This is written to encourage, inform and educate young lives, women and people of all cultures. It is written to create a platform of expression, exchange and discussion for struggles and stories in the beauty fight that is hurting so many lives. My hope is to: 1. Expose what happens to beauty and body when not eating or eating less becomes the way to be prettier or skinnier, 2. To lead a new generation of uninformed, confused young people into strong and prepared grown-ups, and 3. To bring light to all people everywhere about deceptive diets, harmful for-profit diet books, health “experts” claims about food, beauty, exercise, supplements and dieting.
Kristen,
Your cousin told me about what has been going on with you and he asked me to write you.
Girls want to be beautiful. The problem is most girls think they will get that beauty and get skinny through eating less or not eating. What they don’t know is that by doing either, the result is that they lose their beauty and body.
Let me explain. When a person does not get enough food or nutrition the blood suffers. The red blood cells density and strength and total number in the body weaken and lessen. When blood is weakened over time to a certain point the medical diagnosis is anemia. However, the blood can still weaken even if there is not a diagnosis of anemia through a blood test. Either way, with or without a diagnosis, eating less weakens the blood and can lead to many different changes in the body while stealing beauty. These changes occur simultaneously or individually. The most obvious external change is the hair and face. The hair gets weak because of lack of nourishment from the blood and becomes thin, brittle and the scalp becomes oily. The face changes shape and color. The color changes to a pale or ash gray color because the face lacks blood supply. Over time these changes become really apparent and people start to ask why that person looks so tired all the time?
Blood is one of the first parts of the body that is affected by not eating enough food. It doesn’t matter whether you are in a complete state of starvation, or if you are eating but eating less. The blood weakens, but it is not just the blood that weakens. The kidneys also weaken with the blood. The kidneys weaken slowly and they don’t show their weakening or deficiency right away.
At any one time 20% of the blood is in the kidneys being filtered and cleansed. So, the kidneys clean the blood which allows for all organs and tissue in your body to function. On a beauty level, weakening the kidneys by not eating or eating less will leave the face looking tired and puffy. Over time, the face and body will begin to swell with fluid.
What you are suffering from now is called edema. I know you had an operation to fix your swollen facial glands but the swelling and fluid just came back, and now it is even worse. Edema, I am sure your doctor already explained has many causes, but your cause of edema is specific. The edema in your face and abdomen is caused because the fluid metabolism function in your body has become so weak that it cannot control the processing and transportation of fluids. The fluid spills out of the place it is supposed to be and into the interstitial spaces in between the skin and muscle. Without food, the body cannot transfer and mobilize fluid into the places it is supposed to be so they leak out. The fluid accumulates in the cheeks, the lower abdomen, entire abdomen, back of the arms and ankles. But after a long period of eating less or barely eating, the fluid spills out everywhere, and that is called anasarca - generalized edema.
Just look at pictures of young starving children anywhere in the world. Why don’t they look skinny? They have huge bellies and a swollen face yet they are starving. It is because of fluid accumulation. So, you can try and fix the swollen glands but the fluid will just come back until you restrengthen and fortify your blood, kidneys, organs and total body with food.
Last time I saw you we ate at the pier and you told me you were 105 lbs. You wouldn’t order anything to eat and told me that you only ate fruit and how good you felt and how proud you were about your fruit diet. But think about what goes on when you don’t eat, eat very little or eat simple foods like fruit as a means of nutrition? What happens? Your body is not receiving nearly as much nutrition necessary to go through a day of activity, rest and cellular repair, and all the other mental and physical functions the body goes through every day.
When you don’t eat enough food your body starts to take from itself. Your body survives by eating itself. First the fat deposits then the muscles, then tendons and then the ligaments. It steals from the bones and bone marrow and depletes them as it starts to move inward to the organs and critical body systems. Meanwhile, the endocrine system and other vital parts of the body that release hormones go into survival mode. This kind of release is exhausting for the hormone system and body. It is not normal. The body fights to stay alive and does this by taking from itself.
So you have to understand this process and the results and how the body works to understand why you are in the position you are in now. The problem you have is a direct result of not eating enough food. Starving yourself or eating just fruit is the reason you are having problems with your health and appearance.
You need food - all different kinds. You need to eat whole meals with bread, rice, grains, different meats and vegetables. Everything that has life or has a DNA code will not only get you back to health, but will keep you healthy and bring back your beauty. Until, we can meet up, you have to try and understand one thing and that is Food=Beauty.
