Mike Coe? On a diet? You’ve got to be kidding me! Ok, so it’s more of a new nutritional plan, and definitely not a weight loss plan. The last week of my South America adventure in Paraguay I came down with an awful cough where my throat kept closing up and would not stop, most likely from being worn down. Long story short, my host family was concerned that they wouldn’t let me on the plane with South Americans being all paranoid about sick people and the H1N1 virus (and no I didn’t have the swine flu). So I got antibiotics, which helped slightly, and I was able to get home fine.
When I returned to Colorado I went to see the alternative health specialist (yes, they are common in Colorado) about the cough, since it had been nearly 3 weeks since it had started, and was really annoying! I had a similar recurring problem in DC last year, mostly due to severe allergies from the tree and other seasonal pollens. Allergies are horrible!
So when I went to see the alternative health practitioner they explained that diet can exacerbate allergies which feed on bad bacteria and yeast. Additionally, I have to regularly take digestive supplements when I eat, which is part of the issue. So the practitioner, who is also a certified nutritionist, put me on a nutrition plan called the Alkaline diet. About.com has a concise explanation of it here. Basically the diet has analyzed pH levels to reach a natural balance between basic and acidic foods, thereby emphasizing eating a ton of fresh produce, organic food, and minimizing processed food.
When starting, the goal is to eliminate anything that feeds bacteria or yeast, meaning no sugar, yeast, starch, dairy, or white flour. That translates to no fruit other than citrus, wine or beer (I can only drink vodka/gin and tonic, since they are both minimally processed w/ little sugar added), pizza, cheese, pork, or highly processed foods (not a problem, since I don’t eat them anyway). I was taken aback when I first heard of all these foods I’d have to give up for approximately 2 months. However, they assured me that their office alone has done the diet on thousands of people who have seen real results in increasing resistance of immune systems, improving digestion, and significantly improving energy levels – basically making people feel amazing once they’ve stuck with it. Hearing this, I figured it would be worth pursuing.
So I’m now about 2 and a half weeks into the plan. Other than two glasses of sangria (I can’t say no to sangria) and a couple of hot dogs at a park when there was no other option, I’ve basically stuck with it. The pollen levels have been low in DC (until today… grrr) so I’m not sure if it’s working or not yet. However, I’ve been feeling really good. My new building has a gym, and I’ve been working out every 2 days. I’ve also been walking what is probably the equivalent of several miles, between grocery runs, getting to campus, etc. This is the first I’ve told anyone, but I’d like to set a personal goal to run a 5k this fall (previously I only ran one once for work w/o training and it was pretty painful, but I finished without walking at all!).
Thus far I have been eating tons of produce and ethnic food. The food I’ve been eating is really tasty! For example, my normal breakfast now is organic scrambled eggs with cilantro and smoked salmon (I loooove smoked salmon), plus a whole wheat tortilla with guacamole. Yum! Other than that, lots of stiry fry and also regular items like whole wheat pasta and organic beef.
I’m also experimenting with more Latin American food. This time around in South America I continued to expand my food knowledge and purchased a cookbook in each country I visited. Let me know if you would like to be my guinea pig (hahah I won’t cook that Peruvian entree for you) on a whole host of new dishes! The food in Chile was not great (amazing seafood, but otherwise bland, minimal variety, and expensive), but in Peru it was amazing (see cooking video here about lomo saltado, which I cooked in the picture at the bottom), and also very tasty in Paraguay and Argentina.
I think part of the reason why many Latin American people tend to be attractive and have amazing skin is due to the diet. Obviously there are wide variations in what people eat based upon country and region, but generally most food is all organic, fresh, and high in fruits and vegetables. Another example is Argentina and Paraguay, where the beef is organic grass-fed beef, which is high in Omega 3s and very lean, in contrast to American beef which is corn fed (cows can’t digest corn w/o taking steroids which get in the food) and fatty.
Lomo Saltado: National dish of Peru and mixture of Asian & Latin cuisine. My home-cooked dinner on Saturday!
. Also, Chileans love mayonaise. I don’t know why, but each of us has inadvertendly ordered a food item (sandwich, grilled fish, bread, etc.), forgotten to ask for no mayo, and gagged at the dinner table. Yesterday when we had grilled fish the server brought bread with a big pile of… butter. Only it wasn’t butter (sorry, Steve)!
