Dear readers, I think you will agree with me it is not possible to eat everything that is placed on the table at lunch, dinner, wedding receptions, birthday parties, celebrations, cocktails, and so on, without our bodies accumulating toxins and harmful substances as a result. We first start to feel some heaviness in the stomach, then there is heartburn, gastritis, ulcer, colitis, stomach and colon cancer and, ultimately, premature death. Bad and unhealthy eating habits could also often lead to other, not less dangerous diseases, such as atherosclerosis, diabetes, gout, strokes, and diseases of the heart, liver, kidneys, bones, the prostate and more. As a proof of the above, there comes the conclusion which the World Health Organizations has reached, that 70% of the people on the planet die due to causes related to unhealthy eating habits. Nature has given us more than 200 healing foods, over 190 of which are also grown or produced in our country. Over 40% of these healthy foods have an anticancer effect and more than 30% of them are an excellent remedy for the most serious diseases such as diabetes, cancer, heart attacks, strokes, gout, atherosclerosis and dozens of others. Isn’t it insulting for a highly cultured society such as ours, that people die in great pains due to unhealthy eating habits, while mother nature has provided us with different kinds of food, which, apart from having a healing effect, are tasty, delicious and (unlike medicines) consuming them is truly delightful. And most importantly, apart from their excellent taste and nutritional qualities, these foods can really heal. It is only important to know in what form, in what sequence, for which diseases and in what combinations to consume these foods in order to be healthy and enjoy a full life! This is exactly what I have tried to do with this publication. I hope my effort has been successful.
The Author
PROLOGUE
We all want to live long, but not all of us know which the road to good health is. Unfortunately, there are no textbooks written on how to live to a very old age. That is why it is best to learn from those who’ve had valuable experience in the complex science of longevity, otherwise we would always be sick.
There was an American who lived for 118 years and before leaving this world, gave us the best piece of advice: “Don’t undermine your health, never let an illness get near you, because it is a crime towards yourself!” Every man or woman, after they reach a good ripe age (over 60) often ask themselves one and the same question: “Can I live much longer?” And the answer is simple: “You certainly can, but only if you haven’t treated your own organism rudely and brutally!”
In the history of mankind, there are several cases of super centenarians, who have lived twice or three times more even than those people who live to the ripest old age. For instance the Englishman Thomas Corn according to official documents was born in 1588, and died in 1795, which means he lived a total of 207 years. Another Englishman, Thomas Par, had always led a life of great labor. He remarried at 120 years and had a son who lived to 123 years. Par was summoned to the royal court and there his life came to an end due to excessive eating and wine-drinking. The Hungarian Ivan Ravin lived for 172 years and his wife – 164 years. They lived a total of 147 years of married life together. Only those, who from a very young age pay good attention to their own bodies and try to protect them from illness, can have a long and happy life. The first symptoms of advancing old age are:
– sleep disorders;
– hair turning white prematurely;
– wrinkles;
– puffy face;
– black circles under the eyes;
– inability to breathe well;
– heart palpitations;
– discontent with the whole world;
– becoming irritable and easily offended by everything and everyone
When the very first symptoms appear, one should take serious measures, because if, on top of these, we add inactivity, insufficient movement, spending most of the time indoors, the processes of aging start accelerating even more. The processes of aging consist of:
a) involution (the process of descending development) and
b) atrophy – the deterioration and aging of the cells, tissues, organs and systems of the human organism.
For instance, in a 70-year-old man, the muscles of the body are with 40% less due to atrophy. This is a kind of partial death within the body of the still living person. During this process it is typical for the muscles that support the backbone to undergo atrophy first. That’s why old people start to hunch and become shorter.
There are other vital organs that undergo atrophy with aging – the liver loses 50% of its capacity, the kidneys 50 %. Processes of atrophy are observed even in the brain. Certain cells (neurons) in the cerebral cortex of the brain, which are responsible for the highest neural activity of humans, undergo atrophy and disappear. Due to this there are different disorders observed in the mental life of an aging person. These disorders could be very diverse. They are different with every individual, starting quite early with some people, and with others – at a very advanced age. One of the first phenomena, as proven by Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, is the deterioration of the major neural processes. Old people’s ability to work diminishes – they no longer have the nerve capacity and stamina they used to have earlier.
