A Shocking Revelation About Fruits, Oils & Fats

Until I learned the shocking truth about fruits, oils & fats, my "organic health food diet" failed me. Here's what I discovered that turned all that around!  

Topics in this article include:
Personal Experiences That Revealed How to Make a Health Food Diet Work
Here's the Sweets-Fats Food Combining Rule:
Insulin Resistance from Fats/Oil - Starch/Sugar Combinations
One of the beneficial functions of pathogens (of all kinds) 
Vegetarian vs. Carnivore
Two Basic Dietary Paths
The primarily meat diet
The primarily vegetarian/vegan
The Masai & the Inuit Diet Revisited
The Other Reason a Moderate Intake of Fats is Better for Your Health
A Note About Bananas
Banana Downsides:
The Importance of Liver Bile in the Digestion of Fats and Oils
Exceptions to the oil restriction
For those who prefer no liquid oils at all
The Green Alkalizing Fruit Smoothie/Veggie Drink
An Oil-Free Avocado Salad Dressing (for sugar/starch inclusive meals)

Personal Experiences That Revealed How to Make a Health Food Diet Work
Fruits (especially bananas) became my nemesis because they were so prone to causing the same fungal/bacterial overgrowth typical of any crystal or liquid sweeteners. I avoided all fruits & sweeteners for many years (to the best of my ability) just to avoid the digestive side effects of bloat, fuzzy brain, low energy, sluggish digestion, and so forth.

Because I began my life with a sugar sensitive system, consumed lots of sugar and fat, especially together, during my adolescent and young adult life, any compromising food or food combination took its toll on me.

In the course of watching how fruits and sweets affected my sensitive system, it became obvious that the side effects would often not show themselves for 2-3 days after the indulgence. This delay meant the sugars were being fed upon by the bacteria & yeasts, increasing their populations beyond the bounds of the body's natural immune responses to keep pathogen loads in check.

"Pathogen overgrowth" became the term that identified the point where negative symptoms would manifest. If I were already "on the edge", then the symptoms would show up within minutes or hours. If I had health reserves stored up from practicing a better diet or dealing with fewer life stresses, then the negative symptoms would begin to manifest within 1-3 days, depending on just how much health reserve I had going at the time and how clean my diet was during that time.

The associations between sweets and physical discomfort became obvious back in the late 1970's, but it would be several more decades before I would discover the real culprit behind the sweet-triggered pathogen overgrowth and find a way to enjoy fruits again (even bananas, with some reservation discussed below). 

These new understandings came to me slowly over several years because I simply did not believe what "fruit authorities" in the natural health world had to say. My personal experiences were so different, I could not look past them to dig into the science of their work and ultimately discover the real reason why fruits caused so much havoc on my digestive system.

Then I discovered the sweets-fats combining rule. The rule is, "Don't do it" (with a few exceptions). 

To improve the digestive powers of the body with each meal or snack, separate (by 1-3 hours, or 1-3 days in some instances) the proteins, oils, or fats from the sweets or things that convert to sugar in the body, like starches & grains. 

Here's the Sweets-Fats Food Combining Rule:
Do not combine a sweet, a fruit, a grain, or a starch (which convert to sugar) with an oil, a nut, a fat, or a protein (foods that digest slowly and contain fats or oils).

On the left of this equation you have things that break down into sugar. On the right you have things that commonly contain fats or oils.

There is an article on this subject and several other food combining rules I learned or developed along the way titled OK, So What Foods CAN I Eat?

Insulin Resistance from Fats/Oil - Starch/Sugar Combinations 
There is science behind why such a rule is in place. It has to do with the way undigested oils and fats interfere with blood sugar metabolism.

Undigested oils & fats in the bloodstream can impede the normal conversion of sugars (insulin resistance) from fruits, sweets, starches and grains into usable energy for the cells. The typical side effect of undigested oils in the bloodstream include higher blood sugar levels, higher blood pressure levels, and escalating pathogen overgrowth for 1-3 days and beyond, along with numerous other side effects like hormonal dysregulation, prostate pains, loss of libido, fuzzy brain, low energy, and so on.

It was for this very reason that fruits were always a problem for me. I was a meat eater then, I ate eggs, nuts, and cheese regularly, and I commonly overwhelmed my salads with olive oil. I cooked my eggs in butter. I did not eat fast food, yet I could not escape the fact that my health food diet was not working out very well for me.