DON’T BE DISCOURAGED if you don’t have an appetite or if you have distention or bloating after you eat in your stomach or intestines…this is because you temporarily hurt your digestive system. The stomach is made up of smooth muscles that digest food. The smooth muscles of your digestive system also need nourishment from food to stay mobile and “sharp” so that they are able to properly breakdown and digest and then absorb what is needed for the body to function. Because you haven’t eaten steadily for so long the smooth muscles began to lack strength because they too are starving and weakening. They begin to get "dull" and the dullness makes it hard for them to "cut" or digest the food. When food stays stagnate in your stomach you will feel bloating and distention. This will go away in time as the stomach and digestive organs are re-strengthened through food.
Your cousin also told me you are having problems with anxiety and sleep. This is a direct result of your body being deficient of food especially complex carbohydrates. Complex carbs break down into glucose in the body. The brain is a glucose hog and it needs glucose to function. Glucose passes the blood brain barrier and feeds the brain. Your mental function has changed and you have restless thoughts in your mind, this is directly related to not eating carbs.
It is complicated and when we meet up we can get into more detail but for now, you should know that your problems with sleep and changes in your mental function are related to food.
You are so pretty but you have to realize that not eating or just eating fruit is completely wrong, and it is why you are down about your appearance and why your face and body are swelling.
Remember that Food=Beauty.
That’s it for now.
Talk to you soon, Ranko Tutulugdzija
When I had dinner that night with Kristen at a restaurant in Huntington Beach she looked very sick and tired. She was pale, her hair was falling out, her body was completely emaciated, and her face was beginning to swell. I knew right away that she hadn’t been eating. I had to be sensitive about how I talked to her about it but she didn’t hold back. She was very proud of her all fruit diet. A few months later she was in and out of the doctor’s office with severe fluid retention in her face. All the lab reports and medical testing came back negative. It meant that according to medicine she was healthy. They only found excess fluid in her facial glands. A surgeon tried to remove the fluid but it just came back. And when it came back it got worse. Kristen was such a pretty girl. But it was fading and she was losing her fight to be beautiful. She became almost unrecognizable.
This was nothing new for me, seeing young girls and their beauty wasted. I lived in China. It’s a long story why I went, but to make it short, I needed help with my health and didn’t have medical insurance. I taught English to get my visa so that I could get treatment. I learned pretty fast that like everywhere, most college girls in China are consumed with beauty and being thin. It became a routine that while out to dinner with friends I would observe that when we got our food nobody would eat. The girls would put food on my plate and maybe take one or two bites for themselves. They would say how fat they were and how they needed to diet. The typical college girl in China was pale, had a more swollen face, and a really skinny emaciated body. They all had beauty but they were losing it. I started to see a big difference between younger college girls and older women in China.
A doctor that took care of me was close to retiring. She had no wrinkles on her face and looked like she was in her early thirties. She was youthful and beautiful. It was the same everywhere I went in China. Older Chinese women kept their beauty and youth into a very old age. The younger girls were losing it.
I looked much worse than those girls when I went to China. I was very sick. I went to China at 110 lbs. I am 5’10” and have always been an athlete. My battle with health started young. Through those years I put together the complicated but simple puzzle of health. To young girls and women that translates into beauty and body.
Kristen was losing her beauty because of internal deficiencies but she is not alone. There have been so many girls and women, both anonymous and famous, who have been through this beauty loss or changing process and can’t understand why. I am not talking about anorexia or some famous star we have all heard of with an eating disorder. Eating disorders like anorexia are very serious and complicated, and I don’t have the answer. Eating disorders need to be treated professionally and clinically. Anybody with an eating disorder who reads this can learn how beauty is lost and kept, but they need more support and help.
What I am talking about are those who don’t cause alarm. These girls and women are also in their own world of fight…that fight with the mirror, that fight with the size of their jeans, that fight with food, calories and exercise. That unrelenting, seemingly unbeatable, unnoticed to the outside world beauty fight. They are not diagnosed with any kind of eating disorder, and people around them might even say they are perfectly fine, but they are not fine. They cross the body’s ability to function in health. They develop internal deficiencies and that’s when their beauty and body changes. You don’t need to be diagnosed with an eating disorder to go through those changes. The bad news is the rest of the world notices the changes. The good news is they aren’t permanent. Girls and women who went through the beauty loss process can have it back. Some Hollywood stars have been through the beauty loss process and body changes, and there is an up and coming generation of young Hollywood stars that are on the way to doing the same.
