Eat to Live. Don’t Live to Eat.

Ever notice how your body holds on to tension, making your muscles tight, without you even realising it? Have you ever thought about how much energy you consume keeping muscles in tension rather than relaxation?  Not only energy consumption, but using minerals such as magnesiumWhat it does: Strengthens bones and teeth, promotes healthy muscles by helping them to relax, also important for PMS, important for heart muscles and nervous….

The Mount Athos monks in Greece, who have one of the longest, healthiest lives with the lowest rates of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s, have three fasting days a week, eating only one meal, with no dairy, no wine and no olive oil on those days. But they can eat olives.

On others they cook with olive oil, never butter, but they do eat goat’s cheese, not cream, and seafood, eggs, plus lots of beans, lentils and marine food on the three ‘feast’ days a week. They eat no meat. On extended fasts they eat ‘bloodless’ fish such as calamari. Most of all, they eat lots of fresh organic seasonal vegetables and fruit. They also eat home-baked bread.

“Monks don’t fast because they care about their physical health, or worry about getting cancer, or want to live long and good lives. The frugality and simplicity of the food they eat, naturally, has a good effect on their health and helps keep physical damage at bay. But they do it because they reject everything that is superfluous in life, and in cutting out their own desires, they come closer to God.” Says Stephen Amos, a journalist for the Observer who went to stay with them.

Everything they do, is so close to what I follow and recommended in my Burn FatThere are many different types of fats; polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, hydrogenated, saturated and trans fat. The body requires good fats (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated) in order to… Fast diet book with three ‘fast’ days of 35 GLs, and four ‘feast’ days of 45 GLs. Also, in the 5 Day Diet designed to get you into the healing phase of ‘autophagy’, there’s no dairy, meat and oil but olives are allowed.

But the point is, if you think what you need to, engage your muscles when you need to, and eat nutrient dense food when you need to –  just think how much wasted energy you’d conserve.

The human organism has a limited lifespan, so this has to help preserve the reserve. In that context you might think not exercising is good but the right kind and amount of exercise generates muscles and brain connections and keeps you healthy. Over-exercising does not. It shortens lifespan and can be used as a way to dissipate energy.

“In today’s society, people want to eat and eat. They’ve made a living of eating, whereas we should only eat what we need, which is about a tenth of what we eat anyway.” Says Brother Ephraim. “Eat to live. Don’t live to eat.”

Most impressive is their zero incidence of Alzheimer’s. After subjecting 2,000 monks to repeated tests over a five-year period, neurologists were startled to discover a zero incidence of the disease, nor vascular dementia in monks over 80. Many live into their 100’s with a sharp mind. It’s an inspiration to us all.

World Alzheimer’s Day – Sunday 21 September

This Sunday is World Alzheimer’s Day, a global campaign to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, challenge the stigma surrounding it, and advocate for better research and support for affected individuals and their families.

At the charity Food for the Brain, the focus is on prevention. Only 1% of Alzheimer’s is in the genes. It is possible to identify your risk factors – most of which are under your control – and show you how to protect your brain function. Read more about their mission here and take the Cognitive Function Test.

More on Fasting

To learn more about fasting visit my website – Go Hybrid and Burn Fat Fast or the book Burn Fat Fast.