I learned the hard way that raw butter on starches, like rice, potatoes, squash, Ezekiel bread, or Manna Bread; or olive oil on a salad with a rice & veggie meal, the bread and oils in an organic pizza, or Udo's Oil or flax seed oil on oatmeal or in a fruit smoothie (or even in a green drink containing carrot juice, given its sweetness), would simply blow pathogen overgrowth into high gear.

The spaciness (from a high-sugar instigated spleen blowout due to this food combining practice) and resultant fungal/bacterial/viral overgrowth (from the oil & fruit or starch combo) was too often blamed on the fruits (which I eventually avoided like the plague). Yet still my digestion did not survive the combination of organic oils with organic sweets or starches either.

Little did I know then that my sensitivity to fruits & starches was actually related to the liquid oils, nuts, butter, and other animal fats in my diet.

The combination of fruits, starches, grains, and sugars with protein, fat, liquid oils, and dairy resulted in temporary insulin resistance, higher than normal sugar levels, and the attraction of yeasts, bacterial, viruses to eat down the excessive sugar/fat loads in my bloodstream. 

One of the beneficial functions of pathogens (of all kinds) is the consumption in the body of dangerous excesses – sugars, fats, chemicals, heavy metals, alcohol, undigested food, hormones (like cortisol excesses from caffeine consumption), etc. 

Yet, for those that consume a strict vegetarian plus superfood diet (in a way not common to many of today's vegetarians), sufficient fats are obtained from the fruits, vegetables, and seeds alone to provide the body with sufficient fat intake for normal hormonal and nerve functions.

I personally have additional reasons why I opted for a vegetarian approach (with an increasingly rare intake of eggs from our home grown chickens). I did not need meat for "protein" or to feel satisfied from food. The reason is because my primary nutrition source is not the bulky foods we typically eat to fill the belly. The majority, by far, of my nutrition comes from sea vegetables, earthen minerals, adaptogens, and superfoods.

This basic approach to solid nutrition has allowed me to discard the basic "meat for protein" approach altogether. You can read more about this here: How to Get Enough Protein Without Eating Meat

Vegetarian vs. Carnivore

I am a vegetarian now, but this came along 30+ years after beginning my quest for health, and only because I simply lost interest in animals as a source of food. I just felt better on a vegetarian diet than a meat diet. But I structured a vegetarian plus eggs diet as my next step in dietary evolution.

My chosen approach is consumed in a certain way that bypasses the challenges that come from the more popular high fruits, nuts, soy, and veggies approach.  

Yet, I support those that find meat essential to their lifestyle and health, not being interested in a vegetarian diet naturally. There is a time for everything, and it is important to make dietary changes gradually. 

My observation of the various popular diets: Paleo, Atkins, Keto, Western Price, Vegan, Vegetarian, and all the variations thereof, is that one of two basic paths need to be weighed and decided on if basic health (not super health) is to be maintained. Both alone provide benefits, yet both are incomplete in and of themselves, thus can produce similar side effects. 

Two Basic Dietary Paths

1) Primarily meat, fat, dairy (for some), and vegetables, with minimal, if any, starches, fruits, or sweets.

2) Primarily fruits, vegetables and starches, with minimal, if any, meats fats, dairy, or liquid oils.

The primarily meat diet works if very few sugar/starch based foods are consumed, thereby deriving the body's basic sugar requirements from the fats and proteins. Add sugars/starches to this diet and quality health will be difficult to maintain. 

The drawback to the basic meat diet is the acidity it promotes in the body, the challenge to the digestive track, in that meat & dairy can be very constipating, and that slow moving foods through the digestive tract (especially meats) proliferate parasites and other pathogens, whose job it is to decompose decaying flesh and undigested foods. 

The basic meat & dairy diet also lends some to sinus congestion, snoring, and excessive phlegm due primarily to the fat excesses and weakened digestive tracts from antibiotics that deplete the digestive powers of the body. Poor digestion makes meat even more difficult to digest than it already is.

The primarily vegetarian/vegan diet works for some, but generally only if there are little to no liquid oils or nuts in the diet plan to interact with the high levels of sugars from the fruits and starches. 

The drawback to the basic vegetarian diet plan is that nuts and soy often form the basis of the perceived "protein" needs of the body. Truth is, an adult body does not require more than 5% protein in the diet to maintain ideal health.

Nuts proliferate the herpes virus strains and soy replaces the proper kinds of estrogen that the body would otherwise manufacture on its own if it were in good health (regardless of age). 