The question arises, are there some rules and norms of life which man can follow in order to be healthy, strong, lively and live to a ripe old age? And the answer is: “There are!” A long and healthy life can be guaranteed by two things:
a) You should strictly adhere to these rules. Moreover, following the rules does not require any specific effort;
b) You should start following the rules from a very early age – as a child.
Which are in fact these norms and rules of life?
Summarized data from scientific research performed in leading international institutions shows that:
– you should eat simple, natural food, with fruit and vegetables consisting about 40 to 60% of your diet.
– moderation in eating is important;
– you should eat slowly, chewing the food very well – this is a very important stage in the process of digestion;
– give up any fat, salty and refined products – they speed up the development of atherosclerosis and aging;
– eat at least one apple every day;
– drink as much liquids as possible, especially water;
– try to have your tea or coffee not very strong;
– take as few medicines as possible; whenever applicable, substitute with herbs as they don’t have the side effects of medicines;
– be at the center of events that happen around you and in the world, lead an active social life
– sleep in a cool room
– don’t spare light – there should always be enough light in your home;
– try to organize your life in such a way, that you don’t depend on anyone;
– find good friends;
– it will be very good to find an activity which is of interest to you – an occupation, a hobby, a sport, painting, writing, and so on;
– try not to get irritated or take part in heated discussions – the Russians say: “Never argue with a fool!”
– try to avoid getting together with people who are unpleasant for you – such interactions destroy nerve cells that can never be restored
– regularly cleanse your organism from toxins: they accumulate in all organs and tissues
– laugh as much and as often as possible and enjoy life, so life can love you back as well;
– never say you are getting older
When performing a detoxification of your body at home, have in mind that the toxins are discharged through the excretory system – primarily through the intestines, the liver and kidneys. If these organs are not cleansed well, the toxins will go back into the blood. Only the complex detoxification of the entire organism can lead to excellent results.
Apart from that:
– never avoid light physical labor;
– take a shower every day, alternating hot with cold water;
– find good friends with interests close to your own;
– laugh more often and don’t have too high expectations from life. This will make you a dissatisfied and nervous person;
– and finally: learn from the experience of our ancestors and be convinced that old age will not affect you
Research performed by the World Health Organization throughout the years has proven that 70% of premature death with people is due to unhealthy eating habits. We, humans, have turned our stomachs into huge bags, where we haphazardly throw everything we see. As a result of this, for a short period of time the food in our stomachs becomes a mixture of chips, sandwiches with ketchup, mayonnaise, processed meat, pizzas, salads, meatballs, steaks, sausages, fruits, alcohol, sodas and so on. Even the healthiest stomach cannot successfully digest these foods and give the body the energy it needs. On the contrary – this entire mass of food turns into a difficult to process rubbish which destroys the acid-alkaline balance in the blood and stomach and, as a result, from a very young age this becomes a factor for developing difficult to heal diseases – cancer, ulcer, colitis, gastritis, dysbacteriosis, gout, diabetes, heart, kidney and liver diseases, strokes and deficiency of the immune system, leading ultimately to premature death.
The reason for this haphazard attitude and almost criminal offence to food and our own organisms is the fact that not only in Bulgaria, but even in the most advanced countries, people don’t have the necessary information:
a) which foods have a healing and anticancer effect;
b) how to use these foods so they can not only satisfy our nutritional necessities, but become a remedy for our own organism;
c) how to combine different types of food so they can not only be more delicious, but also more beneficial as a remedy
d) in what sequence to consume different types of food so they would not hinder the digestive process
It is a shame that nature has given us hundreds of healthy foods, which have exceptional nutritional and healing properties, and which we so irresponsibly turn into a mixture that is dangerous and harmful to our health.
The second reason for writing this book is the recommendation of the World Cancer Research Fund. In order to prevent one of the most serious diseases we should consume not less than 800 g of fruits and vegetables every day. This comes as a correction to the recommendation of the World Health Organization of 400 g per day, increasing the daily portion of fruits and vegetables twice.
