Slim 4 Life

Last night I dreamt of fruits and vegetables: Floating apples, sparring asparagus spears, raspberry races, dancing bananas, and conversing carrots. Before I even opened my eyes this morning, I thought to myself, “I need to buy a juicer.” I’ve never even considered owning a juicer before- blenders were as far as I’d go.

This newfound produce fascination is a result of a recent “diet” book my friend, Jo gave me. We were trading recipes over lunch one day and she mentioned the great smoothie recipes this book has in the back. I thought I would give it a shot. Turns out- it’s an entire novel that attempts to alter the way you think about everything you put in your body; it preaches a way of life. I read all 308 pages of Jason Vale (The self proclaimed Juice Master)’s book, “Slim 4 Life: Freedom from the food trap” in two sittings. Needless to say, I was intrigued.

Granted, I will never look as milk as “cow glue.”

Vale mentions a few times that falling asleep after a big meal means that “the body does not have enough energy to keep you alive and awake at the same time.” Frankly, I don’t think we would die if we stayed awake, but it is an interesting thought.

I’m not writing this as an attempt at a long- winded book review, as I know nothing about diet books. Nor would I write this much about one. However, being that I am now apparently an advocate of gaining “freedom from the food trap,” I wanted to share a few things that struck me as interesting. I keep writing emails about this stuff so I figured I may as well post it and call it a day.

To paraphrase; cakes/chips bad, fruit/vegetables good. Right. We knew that already.

What else? Well…
Organic food isn’t necessarily healthy; it was merely produced without pesticides.
Caffeine ages you.
There is evidence that suggests that diet drinks actually cause weight gain- they increase hunger- so basically, they cause cancer AND make you fat. Not good.
Nuts lose their nutrition when they are roasted.
Popcorn is bad for you; corn is as starchy as potatoes.
100,000 lives a year could be saved if food manufacturers cut the amount of salt they use.
Brown bread is often white bread that has been dyed with caramel- check the back of packages. Combining different food groups in varying proportions aids digestion (but I wouldn’t know where to start with this one.)
Fresh veggies are much healthier before they are cooked.
A can of coke contains seven teaspoons of sugar while ketchup is 27% sugar.
Two of the chemicals used to de-caffeinate coffee are turpentine and formaldehyde!

Good things to do;
Drink a glass of water first thing in the morning.
Eat natural foods.
Cook with olive oil and flaxseed oil instead of butter and other oils.
Exercise.
Never ever eat refined sugar again.
Don’t eat meat either.
Or milk products.
Buy a juicer.
Wear sunscreen (joking…sort of).

I think that about sums it up.