The Plan

I have been doing a lot of reading recently about eating in a more healthy, back-to-basics way. Michael Pollan's book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" pushed me to take seriously the things I had heard for a while, but not worried about much--that refined sugars and flours are bad, processed food is bad, that our food animals are being raised in ways that make them unhealthy food for us, and the average American needs to eat a LOT more fruits and vegetables. There's a lot of other good stuff in there, too, but those are some of the main points.

One thing that I think he mentioned, and that I've seen discussed in other places, is how diet affects the disease of acne, as well as many other diseases. After looking into this some more, I decided to try a 40 day "eating experiment" where I will avoid or heavily cut back on the foods that are most commonly thought to contribute to acne (and other health problems) and see if it helps my complexion. I've had a troublesome complexion since high school, but have never tried helping myself through my diet.

So, here is the plan in a nutshell. I plan to list the "whys" of the different parts in another post.

I will avoid or severely cut back on:
Sugary foods
Highly processed foods
Dairy
Vegetable oil
Shellfish
Pork
Caffeine
Grains (avoiding all refined grains, and cutting back on whole grains)

I can freely eat:
Fruits
Vegetables
Meats & fish
Eggs
Nuts (not roasted, and not too many at a time)
Olive oil or other fruit oils (coconut, avocado, grapeseed, etc.)

I am trying to drink the recommended 8 cups of water a day, and I'm taking the supplements saw palmetto, zinc, cod liver oil, and selenium.

I am trying to get a good amount of sleep each night, since sleeping contributes to healing.

I also am working toward buying organic fruits and vegetables as much as possible, and getting meat and eggs from pastured animals (ones that have eaten only grass, not fed grains.) There are a couple of farms within 15 minutes of my house that can really help with this, and I like the produce selection at Publix. Their prices on produce seem to be better than Kroger, too. I usually shop at Super Walmart for regular grocery items, but their produce selection is paltry compared to Publix.

So that's the plan, and I will be posting each day's meals along with other thoughts and resources that seem appropriate. I hope this blog can be helpful to others who want to improve their health by putting good food into God's temple.