The low energy from a basic vegetarian diet comes from excessive fruits/sweets, and the combination of sweets and fats (i.e. fruit & nut pie, olive oil/honey salad dressing, etc.).

The cold extremities, sinus congestion, anxiety, and spaciness among vegetarians come from an excess of sugar from fruits and other sources, often coupled with caffeine, both of which blow out the spleen. Such a diet is further compounded by liquid oils interfering with sugar metabolism.

In both basic diets, getting solid nutrition from vegetables purchased in today's health food stores is rare given the depletion of our soils and the way many "organic" farmers grow their money crops (to make money, rather than to produce quality nutrition). To get quality nutrition it is necessary to grow your own food (a certain way).  

Alcohol will aggravate both diets given its detrimental effects on the spleen. 

The Masai & the Inuit Diet Revisited
The Masai and the Inuits have been referenced frequently as examples of the benefits of a high meat & fat diet, yet current research indicates the opposite. Here is a summary of the later studies: Masai and Inuit High-Protein Diets: A Closer Look

The Other Reason a Moderate Intake of Fats is Better for Your Health
In light of this, I must add here that, beside the fact that oils and sweets, when combined, contribute to insulin resistance, there is another reason why a high fat diet, especially when combined with starches and sweets, can generate a degradation in health – pathogen overgrowth due to excesses of both sugar and fats in the blood. Sugar and fat excesses are a prime food source for viruses, mycoplasma, bacteria, fungus, and parasites. 

I am referring to excesses here, not the moderate amounts we all need in order to maintain healthful cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is the basis of nerve health and essential steroidal hormone levels (estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, DHEA, cortisol, adrenalin, etc). (See 11 Benefits to High Cholesterol Levels)

All fruits, vegetables, and seeds, contain fats sufficient to produce the body's fat requirements when consumed in proper amounts. Moderate amounts of other oils when felt necessary can supplement the nutritionally deficient foods we get from farms today. 

A Note About Bananas
I realize there is a banana craze happening today, and for good reason. The banana makes a creamy, tasty enhancement to most any green smoothie.  

The downside to bananas, on the other hand, are serious enough to consider minimizing their use and keeping an open mind to alternative substitutes.

Banana Downsides:

1. The banana is typically picked green (like most fruits). Many nutrients destined to end up in the banana are delivered to the fruit within the last 4 days prior to ripe. So the typical green-picked banana will be nutrient deficient by the time it ripens.

2. Bananas are NOT high in potassium as many banana producers like to claim. They are just a moderate source of potassium according to analyses, and only if grown in soils with available potassium in the soil. (The highest known source of vegetable potassium is lima beans. Granted, not as tasty, especially as a substitute in a smoothie, but true none the less.)

3. Lima beans, kale, avocado, and spinach are 30 to 40% higher in potassium than bananas, and mushrooms are roughly equal to bananas in potassium (without the excessive amounts of sugar). 

4. Green-picked bananas are inherently mineral deficient, yet bred to be high in sugar. Bananas are excessively high in sugar relative to their mineral content. One cup contains 18 grams of sugar (equivalent to 4.5 teaspoons, or 22.5 ml, of granulated sugar). Minerals are essential to metabolizing sugar.

5. The use of chemicals to prevent pest/fungal attacks causes minerals and other nutrients in the soil to become unavailable to the plant. (Even Organic Certifications allow 5% chemicals on the food today.) Non-organic bananas are laced with chemicals. Over 35 different chemicals are used by the conventional banana industry to control pests, fungus, and bacteria. 

6. Yellow bananas are constipating in spite of the claims of their fiber content.

7. The yellow bananas are plagued with so many fungal-bacterial diseases today they are close to extinction.

8. The brown spots inside the banana are largely due to bacteria decomposing the banana and need to be avoided. 

9. The small red bananas have less sugar, are relatively higher in fiber, are closer to being heirloom than the highly hybridized yellow bananas, and are better for your health overall than the yellow banana.

The Importance of Liver Bile in the Digestion of Fats and Oils
Liver bile is used by the body to emulsify (digest) oils and fats before entering the bloodstream. Stomach acids, digestive enzymes (manufactured by your pancreas, stomach, intestines, and liver), and intestinal probiotics perform most of the remaining digestive requirements for other foods.

If you are taking the Digestive Bitters formula with meals, especially the meals containing liquid oils, butter, ghee, animal fats or hard to digest fatty foods like:

• meat
• eggs
• cheese
• cream
• nuts, etc.

the 1-2 day time frame for the digestion of oils and animal fats may be able to be reduced to 12-20 hours depending on your current digestive powers, body alkalinity, and the fluidity of your liver bile production (which requires an alkaline body state to be the most fluid).

