CHAPTER FOUR - Starches

The vegetable kingdom produces vast quantities of starch.  It is present in particularly large proportions in all grains, the roots and stems of many plants.  Starch molecules are long-chain carbohydrate molecules, closely related to each other as you will see in CHAPTER FOURTEEN. (Be patient, it will still be published!) Nutritionally they are very important, but because modern commercial practices have led to their being "cornered" by vested interests, many of the products arising are so unnatural that they now constitute a threat to man's well-being.  I have enlarged a little on this theme in chapter fourteen.

Wheaten products and potatoes feature strongly in the diet of many people.  For ourselves we have always favoured whole-wheat bread over other breads, and potatoes cooked in their jackets.  As pointed out later on, we know that we cannot be sure that we are getting truly whole-wheat meal so, having conducted this study, we are now cutting down our consumption of our bread to two slices each and then only two or three times a week!  We have considerably reduced our usage of potatoes too!  At this point a modified Atkins approach is used - "COUNT ALL STARCHES and DI-SACCHARIDES".

CHAPTER THREE - Di- and Tri-Saccharides - Other names for SUGAR

THE SUGARS in this group require more energy in the process of digestion,  The most important one (in our quest) is sucrose or cane sugar.
It is very much sweeter than glucose and it figures in modern man's diet in ever increasing amounts - something that is very much to his detriment!

Munro was surely right when he called it (and all confections and concoctions in which it is used), "devil's food", as it tends to be habit forming and in impairs the palate to the extent that the delicacy of other flavours are forgotten.  Personally, I regard it as a slow poison.  For ourselves, Rona and I, we use none of it except when refusal to sample proferred food might give offense.  Any sucrose we might ingest intentionally (for example in raisins or dried figs) is accompanied by other ingredients in the fruit of origin.  We do not use large quantities of dried fruit.

So, what is one to do about sweetening one's herbal tea or other beverage?  Atkins is in favour of some synthetic sweeteners, but for me, that seems foolish.  Why burden the body's eliminatory system with foreign matter?  Why dull the sensory palate?

CHAPTER TWO - Monosaccharides

A brief look at chapter fourteen (you can' t!  You'll have to wait until I post it!)  will show you that I now intend dealing with two sugars, glucose and fructose.
Biologically, they are probably THE most important of all the sugars!

Nature produces vast quantities of them in the whole vegetable kingdom and if we feed ourselves with them in the natural, whole state, we will also be getting a useful contribution of minerals, vitamins and enzymes.  The calories they supply need not be counted provided the fruit is used in the best way AND also provided that other forms of carbohydrate are restricted.

The ideal source is FRUIT, fresh whole ripe fruit.

The best way to eat fruit is alone - make a meal of fruit.  Don't use it as a little extra at the end or the beginning of a meal, AND, above all, DO NOT AND ANY SUGAR!

As a point of interest; the carbohydrate content of fruits vary between 7% and 20% of the fruit mass.

We have found that the Diamond's idea of sticking to fruit alone for the whole morning to be excellent.  We feel very energetic on this arrangement but thereafter we go along with Essie Honiball (partially) using fruit, nuts, yoghurt (non pasteurised) and sometimes vegetables in a blended mix.  What interesting combinations we come up with!
Before noon there are just two fruits which we exclude namely, Avocados and Bananas; avos because of their high fat content (16.4%) and banana's carbohydrates are complex.
The protein content of fruit varies between 0.2 and 1.3% fat (between trace and 1.0% in grapes!) - all valuable contributions.
Fruit sugars (glucose and fructose) yield almost 100% of their energy as they require a minimum of modification.

CHAPTER ONE - GENERAL

We first adopted the all-fruit breakfast style, as suggested by the Diamonds, about 1992.  Initially, we weren't too conscientious about it, but we certainly found some improvements in our health.  A friend of mine has been on the Atkins routing for several years.  He has a particularly awkward problem threatening diabetes and reports favourably on it without needing to invoke medical assistance.  I decided to make a serious study of it as it is very close to the Munro ideas, but more systematic.  Munro, without actually saying so, made me very conscious of the fact that the caloric theory is pointless, even stupid, so I gave up counting calories.  Atkins confirmed this idea and substitutes a guide by counting carbohydrates.

At this point is seems necessary to put in an aside.  Why should we bother further with our pursuit of a natural, drug-free state of health?  We are really doing very well;

• Rona was containing her blood pressure problem without medical drugs, using herbs;
• her thyroid problem was being controlled with a little extra vitamin plus a homeopathic preparation;
• I couldn't avoid some medication being in the hands of an ophthalmologist for conditions threatening blindness;
• we had a mere passing acquaintance with colds and 'flu.
• We were pretty poor customers of our GP and apothecary.

Well, we just felt we had not really completed the search, the search for perfection - what we felt our Creator was holding out to us; after all, had we not been singled out as evidence by so much prompting and guidance?

While my study of Atkins' ideas was in progress, Rona came across a very slim, unobtrusive book one day while we were visiting the public library.  It was called  "I Live on Fruit" by Essie Honiball.  It was the first edition of her book and it contained photographs of what she looked like before and after she adopted a diet consisting solely of fresh fruit (in season) and a small portion of plain, untoasted nuts under the guidance of a man who had been studying the subject for years and years.  At the time she started under his care, she was really just "skin and bone" weighing something like 30 kg and not responding to any of the treatments prescribed by her doctors.  A few years later she was well covered at about double that mass.  It was the photographs that really caught my attention as they reminded me of how emaciated my first wife looked at the time of her death.  It also reminded me of a book we had acquired while we were living in Tasmania. "Live Food Juices", in which Dr Kirschner describes curing a patient of a similar wasting disease using only carrot juice - one U.S gallon per day!  He showed similar photographs.  I couldn't get to read Essie's book quickly enough.  Since then we have acquired the latest edition of her book - she has been on the diet for over 30 years now and is living in Montagu.  She's done a really marvelous job spreading the knowledge.

