monosaccharide sugars include fructose (fruit sugar, mainly found in fruits and honey, it’s the sweetest of all sugars), glucose (or dextrose) and galactose while simple disaccharides include sucrose (table sugar, a combination of fructose and glucose molecules), lactose (milk sugar, a combination of glucose and galactose molecules), and maltose (a combination of two glucose molecules). Complex sugars include starch, glycogen (animal starch), cellulose, hemicellulose, pectins, gums & mucilages, β-glucans, chitin and chitosan; lignins are part of plant fibre, but are made of multi-ring units of alcohol instead of sugars. 

In order to increase its sweetness, sugar is extracted from fruits, refined and concentrated into white crystalline powders (table sugar) or syrups (corn, maple, fructose syrups, etc.). This refining and concentration process removes all the important vitamins, minerals and fibre, allowing the sugar to be easily and quickly absorbed into the blood, which shoots up blood sugar.

The immediate increase in blood sugar after consuming refined sugar (table sugar), syrups or sugary foods such as fruits juices, sugary drinks, confectionery (toffees/candy, biscuits etc.), chocolates, fizzy drinks, snacks, pies, jams, ice cream etc., result in immediate satisfaction and high bursts of energy. However, this quickly subsides as the body releases insulin (a hormone produced in the pancrease to regulate blood glucose) to convert all this excess sugar into glycogen (a storage form of excess carbohydrates in animals) and facilitate sugar absorption into cells. This leads to the relatively short-term satisfaction usually experienced with sugary foods. Just like fats (and cholesterol), the highly concentrated forms of refined sugar leads to:

1. Higher consumption of energy (calories) per kilogram of sugary foods, leading to excess weight gain and obesity alongside its associated health problems, when the body stores the excess energy as glycogen and fats. 
2. Incessant spikes in blood sugar and increased fats, leading to insulin tolerance and diabetes mellitus. 
3. CVDs such as hypertension, heart attack, stroke, kidney failure etc. 
4. Thrombo-embolism, immunosuppression, lower respiration rate and associated health outcomes as discussed above under fats in pages 9-10 points 1-6.

   

While simple sugars are mainly found in fruits, certain rhizomes and plants such as sugarcane and sugar beets, complex carbohydrates are abundant in all plants, seeds, nuts, fruits, stems, leaves, roots etc. Complex carbohydrates cannot be absorbed directly into the blood but are first broken down by enzymes (called amylases) into simple sugars before they are absorbed. 

However, fibre, consisting of cellulose, chitin, gums & mucilage etc. is not digestible and do not provide energy (calories) to the eater, but only decreases the energy content of food by taking up space (increasing bulk). Just as simple sugars from fruits and plants are refined into concentrated forms, grains/cereals such as maize/corn, wheat and rice are also refined to remove their cellulose/fibres to increase their taste. However, the refining of cereals rids them of an important component, the indigestible part or fibre, which slows down the release of other simple sugars and starch into the blood stream during digestion.

Owing to this refinement process, staple foods such as maize, rice and wheat used around the world are concentrated in carbohydrates (sugars and starch) and deficient in fibre. Without fibre, cholesterol, other chemical(s) and pathogenic agents that otherwise could have been bound by the fibre and excreted through the faeces are absorbed into the bloodstream. Furthermore, the concentration of starch and sugars in refined cererals increases the per kilogram calorie/energy content of rice, maize and wheat, leading to weight gain, obesity, diabetes, CVDs and other complications listed above. Unrefined or whole-grain cereals are thus more healthy than refined ones as they do not allow immediate release of sugars into the blood, making them ideal for persons with diabetes and those seeking to prevent weight loss/obesity, CVDs, consitpation, cancers etc. 

These shocking relevations show the importance of avoiding refined sugars and carbohydrates such as white bread, white rice, pastries made from refined flour (such as pancakes, doughnuts, meat pies, cakes etc). 

There is also the issue of hidden sugars in processed and packaged foods, which are added to processed foods such as tin/canned foods, beverages, breakfast cereals, fruit juices etc. to increase their taste. These hidden sugars add to the daily sugar intake, which increase our energy/caloric intake, leading to obesity and associated health problems.  

