The fact of the matter is: you can eat yourself sick but can’t eat yourself back in health.
Once unhealthy, there is no way you can keep eating and hoping to get healthy, no matter what you eat.
That’s a bit thick coming from me, you might say. I am, after all, claimed to teach people on how to use food as medicine. And yes, I teach that food can be your medicine. I also teach it can be your poison.
Here’s the thing: Eating yourself healthy starts by not eating at all. The practice is called small intermittent fasting.
I will tell you an anecdote of a recent cry for help. A grandmother called to see if there is anything I could help his 13-year-old grandson who had been diagnosed with gastritis. After a chat it came evident that the kids in the family have a 9pm “snack” with a half a French baton with fresh cheese spread and ham gulped down with coca cola, which they actually had at least about 1l a day. She was hoping I could give her advice what to feed the kids in the evening instead.
I don’t want to go into details about this case however, the point here is that there is nothing you can give instead. The only way to heal gastritis and any other gastric disorders is to fast (for a safe period of time). Imagine you have inflamed skin, say from sunburn. Then you go and rub pasta, or a baton with ham and cheese on it. That’s what is feels like in the gut when you try to digest it whilst it’s going through a bout of inflammation (the -itis).
Mothers, fathers and carers in numbers will object to this. “It is impossible for me to send my son to bed with an empty stomach.” Yes, at first it is. Then they’ll get used to it and then they will heal.
Night-time is THE time when the body heals itself. It replenishes its energy levels, detoxifies the brain, it reduces decongestion (lymphatic drainage) and most importantly, lowers down inflammation. These all are THE PRIORITY in any systemic chronic conditions. These automatic, self-preserving activities are genetically wired in every cell of our bodies and they will do their job if you give them the chance. The chance comes from an empty gut.
If you want to heal, do not eat in the evening. That includes kids. (You can give them calories before 5pm at their needed dose). Eating will not save them or yourself from sickness but fasting will. There are very safe ways for you and your kids to do it and if you do it right, the benefits will exceed your expectations.
