Big shifts are headed my way this year. I recently had a consultation with Kiva Rose, a medicine woman herbalist who I have a great respect for. Since September, I have had a bad dry and itchy skin rash which spread and would not respond to the typical topical treatments or dietary changes, or even the advice of a Western medical doctor. The rash continued to spread to other areas and it got so bad that I’d be scratching myself to bleeding while I was sleeping. So I decided to consult Kiva.
Kiva told me I am dealing with sluggish liver, kidneys, and digestive system as well as insulin resistance. She recommended some nourishing herbal infusions, which I’d already been taking previous to the consult. As well, she recommended some bitters to take before meals to help with the digestion of fats and proteins. I had also mentioned to her that I have bipolar/depression in my history and she took that into account as well. To this end, she also suggested some tinctures for mood balancing. As well as this, she recommended a routine of 2-3 weeks of vitamins to help my metabolism and endocrine system.
From a mental health perspective, she says that lessening carb-load can help to relieve anxiety and depression. This makes sense to me since refined carbs are addictive and ones that are highly processed create insulin spikes and mood disorders.
Her advice for dietary changes includes eating according to Mark Sisson’s Primal Blueprint. The idea of this diet is that one would strive to eat in a caloro-nutrient ratio and style that resembled our hunter-gatherer ancestor’s diet. For me this means eliminating/restricting bananas (!!!), dates and super sweet fruits. It means eating blueberries, other berries, local apples instead of super sweet fruit. It translates to eating more fats and proteins and keeping carbs limited to around 120 grams per day. So, no super sweet fruit, only moderate amounts of fruit and starchy veg., no grains, limiting legumes/beans, limited “smart” grains such as quinoa. The emphasis is on green vegetables and non-sweet fruits, with lots of healthy sources of fat/protein.
I had been eating lots of fruit, but also some cooked food such as legumes, rice, and vegetable soups. When I had been eating cooked food, I was concentrating on carby things not fatty things, since I reckoned that fatty things didn’t combine well with super sweet fruits. I think this was creating a major imbalance with the amount of sugar I was taking in, combined with the cooked carbs. It’s okay to eat a lot of sugary fruits if that’s all you’re eating, but when you combine it with anything else, it’s a disaster. I think what she is saying makes a lot of sense.
As well, she disagrees with veganism from a nutritional standpoint but understands ethically where I am coming from. She says that I am headed for long-term nutritional deficiencies if I remain vegan, but if I want to do so, I should at least continue with daily herbal infusions, some b-vitamins, magnesium and zinc. I am not ready to eat meat any time soon, but am considering slowly adding in raw local cow’s milk or goat’s milk yogourt/kefir/pima. Maybe eggs in the long-term. (“Yogourt? I thought you were vegan?” Yeah, I know! Crazy, huh?) I have been interested in the body ecology/primal eating thing for quite some time and I got to a point where I understood that an animal-based diet can be as healthy if it’s from wild sources rather than domesticated. I think that’s why I got my gun license, since in the back of my idealistic mind I have a vision of one day being able to hunt my own food. Hunting my own would probably be the only way I’d eat meat at this point in my thinking and I’m nowhere near there yet since the thought of eating it still repulses me (hey, it’s been a while since I ate meat). As well, in terms of preparing for the crash of civilization and fall of the oil economy, I would like not to depend on the fruits of civilization so much. I want to know how to hunt for that reason.
Of course, all of this information about eating low-carb and high-fat/protein to someone who strongly believe(s?)(d?) in the 80/10/10 diet which is strictly vegan and high carb, seems pretty overwhelming. It seems crazy to have invested so much energy into a philosophy. As you all know, I have already abandoned all ideas of an animal-rights based approach to eating because of the preposterousness of that idea, although I had remained vegan because I thought it was healthy. I feel as though 811 was just part of my journey and knowledge. I agree with Dr Graham that we need to eat more produce. And I agree that grains are toxic and an inappropriate food for humans. Some of the principles of 811 are still important. Eating a produce-dominated diet full of fruits and greens is still what I want to do. I just want to eat less-sweet fruits instead, and change the caloro-nutrient ratio.
I am not saying that 80-10-10 did not work for me at some point in my life. It did work for me, to a great extent. When I was following 811 strictly for a period of 8 months my depression lifted and I experienced great health. But when it came around to winter, I started having difficulty finding good sources of fruit. On 811, I also experienced low blood pressure with dizziness spells and vertigo and cold temperature, because of all the fruit and greens. I am already cold and even colder on 811. When one isn’t exercising at an intense level 1+ hrs per day, the sugar can’t be used by the body easily. And in the winter it’s hard to exercise at such an intense level because it’s so cold outside. I have always felt limited in finding good quality fruit, especially in the winter. Bananas just aren’t available locally, organically in Canada 
And I have always felt guilty about eating a diet that consisted of mostly imported fruit from the tropics. (I plan to continue to live in Canada, not the tropics.) What I am saying is that I am having problems and insurmountable challenges in sticking to 80-10-10 now in the present, and in the past so I have to admit it is not working for me.
I have to be realistic and not idealistic, which I tend towards. I have not been consistently 100% raw for periods more than a few weeks for the past year or more. And my interim plan of eating high raw foods (lots of sweet fruit) + some cooked carb-y things was creating problems. I kept holding onto this plan because I thought maybe, just maybe, someday I’ll be able to be 100% raw and it will all be okay. Even though it clearly wasn’t working I was still holding out. So realistically, what I was doing was not only (a) not working, (b) creating mood disorders, (c) creating skin rashes, but it was also nutritionally deficient! Realistically, I feel like Kiva’s dietary recommendations make sense and are do-able for me.