Recently, there have been a surge in the discovery and use of non-carbohydrate and synthetic sweeteners that have greater sweetening capacity than sugars. These artificial sweeteners do not add to the calorie/energy content of the food and are thought to be safer and better than carbohydrate-based sweeteners with regards to obesity, diabetes and other CVDs. Currently approved sweeteners include saccharin, acesulfame, aspartame, neotame, and sucralose, and these are found in several manufactured products such as carbonated soft drinks, yoghurt, chewable vitamins, drugs/medicines, tabletop sweeteners.

While many food companies and individuals are substituting sugars with these sweeteners with the thought that they are safe, scientific findings suggest otherwise. Artificial sweeteners have been linked to the following conditions: cancers, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, weight gain, nausea & vomiting, migraines, insomnia (sleep problems), memory loss, seizures, depression, joint and abdominal pains, change in heart rate etc.8.9 Readers are therefore cautioned to read food labels carefully before buying or consuming any manufactured products. 

Food additives and preservatives

Almost all processed and packaged foods come with food additives, including preservatives, to enhance the taste, appearance, packaging and storage. It is almost impossible to avoid food additives (and preservatives) in processed and packaged food unless simple and raw ingredients are used to cook the food at home. Natural spices such as clove, anise, nutmegs, ginger etc. are additives that are added to food to enhance their tastes and to even prolong their storage (shelf life). Egyptian mummies were embalmed with spices that helped preserve the corpses for centuries.

After the death of Jesus, the Bible states in Luke 24:1 that “…upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.”. Traditionally, foods were preserved with salts, vinegar, sugar, drying, boiling, and freezing, which posed little or no health threat to the consumer. However, many food additives have become notorious for their health effects and readers are hereby cautioned of their effects. 

Commonly used additives include:

• Monosodium glutamate (MSG) (which has been associated with cancers, allergies, weight gain etc.),
• Artificial food colourants such as Blue 1, Red 40, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 that are associated with allergies,
• Sodium nitrite (that is commonly used to preserve meat from bacterial degradation, adds a salty taste and a reddish pink colour to meat; heat exposure turns nitrites into cancer-causing nitrosamines),
• Guar gum (a carbohydrate that serves as a binding and thickening agent, which is generally considered safe; it’s common in ice creams, soups, salad dressings, sauces etc.),
• High-fructose corn syrup (made from corn and common in soda, toffees, juice, snacks, cereals etc.; it consists of concentrated fructose and high amounts can cause obesity and diabetes),
• Artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose, saccharin and acesulfame potassium),
• Carrageenan (derived from seaweed and used as a thickener, preservative and emulsifier, has been associated with health issues although evidence is limited),
• Sodium benzoate (a preservative common in carbonated drinks, fruit juices, pickles, condiments etc., has been found to react with Vitamin C to form benzene, a cancerous compound),
• Trans fats (made by hydrogenating unsaturated fats, increases CVDs; they are found in biscuits, margarine, microwave popcorn etc.),
• Xanthan gum (obtained from plants and are generally safe),
• Artificial flavourings (chemicals that mimic the taste of natural foods; they caused disroders in experimental mice),
• Yeast extract (made from sugar and yeast, is added to cheese, soy sauce, salty snacks etc. as a flavourant; it contains high levels of sodium and glutamate, although it is considered relatively safe).

  

Other chemicals used to preserve food include alcohol, sulphites (e.g. sulphur dioxide; causes bronchial irritation), butylates (increases blood pressure and cholesterol), sorbates (sodium or potassium sorbate), antioxidants (they preserve food by scavenging free radicals and include sulphites, Vitamins C & E and BHA i.e., butylated hydroxy anisole), antibacterial agents (Benzoates, Sodium benzoate, Sorbates and Nitrites), chelators (Disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), Polyphosphates and Citric acid), and caramel (common in bread, frozen pizza, candies, brown-coloured foods; causes cancer and vitamin B6 deficiency).

Owing to the widespread use of different food additives (and preservatives) in processed and fast/restaurant foods, it is advisable to cook one’s own food using simple ingredients.  

