Friday's Fav... "You Are What You Eat"

About three years ago I got hooked on a show televised by the BBC. It is called, "You Are What You Eat". The hour show is hosted by a very blunt, yet caring nutritionist named Gillian McKeith. The show takes place in the UK where she visits the home of an overweight family who wants diet and nutrition help and upon meeting them likes to be introduced to their food pantry. While scanning the food, she is somehow able to diagnose health problems in the family, one by one. And every time, she nails them just by seeing the food. Indigestion, diabetes, migraines, hair loss, moodiness and so on. She then works on reversing their poor eating habits into healthy ones and over 8 weeks you see a miraculous change.

During the same time a good friend of mine told me about a wonderful book a friend had just given her. It was changing a lot of the way she and her family were eating. She explained to me how healthy sprouts were. Those curly little green things in the produce section that are tightly packed in a clear plastic box... are amazingly nutritional superstars. Something I never would've guessed. Then my friend told me the title of the book, "You Are What You Eat"! After flipping through the book, I knew I had to get it. It is definitely one of my favorite, go-to health and nutrition books... and the woman even encourages body brushing, you know I'm a huge fan of that!

A lot of books on nutrition can be really boring and dull, but Gillian's book is colorful with lots of pictures and very easy to read. What I really like about Gillian, is that she relates what you are eating to why you are having health issues. Also if there are deficiencies occurring, she will investigate as to what nutrients are lacking in one's diet to reverse the deficiency. She clearly lists symptoms people may be experiencing and the foods and/or supplements needed that will help or even cure. One quote I love that she says in the book is, "Most people have no idea how well they could really be."

One section I found particularly interesting was titled, The Top Body Signs. Here she goes in to describing ways your body is telling you it is sick... specifically the tongue. She describes a healthy tongue versus a sick tongue. If you have a sick tongue (there are 8 sick tongue classifications... one example is a crack down the middle) somewhere your body is sick and she ingeniously has a food or supplement to treat it. Sometimes it is getting rid of sugar or other "nasties" too. So now what do I do when I talk to people... yep, I study their tongue.

Gillian encourages all her patients to take inventory of what food they are eating for 10 days. And then to journal each day on how they are feeling and if there are any symptoms or mood swings. She also has a list of the "Nasties". These are the foods people should avoid. She explains why these are harmful and if you want to make changes for the better, you need to rid yourself of them... the first one is sadly coffee. Then there is the Abundant Food List... and it is long. Healthy beans, nuts, grains, fruits & veggies and herbal teas, etc. Its always nice to know of all the foods we can eat and enjoy.

She genuinely wants to help people be well. I love her enthusiasm for life and well-being. There are instructions on how to do a safe detox and then a seven day meal plan followed by recipes to get you started.

Good luck and Happy Easter!