Third, I completely agree with both recommendations, but with one small correction. You cannot say in general “Eat at least 800 grams of fruits and vegetables” without taking into account that even the healthiest foods, could, in some conditions or diseases, lead to even greater and irrevocable damage to the already ailing organism, instead of healing it. What do I have in mind?
First example. If we make a salad with some of the most anticarcinogenic vegetables – carrots, cabbage, celery, parsnip, onion and garlic and we give it to people who suffer from ulcer, colitis, gastritis, or inflammation of the intestines, instead of having a healing effect, it could lead to serious and irreparable damage.
Second example. Honey is a unique food, as it contains 22 of the 24 microelements that are vital for the human body, vitamins, biologically active substances, antioxidants and more. But if we give this same honey to people suffering from diabetes the result would be fatal.
Third example. Milk contains the 8 essential amino acids without which the human organism cannot function properly. Even if only one of them is missing, our organism will be suffering. It is also well-known that milk is an excellent food for preventing colon cancer and reinforcing the bone system, especially for women, due to the high level of calcium in it. If milk as food is given to people who have casein intolerance or are allergic, the result would be a serious dysfunction of the digestive system.
Fourth example. It is well known that there is no other food that can lower the level of cholesterol, and primarily bad cholesterol, as much as beans (and other legumes). But if we give such food to people who have digestive problems, their condition would become worse.
The conclusion from these examples is that if we want to prevent or cure certain diseases through nutrition, we should not only know which the most appropriate foods are, but also how to use them, so treatment can be successful.
There is a French proverb that says: “A wise man is not the one who is clever, but the one who can learn from the experience and cleverness of others!” Most probably, not only we, Bulgarians, but the whole mankind suffers from this condition.
Fourth, how can we explain the fact, that 3500 years ago, the father of clinical medicine – Hippocrates realized that in order to live long and live well “Our food should be our remedy and our remedy should be our food!” Why wait for several thousand years, have millions of people die prematurely and witness the emergence of new diseases in order to realize that the only possible way to save mankind is by turning nutrition into an embodiment of Hippocrates’s genial idea? In well-developed countries, followers of the great Greek scientist, 40-50 years ago started a new and exceptionally efficient movement called “Treatment through nutrition.” There really isn’t a more sensible approach to healthy life than enjoying food and, at the same time, using it to prevent and treat all ailments.
Fifth. In order to successfully implement this new idea into practice, there are several important factors:
– knowing in detail the nutritional, biological, healing and anticancer properties of foods
– it is necessary to know which foods are appropriate for given conditions and contraindicated for others
It is also good to know what combinations of foods can intensify the synergism and boost the healing effect.
Sixth. In order to be able to treat ourselves through nutrition, it is important to not only to know the healing properties of foods, but also to realize the fact that in all cases, proper nutrition should be combined with regular physical activity and exercise. It is a little known fact that with bad nutrition and lack of physical activity a 70-year old man can lose 40% of their muscle mass. In this case hunching, rigidness in movements, pains in the knees, back and more are inevitable. As a confirmation of the above, I will give you an example from the research related to one of the most serious conditions – diabetes, and performed by Dr. Nathan Pritikin, from the Longevity Center in Santa Barbara – California, US. He has confirmed that a low-fat and fiber-rich diet combined with daily physical exercise opens up great possibilities for treating diabetes. The results from the conducted research show that 28 out of 32 diabetics (or 81%) have stopped taking medications and 11 out of 22 diabetics (50%) have stopped their daily insulin injections. The other diabetics using insulin have considerably lowered their daily dosage. For less than 4 weeks on a low-fat, fiber-rich regime, combined with daily physical exercise, these diabetic patients, most of them ill for a very long time, have been capable to normalize their blood sugar without any medications!
The next phase of research, conducted three years later confirms that these results are lasting. Most of the patients have continued to live without medications and insulin injections. Pritikin’s research is later confirmed by Dr. James Anderson, one of the most renowned authorities on the subject of diabetes in the world. After sticking to a low-fat, fiber-rich diet with no refined starch foods for a duration of 15 years, Dr. Anderson concludes: “ 95 percent of the patients suffering from type 2 diabetes (diabetes among adults), who have been on regular medication up to then, were able to stop taking the medication after less than 8 weeks. 50 to 75% of patients have managed to normalize their blood sugar and after several weeks have given up insulin”.