What girls and women don’t understand is what’s going on inside the body is what’s seen on the outside of the body. Internal deficiencies of tissues, blood, organs, will show up on the face and change the body. Deficiency of food will always lead to beauty being lost and body ruined. It is only a matter of time. Some people are born with a stronger constitution then others or as science would call DNA or genes. Some people can endure longer and more severe conditions of starvation and malnutrition. They have higher cortisone levels, stress hormones, stronger bone marrow where red blood cells mature, and just an overall higher threshold than others because of genetics.
In the opening paragraph, I wrote how anyone can understand this book, but how I was giving special attention to teens and college aged girls. The reason is because the young are still in the process of development and cellular maturity. The worst and most aggressive changes are in them because their body systems are not fully developed. Think of a house that doesn’t have a roof and that isn’t fully built. What if a storm passes over the house? What happens? There is damage to the inside and outside of the house. Well, think of an unfinished house as a young girl or young woman, and a storm as eating less or not eating. If they start eating less or not eating when they are young the consequences are not just their physical beauty but their health. They lose valuable years of development and body system maturity. The body is much more able to fight against the changes from not eating or eating less when it’s stable and developed. Everybody reaches body and tissue maturity at a different age some earlier and some later. It doesn’t really matter though because no one can beat the changes in beauty, body and health that come by lack of food. Not eating or eating less will change you regardless of age.
It is very important to understand and remember the word deficiency and the equation Food=Beauty. Kristen was completely deficient. After my fight with health, my Chinese medicine and acupuncture education in China and in the U.S., and now as a physician, it wasn’t hard for me to recognize Kristen’s deficiencies. Kristen’s case was typical and is a silent epidemic in America and the world—girls and women eating less to be beautiful and to keep a thin body. In Hollywood it is everywhere. Almost every girl in junior high, high school and college think about it. But nobody really knows how many are living it...
They may not be completely starving. They might be just eating less. Eating less carbs, only salads, only fruit or trying a fad diet. Diets are one of the worst things for the human body. I hope you take the word diet out of your vocabulary and never try a yo-yo diet or fad diet. Those diets will leave you worse off than when you started, more insecure and empty than ever. Especially for young girls who are already are thin and in the developmental stages diets will leave your body deficient.
Remember deficiencies lead to beauty wasted and body swelling.
I had a dream to make it as a soccer player in Europe and went to the University of California Santa Barbara on a soccer scholarship when I was seventeen. At UCSB someone gave me a popular diet book for athletes. How awesome that book made everything seem. Just eat protein and vegetables and you will be like pro-athletes that compete in that “zone” - where you will perform at your body’s maximum potential. I trusted. So, I barely ate any complex carbohydrates my whole time in college, and I rarely ever took one day off from playing soccer or physical training. By my second year at UCSB, I was exhausted all the time and just wanted to sleep. My legs were starting to burn and hurt when I was practicing with the team and I didn’t know why. I transferred to the University of Illinois Chicago my junior year and I was still eating just protein from meat sources and vegetables. My junior year I was in severe pain everyday. That’s when our team doctor told me I had exercised-induced compartment syndrome, and that I needed surgery to release the pressure that was built up in the muscle compartments in my lower legs. No trainer, no doctor, nobody told me what to eat as an athlete. I had no clue that my muscles were lacking glucose, what gives muscles energy to stay healthy and function. Well, I didn’t get the fasciotomy operation to relieve the pressure because another orthopedic surgeon told me it was too risky.
I went to Europe that year very sick without knowing it and missed my dream. I played out my final season in college in deep pain. I started to have trouble sleeping, concentrating and studying. I had no strength or energy. I was changing from a confident, radiant kid to a withdrawn, quiet, person I didn’t know. A few months later a doctor told me I had high creatinine phosphokinase (CPK) levels in my blood and diagnosed me with rhabdomyolysis. The pressure in my legs was cutting off blood supply to my muscles releasing a toxic chemical into my blood stream. I had no medical insurance and no way to treat it. That’s why I went to China.
