Book #7: The Chronic Fatigue Healing Diet by Christine Craggs- Hinton

I picked up this book mostly because of my father.  As far back as I can remember, my dad has had health problems.  He’s overweight, in constant pain, and never has much energy.  I remember thinking it was weird if I ever saw any of my friends’ dads playing football or running or just being active.  The strange thing is, though, that my dad used to be an athlete.  Until he was around 30 (when I was 5), he was slim and a regular runner.  Then, I distinctly remember him having to stay home from work for about a week when I was 6 years old.  I remember asking him and my mom what was wrong, and they just kind of said they didn’t know, that he was tired.

It turns out that my dad has type II diabetes, but before we figured that out, his doctors tested him for everything else under the sun.  I’m still at a loss why, for several years, nobody tested my dad for diabetes.  In the meantime, they suspected MS, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), auto-immune diseases, and who knows what else.  For a while, the CFS label stuck, probably because doctors tend to use it as a blanket diagnosis when they aren’t sure what’s going on with someone.

CFS has been a sort of mysterious disease to me since I first heard of it with my dad’ situation.  Flash forward to now, and I’ll let you in on a little experiment I’ve been doing with my reading for several years.  Once I started learning about clean, raw food diets, I’ve been observing how so many diets, that are constructed to alleviate myriad ailments, are all basically the same as raw food diets.  I’m always looking on the internet, in books, in magazines, wherever, when I see a claim that a diet is “anti- something“, and taking note of what a person is supposed to eat (and avoid), if they want to treat their ailment.  So, when I saw a book on The Chronic Fatigue Healing Diet, I thought I’d finally read a little more about this mysterious disease, and continue to test my theory that no matter what ails you, a minimally processed, largely raw diet will help you heal.

For a person struggling with CFS, here’s what the book recommends to eat and avoid:

In Chapter 3, Healing Foods, here is the list:

Very small amounts of lean, organic animal protein (the book recommends 2-3 servings of meat a week, and the servings should be smaller than the palm of your hand, and 2-3 eggs a week)

Goat’s milk and goat cheese are recommended over cow dairy products, as it is less likely to cause an allergic reaction

Carbohydrates in the form of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains- the book specifically recommends that at least several of these servings of fruits and vegetables be eaten raw

Stick to unsaturated fats (which contain omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids) as much as possible

Fiber (roughage)- so again, fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, lentils, etc.

…and Chapter 5, Foods To Avoid, discusses the following:

Stimulants, such as caffeine, alcohol, and sugar

Aspartame, the widely used artificial sweetener

Food additives (MSG, artificial coloring, sulfites, etc.)

Refined white flours

High-intake of salt

The reason I am glossing over this book, and only making simple lists here, is that I believe this book could have about 1,000 different titles, and that’s exactly the point I am trying to make.  This diet, which is clean, whole, and minimally processed, will eliminate the vast majority of ailments facing Americans today.  This book could be titled, “The Type II Diabetes Healing Diet“, “The Obesity Healing Diet“, etc. and so on.  And I think that’s a really great thing!!!  I always love to see similar dietary recommendations for different ailments.  I think of it as sort of “cross-referencing” that the clean, whole, fruit and veggie based diet is the one true way for humans to eat to be well.

Note:  While this book does mention that several of a person’s daily fruit and veggie servings should be raw, I’d be willing to wager that the more raw a person’s diet is, the less they would suffer from the effects of CFS.  In essence, as this book explains, doctors aren’t sure what causes CFS.  However, they generally seem to accept an explanation that goes something like this: people who suffer from CFS are sensitive to toxins.  Their bodies are less able to process and eliminate toxins than most, which results in over-toxification, or acidosis.  Their cells are literally exhausted from dealing with so much toxicity, so naturally, cleaning one’s diet will alleviate the condition.  By the way, I hope you noticed the word acidosis- the general condition behind any ailment- be it infection, obesity, diabetes, CFS, cancer, you name it, is an acidic state in the body.  Acid = inflammation = disease.  That’s it, guys.  Gotta alkalize to stay alive!

Our bodies are so amazing.  Given half a chance, they will heal us completely from just about anything.  This book wasn’t exactly a riveting read, but it certainly was informative, and like I said, a cool part of my little diet-cross-checking experiment.

Peace, love, and FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER PLEASE @backtoterra,

Jac