Frankly, some meats, nuts, and dairy could take longer for many people with compromised digestive tracts (typically from former antibiotic use). The other reason sluggish digestion may be noticed has to do with the acidifying nature of these hard to digest foods which interfere with the normal bile production needed to digest them.

Nuts specifically need to be minimized, being a prime promoter of the herpes strain of viruses. 

If more than 1 tablespoon of a liquid oil, or any amount of animal fat, or any food on the above hard to digest foods list, were consumed the day before, it may be wiser to consume the following Green Alkalizing Fruit Smoothie/Veggie Drink recipe with vegetables instead of fruits, then repeat with fruits, if desired, the following day, providing oils and fats were not also consumed during the vegetable day.

Squeezing lemon or lime in water, tea, or on a salad will help speed the digestion of oils & fats in the diet, though the additional recommended number of hours before consuming fruits or starches is still suggested for most people due to our typically compromised digestive systems. 

Mixing lemon juice with oils and allowing them to sit for a few minutes to predigest them helps to speed this digestion of fats along as well.

Exceptions to the oil restriction include vegetables, or seeds that naturally contain oils or omega fatty acids, like avocado, chia seed, raw sesame & pumpkin seeds, olives, and most fruits and vegetables (which always contain some naturally occurring oils). These oil containing foods can typically be consumed with starches, although concentrated sugars, tend to be affected by the fats, even in these generally "safe" oil containing whole foods.

Coconut oil in moderation (1 tablespoon or less, unless short term therapeutic amounts are being consumed) also seems to be an exception to the oil rule, given that unaltered coconut oil is naturally more bioavailable than other oils and is heat stable. Thus, coconut oil makes for an excellent stir-fry choice over other oils.

For those who prefer no liquid oils at all (a smart choice in some instances), a simple water stir-fry approach, with arrowroot or blended mushrooms/veggies as a gravy thickener, mixed with various spices of choice, makes an excellent taste enhancement with any stir-fry dish.

Sea vegetables and superfoods form the basis of a quality nutritional program given that they will contain more nutrition in a single tablespoon than can often be found in an entire meat/vegetable meal. 

Here are the two recipes which have significantly improved my overall health and restored my faith in fruits:

 

The Green Alkalizing Fruit Smoothie/Veggie Drink

Into a quart container (like a Mason Jar or blender), add:

• 1.5 cups of purified water

• 2 Tablespoons of Earth & Sea Greens or Vital Cleanse & Nutrify

• Optional: add a teaspoon or more of Alfalfa Nettle Combo and/or Herbal C

Then add:

• 1 ripe banana (ones in which the stem breaks easily with a little pressure, indicating fully ripe. Cut away all brown spots inside the banana), or use a suitable substitute fruit or berry.

• 1/8 to 1/4 cup of wild blueberries, or other berry as desired.

• Replace fruits with veggies of choice if oils, fats, or hard to digest foods were consumed the day (or meal) prior. Cucumber, lettuces, kale, etc. Carrot can be added in a blender to retain the carrot fiber, thus improve sugar metabolism.

• (Note: Do not add citrus or melons to sweet fruits, as citrus, melons & sweet fruits are three fruit groups that need to be separated by at least 1 hour for optimal digestion.)

• (Also do not add watermelon to Earth & Sea Greens or Vital Cleanse & Nutrify as watermelon needs to be consumed alone. Other fruits, seem to work OK with E&SG & VC&N.)

 

An Oil-Free Avocado Salad Dressing 
(for sugar/starch inclusive meals)

A moderate amount of oils and seeds can be added to vegetable, non-starch/non-sugar meals.

Remember avocados, olives, and seeds contain safe oils with veggies as long as they are not processed into liquid oils or seed/nut butters.

Avocados also seem to be an exception to the oil/fat rule, as it seems to combine well with starches (except when avocados are consumed in excess (like more than 2 average sized ones a day or so).

In a blender add the following and blend to the desired consistency or pourability:

• 1-2 pitted avocados

• 1-2 tablespoons of lemon or lime juice to taste

• 5-10 pitted olives (which were previously marinated in water and salt, not white vinegar)

• 1 cucumber (more or less based on size and desired flavor)

• Spices as desired to suit your palate

• An amount of filtered water to achieve a desired consistency

Many blessings of health & success.
Enjoy the simple the gifts from Nature!