Why do I share all this with you? So that you understand how the body works. So that you can see that an all protein diet almost killed me. Eating only protein is simply one of the worst diets you can put yourself through and it is the quickest way to lose your beauty, change your mental function and over time create health problems. Having no complex carbohydrates in the body means no energy and no life. I was completely exhausted because I was pushing my body so hard and not getting any energy from the food I was eating. Protein is not a source of energy in the body. It is vital for life, but it does not break down into cellular energy. Protein breaks down into amino acids that are the building blocks of life. I’m sure you learned this in your freshman biology class but it is so important to understand. Kristen and I were having problems with sleeping and changes in our mental function because of our diets and lack of food.
I developed an overwhelming sense of fear. Kristen struggled with severe anxiety, life altering fear combined with panic attacks. My understanding is because we both operated in a kind of survival mode where our bodies were living off their own tissue to make up for the lack of food, the autonomic nervous system started to operate more sensitively to the fight or flight pathway. Because we were starving nutritionally for so long, it was natural to operate in the fight and flight mode to stay alive. Much of our body’s response during this period of malnourishment was in the fight and flight pathway and that allowed for a heightened sense of anxiety. Of course, this isn’t proven. Nobody really knows why a person develops anxiety, and although I think Kristen’s anxiety and my fear may have been caused by our constant state of malnourishment, it doesn’t mean that all anxiety is caused by physical deficiencies.
Anxiety is very complicated. It could be rooted in emotional hurt, long suffering, post-traumatic stress disorder, spiritual reasons and more. Each case is individual. But there is no doubt that in my practice, as a treating physician, I see a pattern of anxiety and mental changes in girls and women who eat less or don’t eat much at all.
Kristen was deficient and living off her own body tissue to survive. That may have sent her into a state where her brain synapses and autonomic nervous system was sensitive to the fight and flight response. No science can prove that but there is scientific evidence of mental changes in a person that does not get enough food or nutrition. Girls or women who don’t eat much or eat less will experience problems with over-thinking, constant thoughts in their heads, a restless mind, withdrawal from social activity, timidity and insecurity. Sleep is also a big problem when the body develops deficiencies. Problems like falling into sleep and needing hours to finally get to sleep. Waking up tired and looking tired. There is no escape. If you are fighting for beauty and body by eating less these things will happen.
If there are mental changes and if it is a young girl who has enough trust in her family then she is taken to the family doctor. The doctor usually asks no questions about food intake or anything related. She might be asked to fill out a questionnaire about how she has been feeling mentally and emotionally. Depending on how she answers, the doctor prescribes medication for depression or anxiety. The medication is given but it is not based on any objective medical testing. It is based only on subjective questioning. This medication in young people is known to cause suicidal thoughts and behavior. Now, depression is real and medication is sometimes the only and the best way of treatment. If you are on medication do not stop taking it. Your doctor is the only one who has the right to take you off any medication. After reading this, I hope that the girls and women that are living out the trend of eating less to meet society’s standards and expectations of beauty and body can start looking at their mental function in a new light.
So what have we learned so far? Deficiency steals beauty, changes the body, warps mental function and that diets can be the worst thing you can ever do to your body. I gave you an example of what an all protein diet did to me, what a fruit diet did to Kristen and what not eating or eating less will do to the up and coming youth of Hollywood.
If you re-read Kristen’s letter you will get a good sense of what deficiencies do to the internal body systems and how those deficiencies take away from your external beauty. When a person gets little nourishment the body goes into a kind of survival mode and feeds off its own and reserves. As the body starts to live off itself what the outcome to the outside world is fading beauty and a changed swollen body. What you read in Kristen’s letter may have been a bit too much medical information. I’m not writing this for doctors or the medical world but for the youngest girl to understand clearly what makes physical beauty and what breaks it. Let’s analyze the changes on a non-cellular, non-pathogenic, not so medical level that will take place when a person does not get enough food or nutrition.
HAIR – You will lose your hair. Hair is always one of the first parts of beauty to be lost when a girl or a woman thinks she will get a skinny body and a pretty face from not eating. Hair turns thin, brittle, dry at the ends but oily at the scalp. It looks unhealthy, lacks shine and body. And guess what? No shampoo bottle in the world or hair product can restore your hair. Only rebuilding and strengthening the blood and correcting deficiencies can bring health back to hair.