Seventh. In my book there is a lot of data and recipes from which you will see that by combining several healing foods the effect is even faster and more powerful. For instance, combining honey with walnuts is an excellent remedy for heart diseases, strokes, and atherosclerosis.
The following combination has a great effect for cleansing your body from toxins and heavy metals, as well as boosting the immune system, and improving the work of kidneys and the liver:
1 jar of real Bulgarian yogurt, mixed with 1 tablespoon of pure mountain honey, 1 tablespoon of pectin and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.
I have given such recipes for all healing foods, because when properly and regularly used, they can help a lot of people prevent and cure dangerous diseases. When reviewing the healing products and foods, you will notice that many of them have a similar biological and chemical composition, which will help prolong the healing effect and make it more successful.
Eighth. I have placed the healing foods in 11 different groups depending on their origin and similarity:
Vegetables and herbs
Fruits
Grapes and wine therapy
Milk and yogurt
Honey and other bee products
Fish and other seafood
Legumes
Sprouts
Natural oils and olive oil
Chocolate and coffee
Foods that make us ill
Ninth. Nature has been very generous to us, offering us its healing gifts in their most appropriate form. Unfortunately, instead of using them the best way we can, we are going to great efforts to turn them from a remedy into real poison for our bodies. In order to be convinced in this, just go into any shop and look at the luxury food packages. You can’t help noticing that 70% of these foods will fall into the group of harmful and dangerous foods, which, not only make us sick, but inflict serious and hard to cure diseases to our organisms.
Here are several examples:
a) Go to the sausages stand. They are delicious, but before buying and consuming them, you should know, that in order to last and look fresh, they are treated with nitrates and other preservatives. These same nitrates will in time turn into nitrosamines which are carcinogenic and can cause cancer of the digestive system (stomach, colon).
b) At the sweets stand – the Turkish delight, the baklavas, candy and other sweets will cause irrevocable damage to the pancreas, including cancer or diabetes.
c) At the stand with chips and crisps you will see many different varieties. There is no greater poison for the whole organism, especially a child’s one, due to several reasons:
– during the frying process of potatoes, this otherwise excellent food, which increases stomach acid production, their calories go from 80-100 to 440.
– frying the potatoes in the same fat multiple times makes it highly carcinogenic
– in order for the chips to last longer, preservatives and artificial flavors are added, which are also carcinogenic
At the beverages stand, the drinks you will find apart from containing preservatives, colorants, sweeteners are also fizzy, which, taken all together, make them all a sweet poison for kids.
d) Salty sticks. One of the reasons for the most dangerous diseases – heart attacks, strokes, atherosclerosis, kidney conditions and more, is the high quantity of salt we consume. In dried, salty fish and in 100 g of salty sticks there are 2 times more than the recommended daily intake of salt?! Salty sticks, apart from being salty, have added crystals of salt and the recommended daily dose of salt for a man is between 5 to 7 g per day. We eat almost 5 times more than the recommended normal daily intake. It is well known that salt keeps the water in our body and this leads to overloading the heart and the whole organism.
The different cheese products are no less dangerous. Some of them are almost bitter with salt. Those who like cheese (and it is in fact a healthy product) should let it soak in water to get desalted.
e) At the stand of processed foods. Just a small ready-made sandwich contains more than the daily dose of salt. Here are the contents of a sample sandwich:
2 slices of salami (30 g) – 0.9 g
1 slice of ham (40 g) – 1,0 g
1 slice of dry salami (30g) – 1,0 g
1 slice (30 g) of Dutch cheese – 0,6 g
1 slice (62,5 g) of processed cheese – 1,9 g
2 slices of bread – 0,8 g
f) At the fast foods stand. They are offering children little toys together with the food to attract them, but parents seldom realize the crime they are committing to the health of their own children by buying them food from such places. These foods are dangerous because:
– the potatoes are fried in fat which is heated a hundred times and has already formed the dangerous carcinogens, we already mentioned, when talking about the chips.
