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17 minutes to Better Health

A fellow chiropractor sent me a link to a 17 minute TED talk that changed my life (yet again) and propelled me into the pursuit of even greater health goals. You can watch it, too, on You Tube. Here, I think, is how to watch it, or at least here is the information and now it's up to you: Youtube.com/TEDxIowa City - Dr. Terry Wahls - Minding your Mitochondria. Briefly, the talk is by a female MD who had rapidly progressing MS. At one point, she was in a reclining zero-gravity wheel chair and was taking the latest pharmaceuticals from the best clinic in the country for MS (Cleveland Clinic). Nothing was working to slow the progression of the MS and after 7 years of the very best medical help she had transitioned into Secondary Progressive MS which is a dire prognosis.

She then began to do her own research. She researched the brain and its connections and the myelin sheaths around the nerves (MS attacks the myelin) and the nutrients that would increase the energy and health of her mitochondria and reverse the rapidly decreasing size of her brain. In MS, not only does your brain shrink, but your mitochondria take early retirement, as they do in Huntingtons, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Dr. Wahls found a few key elements to enhance the energy of her mitochondria - specifically B1, B6, B9, B12, Omega 3's, iodine, sulfur and antioxidants. She then changed her diet drastically, and although it wasn't clear to me, I think she is taking specific supplements, too.

This is a feel-good story. Her recovery from MS was rapid and within 3 months of changing her diet she was walking with one cane, after 4 months - walking with no cane, after 5 months - biking around the block and at 9 months she took an 18 mile bike ride. All this from being in a reclining zero-gravity wheelchair and going downhill fast. Although I was heartened to see yet again that "food is your medicine", I said to myself, "I don't have MS. I eat very well anyway. Nothing much I need to do here." Then the still small voice which never lies and is always right spoke to me and said "But, Bea, aging is a terminal disease." And the light bulb went on.

I decided to eat (mostly) like she does which we might want to call a modified Paleo Diet or a Hunter-Gatherer Diet which consists of leaves, roots, berries, meat and fish and not many grains. What she stresses, however and what is the key she thinks to her miraculous recovery are the 3 big dinner plates, or 9 cups, of vegetables and fruits that she eats every day. She also eschews carbs and presumably sugar and adds grass fed organic beef and wild caught fish to her diet a few times a week. Part of her plan is eating organ meats once a week, too, but, I'm sorry - this organ meat thing can't be part of my plan. And the 9 cups? That's a lot - a lot of messing around with preparation, a lot of chewing, a lot of sameness and a lot of fiber foods, mostly raw, that many of us don't really digest all that well.

So here is what I decided to do and I think that this is a pretty reasonable version of what she did to heal herself from her terminal disease of MS and that perhaps can put my terminal disease of aging into a temporary remission. My plan is a version of her plan of 9 cups of veggies and fruits per day - one that I think I can easily do and here it is for what it's worth to you:

1. Since I really don't want to make myself eat three dinner plates full of veggies and fruits each day - life is supposed to be sort of fun - I first decided to substitute one of the dinner plates with a Super Duper Smoothie in the morning and here is the recipe: 2 cups of coconut water, 1+ scoop non-whey protein powder, 1+ t. Rejuvila (Whole Foods), a scoop Boku, 1+ T. ground chia seeds, 2 t. calcium powder (Calcifood from Standard Process), a handful of berries, a pear and 2 handfuls of spinach. I also add about a teaspoon of cinnamon and a packet of Nu-Naturals stevia plus some ice. This will last me two days. (I try to Make Once-Eat Twice, always)
2. The second "dinner plate" would be at least 16 ounces of freshly processed fruit and vegetable juices per day, either processed daily by me and my Breville juicer (If you watch a documentary called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, you will knock people over in your haste to buy a Breville juicer, too.) or purchased from Whole Foods. Here is the recipe: Celery, cucumber, kale, green apple, fresh lemon juice and ginger to taste. Sometimes I will add parsley or carrot. It's called Green Lemonade at Whole Foods and is quite tasty. I usually start this with my lunch and finish it before dinner.
3. The third dinner plate will actually be the dinner plate she talks about - a huge amount - 3 cups - of colorful mixed greens and fruits and eaten for dinner. If you can't do raw very well or get tired of salads, then steam your colorful veggies and research sauces to jazz them up with. I have a favorite and very simple Romesco veggie sauce for all kinds of vegetables and here it is: Pulse 3 T. slivered almonds (dry roasted first) and 2 T. chopped shallots. Add 1/3 C. roasted red peppers from a jar, ½ C. water, 1t. Dijon mustard, ½ t. agave and S&P. Keep refrigerated or freeze in meal size portions.

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