BODY HAIR – Have you ever wondered why some girls have body hair on their lower backs, stomach, upper lips and neck? Some ethnic groups are genetically predisposed to this but for those who aren’t hair growth in these places is totally abnormal. What happens is our bodies compensate for lost nutrition and food intake which equals health and energy for all the body’s system and cellular networks, by doing what? By growing fur…I know it sounds strange but it is a survival mechanism. Our core body temperature is pretty high around 98.2 degrees. We are not cold blooded. We are warm blooded. Think about how much easier it is to live in the Caribbean than in Antarctica…why is that? It is because the external environment more closely matches our internal environment. When we don’t get enough food, we don’t get enough internal warmth and that means not only is our internal body deficient but it also gets “cold.” The body doesn’t have the “warmth” to properly function. Medicine may call this adrenal fatigue syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome or just not having the best blood circulation (and YES - not eating or eating less does cause all three). Remember how Kristen’s endocrine system (hormone system) was over-exerting and taking from the body’s reserves to keep Kristen alive? Well, the endocrine system includes the adrenal glands. When the body doesn’t get enough food it overworks these glands that help regulate body temperature. That means the adrenal glands start exhausting themselves to survive the lack of food. Over time they burn out. So, although the body’s temperature regulating system is very complicated, we know that the body’s internal temperature is directly related to food. If there isn’t enough and the deficiencies are long lasting, the body starts to adapt and grow fur. Body hair – if you don’t eat...it will grow.
SKIN – Skin is changed by any kind of fad diet, eating less or not eating at all. The two most striking changes that occur are the color of the skin and the overall health. The color of the face turns pale, yellow or ash gray. It doesn’t take much time for this to happen. A yellow color is called jaundice. Jaundice can mean a variety of things but in girls and women eating less it usually indicates hemolysis. Hemolysis is the destruction of red blood cells. Jaundice can also mean that bile from the gall bladder (used in digestion) is spilling out, or it can mean problems with the liver and other medical issues.
In Chinese medicine depending on the shade of color of the face it signifies different disease processes. A light yellow signifies a deficiency in digestive organs and an overall deficiency. A gray ash color tells us there is a deficiency in hormone levels. It is one of the first signs a physician should analyze. One thousand years ago when there was no way to look under a microscope or order a blood test and have it studied at a laboratory, doctors in China were able to treat a variety of disorders based on one of multiple factors of diagnosis, of those factors some were and still are skin color, texture and moisture.
Not eating or eating less hurts the blood. The blood weakens and cannot nourish the skin. Allowing the body to constantly work in a malnourished survival state means it is less focused on the hair, skin, extremities (head, legs, arms) and overall physical beauty. It’s more focused on keeping the heart rhythm normal, getting as much nourishment to the lungs to aide in respiration and oxygen transportation to tissue, and keeping the kidneys strong to clean the blood and stay alive. Basically the body starts to worry less about beauty and more about keeping itself alive. It protects the most vital parts and doesn’t worry much about the not so vital. That leaves your skin out of the running of most vital organ, which means your skin with lack of nourishment changes. Lack of nourishment from food also causes the skin to get droopy and lose tightness. If you are older, eating less or not eating is the surest and fastest way to get wrinkles. If you are younger, eating less or not eating makes the skin hyper release oils. The less you eat the more oils your skin will produce. Oils breed acne, black heads and cysts. You can use products to dry the oil and they may help but the ultimate fix needs to be made internally.
Some skin issues are related to genetics and hormone or other medical issues, I am not referring to those types of problems. I am strictly referring to girls and women who don’t eat enough food and the changes to their skin.
FACE – My eight years of studying Chinese medicine, acupuncture, bio-medicine, the complexities of the human body, after years of reflecting on my own personal fight with health, has given me insight into the changes that take place to the outside of the body when the body accumulates deficiencies. Girls and women who don’t eat because they are trying to get that beauty and skinny body by eating less all start looking the same: tired, old, puffy, pale and insecure. Beauty wasted.
In the beginning stages of eating less, a girl may feel on top of the world like Kristen did on her fruit diet. At one point she was very thin. Her face was very skinny. It showed off her cheek bones because of the emaciation. She was in that phase that I call the “it girl” phase of dieting or not eating. It is a place where nothing can go wrong. Everybody sees your beauty and body. You may never be able to understand why some people aren’t as thin as you.