– great quantities of salt are added to the potatoes
– the meat burgers are fried in the same dangerous fat
– then there are ketchup and mayonnaise added, which are also unhealthy
– in the menus there is also a sweet fizzy drink such as Coca Cola, Fanta or other;
– this whole mass of food contained in one portion, will cause nothing else but heaviness and damage to the stomach, and, with regular usage, will result in children getting fat and sick.
I can give you dozens of more examples related to foods in shiny packages, but I think these are enough to realize that the only way to live a long and healthy life is to eat healing foods in their natural form.
I am tempted to give one last example of how technologies have turned a very healthy drink, known from old times, into a real poison. The drink in question is the Bulgarian “boza”. In its original form it is valuable because it is produced from barley (and not from waffles and other sweets whose term has expired as is often done nowadays). The drink is produced through yeast fermentation during which a large amount of B-complex vitamins and valuable ferments, facilitating digestion are formed. With the old, traditional technology, the fermentation was so active, that within 24 hours the drink would go sour, making it fit to drink only within a day from production. The modern producers add conservatives, due to which the yeast fermentation is entirely stopped. As a result we drink a mixture of dubious content (which would have only been given to pigs once) and which can last even for a year without changing.
This is a classic example of how a healthy drink has been turned into poison for the organism by changing the technology for its production.
Tenth. At the bookstalls with medical literature you will find many books and recipes for different diets, giving totally contradictory recommendations:
– some of them claim that if you want to be healthy and strong you should consume a bite from 20-30 different foods
– others say – eat your breakfast alone, your lunch with friends, and give your dinner to your enemies;
– some recommend to not have breakfast at all, so the body can be cleansed from toxins;
– others say to eat once a day;
– yet others recommend hunger, without realizing that, in order to be full of energy, man really needs a certain quantity of vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats and carbohydrates;
– and the Atkins theory for eating, which has gained great popularity, turned into a complete fiasco with the death of its own author!?
According to his theory, the carbohydrates in the diet should be diminished to less than 10%, and not 30%, as most nutritionists recommend, without taking into account the fact that the heart and the brain cannot function normally when there is such a deficiency. He had a heart attack and his death has brought a complete collapse to his theory and the financial “empire” created on its base.
In my opinion, the basic rule to know and follow is that the foods that are easily digested – such as fruits and vegetables – should be consumed before foods which are harder to digest. If you want to eat fruits after the main meal, this should happen at least 2 hours after that in order to avoid the process of fermentation in the stomach which could have unpleasant effects.
Eleventh. I will conclude my arguments in defense of the fact that eating natural foods is the way to a healthy life, with another example, which is both offending and shameful for the whole mankind.
As a 4th-year student I took a course called “Feeding of farm animals”. Before the exam in front of the processor every one of us had to prepare the daily food ration for different groups of farm animals – a 2-4 month old lamb, a horse, pregnant sheep, cows used for milk production at the beginning of their lactation and so on. These daily rations should have provided the organism of the animals with the necessary resources to develop well – an optimal quantity of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, as well as the necessary vitamins, minerals, nutritional supplements and roughage.
In any farm, there is a veterinarian, who would not only prepare these daily rations for the different types of farm animals, but would also make sure they are strictly adhered to. Now tell me, my dear reader, who makes similar daily rations for the pregnant mothers, the women who have just given birth or are breastfeeding, the newborns, the children and young adults, the middle-aged people and the seniors? I will leave the conclusions up to you.
Twelfth. I have dedicated over 50 years to studying the nutritional and healing properties of foods we consume every day. What has helped me most in my research, are my teachers and the ability to have information from the very sources, in the countries where I have worked and specialized. I have lived in the US for over 10 years. My generation has also been very lucky to have the best teachers not only in the country, but in Europe as well. Most of them have specialized in the most developed European countries. To all my teachers, most of whom are already gone, I want to express my greatest gratitude and respect for what they have done not only for my fellow-students but for generations ahead. For 50 years I have gathered information from the whole world – have visited 63 countries and 44 states of the US, and have managed to collect 18 thousand recipes for treating different conditions. I am also deeply grateful and filled with utmost respect to Chinese and Russian traditional medicine.