Now I had a variety of approaches to the question of healthy eating to compare.  Each of them had some merit, none were without merit.  I know that, from my own observations and from what I had reported to me by persons who felt much the same as I did.  It seemed obvious that in the case of some bodily constitutions, conditions had arisen, maybe of genetic origin, such that tolerances differed widely.  There is also a great possibility that years of dieting in a particular manner induces either weaknesses or strengths in a particular direction.  What then, is the best way to go about finding a diet which can really be described as an ALL ROUND health diet, suitable for everybody?

Certain points stood out very plainly as I considered this matter.

1. The first point is that modern western man tends to be an over eater.  There is a simple explanation for this that I will cover later.
2. The second point that came clearly through, was that most people ate far too much starchy food.  The dangers that lurk therein will be explained later.
3. Less obvious but often confirmed by medical experience, is the heavy consumption of protein, especially animal protein.  I'll attempt to cover this later as well.

The conclusion at which I arrived after comparing all of the books and ideas available therein, pointed very clearly to the concept of wholeness so that "wholesome" meant what it said in the strictest possible way, beyond our meagre understanding of what our Creator had in mind for our well being, that is to say, almost holiness.

At this stage, I think it best to summarize the approach we are using at present and maybe mention what we believe to be our ultimate goal, rather than bore you with our reasonings - such will be provided in the final chapters.  By following this procedure, you can get to the nitty-gritty quite quickly.

In discussing diet, authors often do so under the heading PROTEIN, CARBOHYDRATE, FAT, and probably various minerals and vitamins.  In discussing health the chances are great that EXERCISE and BREATHING will also receive some attention.  For reason which will become apparent later, I propose following a slightly different procedure; the headings I'll be using are MONO SACCHARIDES, DI and TRI-SACCHARIDES, STARCHES and CELLULOSES (i.e. four separate headings in the place of CARBOHYDRATE), FAT, PROTEIN, EXERCISE, BREATHING, "MEDICINAL" HERBS, ELIMINATION, MENTAL STATE and IMPLEMENTATION.

Introduction

At various times over the years, I have committed to paper the progress we, my wife and I, have made in our pursuit of health for our family.  The object of this present effort (in 1997),  is to bring the saga up to date.  Each time I did a write up I provided a copy for each member of the family to or ignore as he/she thought fit.  I have no intention of repeating all the early details, but to make this intelligible, I will need to refer briefly to some of the key points on the journey which began approximately 45 years ago.  The younger members of our immediate family probably have a special need for this knowledge and we would be failing in our duty as parents if we did not share it with them.  Our knowledge was acquired at great cost, emotionally and financially, and it would be wicked on our part if we did not attempt to share it with them.  It would be foolish on their part if they neglected the opportunity to benefit from our experience.  Wise is the man who learns from his own mistakes; but how much wiser is he who learns from another's?
Since the subject is also of interest to some friends and acquaintances, I do it for them too as I have already been approached for copies.

 

I first learnt that what and how one eats can affect health conditions about 73 years ago.  I really only learned the lesson which was given then, very recently, for at that time the impact on me was more a matter of annoyance and regret.  My Dad had a "sweet tooth" and regularly bought a good supply of sweets to which I was allowed fairly generous access.  I used to come out in a rash of "itchy bumps" which drove me to distraction and I scratched myself raw.  The doctor who was consulted said the condition was caused by either too much sugar or too much meat.  We were not big meat eaters, so obviously the sugar was to blame.  As young as I was, with encouragement from the family, I was able to resist the temptations reasonably well; I even stopped taking sugar in tea, thus copying my mother, rather than my father.

About 45-50 years ago, my first wife "Tinker" was getting more and more ill and responded poorly to the medical treatment.  I was loaned a copy of a book by Dr. Munro titled "Man Alive You're Half Dead".  He branded all foodstuffs containing sugar and starch as "Devil's Food", and while not actually banning them, he strongly recommended separating them from protein and fat foodstuffs because of the difference in conditions as regards digestive environment.  It is beyond doubt that I benefited from the adoption of Munro's ideas, but there seemed to be little improvement as far as Tinker's condition was concerned.  Ultimately Tinker succumbed in 1945.  To this day I strongly believe that SHE DIED THAT WE MIGHT LIVE - IF WE CHOOSE TO LEARN FROM THAT TRAGEDY.

Had it not been for Rona, my wife, companion and helper from 1946, all could and probably would have been lost.  Being busy with daily activities, having a growing family, all the factors we humans encounter and have to cope with, meant that really, we learned very slowly.  While in Tasmania we acquired a goodly number of excellent naturopathic books from Melbourne where we had contact with a mail-order house supplying health foods, rare herbs, homeopathic supplies as well.  One book I need to mention is "Live Food Juices" by H E Kirschner.  On returning to South Africa, we added many books to our library.  Here I'll only mention those that deal with diet in relation to health:-

• "How To Get Well" by Paavo Airola
• Several little books by Morris Krok
• "Mucusless Healing System" by Arnold Ehret
• "Dr Atkins Diet Revolution" by R C Atkins
• "Fit for Life" by H & M Diamond
• "I Live on Fruit" by Essie Honiball

Since writing most of the text in this little work of mine, we came across  another book in which the author, and Osteopath named Giraud W Campbell expresses views very similar to those expressed in the books previously mentioned, but places emphasis in slightly different areas.  The book is titled "A Doctors Proven Cure for Arthritis".