It is worthy to note that pesticides such as fungicides, insecticides, herbicides, antibiotics, nematicides and rodenticides, are used in large amounts in commercial agriculture and animal husbandry. These pesticides persist on fruits, leaves, roots, eggs, and all foods, necessitating that foods are well washed, peeled, and/or decontaminated with activated charcoal and/or baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) prior to eating. Owing to the health risks associated with pesticides (cancers, Alzheimer’s, allergies etc.) such as glyphosate (or Roundup), the commonest pesticide used worldwide, it is better to avoid eating the peels of raw fruits or eating vegetables without proper decontamination with activated charcoal or baking soda.

It is also advisable to buy or eat organically grown food to reduce or avoid the risk of being exposed to pesticides, many of which are organophosphates. Due to the serious health issues associated with pesticides, the EU, California and several other countries are banning several of them. Although more pesticides are being banned worldwide, the safety of those still in use cannot be guaranteed, and caution in both their exposure and consumption are advised to minimise risk. 

 Stimulants 

Stimulatory drugs, such as cocaine and marijuana, are well-known worldwide. However, few people are aware of the stimulating power of certain foods that are commonly taken these days and their effect on human health, particularly on CVDs. Stimulants excite the nervous and cardiovascular system, producing higher-than-natural feelings or effects that make the consumer ‘happy’ or energized. Common energy drinks contain stimulants that increase the energy of the consumer but leave him/her more exhausted after the effects wane away. Take note, stimulants are addictive.

Food stimulants, the common name given to stimulants taken as food, include coffee (which contains caffeine), chocolate or cocoa (contains caffeine and theobromine), tea-leaf or tea-bags (contains aminophylline/theophylline, caffeine, & pseudoephedrine; tea contains more caffeine than coffee), alcohol or ethanol (contained in wine, whiskey, brandy, vodka, beer, liquor, fermented beverages, fermented foods etc.), cinnamon (from several tree barks), nicotine (found in cigarrettes) and spices such as chillies (contains capsaicin, which is an active ingredient in many pain killer drugs due to its pain-relieving effects through its action on substance P, a pain messenger/neurotransmitter).  

Stimulants have medicinal/pharmacological activity on the body, and their intake has been shown to cause certain health problems. For instance, alcohol, caffeine and nicotine have been associated with cancers and CVDs. Besides its health benefits in pain relief (particulary in arthritis) and anti-obesity, capsaicin causes inflammation, increased heart palpitations, diarrhoea, increased taste for alcohol and other opioids due to its effect on the cerebral opioid system.15 In summary, stimulatory foods (coffee, tea, hot spices/chilies, cocoa etc.) are not advisable due to their psychotic and cardiovascular effects, except in medical conditions when they are prescribed for an ailment. 

C. A healthy dietary plan

Persons who want to prevent or reverse chronic disease conditions can use a good diet system to achieve good results. In choosing a good menu, one should bear in mind the need to avoid certain dangerous foods and the importance of balancing the diet to ensure adequate nutritive value. Foods that need to be avoided have been well explained above while those that need to be treated well to reduce chemical contaminations from pesticides have also been described. 

Number of meals per day. 

In this day of fast foods and snacking, there is a higher temptation to eat at every turn. This is wrong and contributes to overeating, food addiction and obesity with their associated health problems. The number of meals eaten, and the type or component of meals are very crucial to maintaining a healthy body and weight. To maintain a healthy body weight and health, the following rules must be adhered to: 

1. If you are a sedentary or office worker, eat twice a day. 
2. If you are a manual or hard worker, standing throughout the day or working manually, eat thrice a day. 
3. Avoid eating between meals. Only take water between meals. 
4. Allow at least 5-6 hours between meals. This is necessary to avoid overburdening the stomach. The stomach takes on average 4 hours to digest any meal. After digesting the food, it is important to allow the stomach to have an hour rest. Snacking or eating between meals interferes with the digestion process, prolongs digestion and keeps the stomach working throughout the day. This is a drain on the body’s energy, making the stomach worn out, weak and tired. Due to the close association between the enteric and central nervous systems, the incessant indulgence of the stomach with food affects the brain’s capacity to function at high efficiency. Eating between meals also drains the blood into the gastrointestinal tract, robbing the other parts of the body of essential blood necessary for respiration, nutrition, protection/immunity, repair, restoration etc. 
5. Allow at least 4 hours after meals before bed/sleeping. Sleeping immediately after meals is a high risk for obesity as the body (in its resting state) converts the digested food into fats or glycogen. This explains why sleeping after meals increases stomach size. 
6. Maintain a healthy exercise programme. Walking, jogging, running, or engaging in useful physical exercise helps expend with stored or excess energy, which helps the body maintain a constant weight, clear clogged blood vessels, improve cellular respiration, and reduces risk of NCDs.  

Water intake 

Water is very crucial for a healthy body as it is used for almost all body processes. Water is also continually being lost from the body through sweating, defaecation, urine, respiration, breathing, working etc. Low water intake forces the kidneys to concentrate urine, increasing one’s risk for crystallization of uric acid in urine, which cause kidney stones, as well as kidney failure. Lower water intake also decreases blood volume, concentrates the blood and increases blood density, which makes it difficult for the heart to easily pump blood throughout the body. Concentrated blood also affects efficient circulation due to its increased viscosity. Lower water intake also affects brain function and can lead to comatose conditions. 

Irrespective of these important benefits of water, the following rules should be observed with water intake:  

1. Take at least 8 glasses (~500mL per glass or a minimum of 3 Litres) of water daily. 

1. Allow at least 45 mins after meals before drinking water to allow the digestive juices to easily soak and digest the food. Taking water with meals creates a herculean task for the body as it must absorb all the water from the food and soak it with appropriate digestive fluids containing the right temperature, enzymes and pH necessary for enzymatic digestion. Without these initial steps, the digestive fluids shall be diluted by the water, making it difficult for efficient digestion to take place. Any small changes in the stomach/oral conditions (temperature, pH, nutrients etc.) shall make it impossible for digestion to take place as it is undertaken by enzymes. Finally, taking water with meals will allow germs that would otherwise have been killed by the stomach acidity to proliferate and cause avoidable infections. 

1. Avoid taking cold drinks, which quench the body temperature and immediately cease digestion. Cold fluids taken with or after meals thus force the body to heat up the water prior to re-commencing digestion. This delay can cause fermentation of the food, prolong digestion and reduce effective digestion. 

A generic healthy menu 

Below is a generic menu that can be adapted, expanded and modified according to the life patterns, staple foods, customs and geographic location of the reader. Sedentary workers can eat twice (breakfast and supper) while manual workers can eat thrice (breakfast, lunch and supper) as they have different energy usage and needs. Manual workers expend more energy and thus need more energy while sedentary workers expend less and require less. It is always advisable to eat heavy in the morning and light in the evening to enable the stomach easily dispense with the food before bed.  

Never forget to add legumes to cereals to get the full complement of required amino acids per day, particularly if your diet contains no animal food products. In addition, due to their different digestion times, do not mix fruits with vegetables as the presence of simple and complex sugars can affect the digestion when the simple sugars are first absorbed while the complex sugars are still being digested.  

Table 1. Generic Table showing food combinations for persons who want to prevent or reverse non-communicable diseases. 

D. Conclusion

The standard diets recommended by dietitians are not able to prevent or reverse chronic NCDs in patients, belying its inability to help prevent or reverse these killer diseases. It is notable that the best way to solve a problem is to remove its cause. Thus, the best way to stay healthy and reverse most NCDs is to remove the foods and stop the lifestyles that cause them. Once the foods and bad lifestyle habits are changed, the factors sustaining these NCDs will be no more, making it easy for the body to reverse the condition itself.  

Plant-based antioxidants and phytochemicals have been found to be very beneficial in preventing and reversing inflammatory conditions that cause most of these NCDs. Hence, a diet rich in whole non-GMO fruits, nuts, seeds, vegetables, legumes, tubers, fingers and cereals/grains with no pesticides are the best form of foods for sustainable health. Anyone who tries these will attest to their healing power, safety and longevity enhancing capacity. 

***A downloadable PDF version of this article is available at the Shop.

E. Bibliography

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