The thing about the “it girl” phase is that it is temporary…the body’s ability to metabolize fluid will start to slow down. Here is an analogy. Think of old trains. They used to be powered by burning coal. When train operators wanted the train to move they used more coal. When they wanted it to stop they used less. The train needed coal for movement. Well, the body is the same way. If you can understand that our bodies are 60% fluid, then you can understand the importance of fluid metabolism in our body. Our body needs its own coal (which for us is food) to keep the fluid inside of us moving and moving to the right places. If we don’t get enough food over time our metabolism function slows down like a train that isn’t burning any coal. When that happens the fluid spills out into places it is not supposed to and it stays stagnate until the body has enough fuel and energy to redistribute and move the fluid to its right place. Water and blood both slow down when we don’t get enough food, and that leaves the face unrecognizable, tired looking, old and swollen. After the “it girl” phase of not eating or dieting, the body is in a deficient state and is losing its fight against malnutrition. The “it girl” phase then changes to the “beauty wasted” phase. Kristen was in the “beauty wasted” phase.
BODY - The body gets really skinny and thin at the beginning stages of eating less or not eating (the “it girl phase”). The body is tight and thin. The world is thinking this girl has everything. A celebrity recently went through this body change. She was the “it girl” for a while, but then everybody started saying she put on some weight. She transferred phases. Her body was fighting against internal changes. She has been thin all her life and like some people she just has a genetic predisposition to that body type. Her body fought against those changes as long as it could - according to her own genetics. It couldn’t stay in the “it girl” phase anymore. Everyone thought she was pregnant. The problem wasn’t that she was eating more food or unhealthy food. The problem was that her body started to develop internal deficiencies and it was just simply lacking enough food for too much time.
For most girls or women who don’t get enough food or don’t eat, they can expect their bodies to swell and become soft. Remember the body survives off eating itself and its own tissue when it doesn’t get enough food. The muscles will be used up as fuel for the body to live. The fluid metabolism function will slow down allowing the fluid to leak out. The fluid gets stuck in the interstitial spaces between the muscles and skin. And that will make the body feel soft without muscle tone. Instead of a natural tone and shape a healthy body should have (especially at a young age), the body seems fat and mushy.
This kind of change in the body also allows for cellulite even at a young age. People wonder why some girls have cellulite on their legs at such a young age? Cellulite can develop due to being overweight and with age, but in a young girl who has been through the “it girl” phase, the answer is not enough food and fluid retention.
So, here is a summary of what happens when you don’t eat, eat little or go on any kind of diet. If you are already thin and in a deficient state, or thin and healthy, and stay on any diet for too long to the point where you build internal deficiencies...
You will... SUMMARY
You will...lose the hair on your head and grow it on your body
You will...grow a moustache
You will...have loose, oily skin and open pores
You will...have the skin color of a zombie
You will...get dark rings around your eyes like a zombie too
You will...have no ability to get tan
You will...have a swollen face that looks fat but really isn’t fat
You will...grow a pouch like a kangaroo that is filled with fluid
You will...be introduced to cankles
You will...have upper arms that are swollen with fluid instead of firm healthy muscle
You will...depending on how long and severe the deficiency - retain fluid throughout your entire body, and people will say, “wow she gained weight” even though they don’t know it is not fat
You will...look old
You will...get cellulite
You will...develop mental changes like anxiety, inability to sleep, OCD, irritability, insecurity, over-thinking or a restless mind
You will...lose your body
You will...lose your beauty
Like the sun rises in the east every day, so will any person go through these changes if they diet, eat little or don’t eat at all. It is just a matter of time. Again some people have a stronger disposition to survival and a deeper genetic ability to endure longer more harsh environments, but in the end there is no way around how beauty is lost and kept.
As sure as these changes are, there are even more changes that most young girls don’t really think about and they are the consequences of eating less and not eating has on health. Every internal body system over time is affected by not getting enough food. There can be big changes or small ones.
The BIG changes:
Repetitive miscarriages and inability to get pregnant – no blood in the womb to hold the baby or to make for a secure environment for conception or fetal development.
Heart arrythmia’s – the heart is a muscle and needs food to keep a healthy steady rhythm and function. The worst thing anyone can do for their heart at a young age is exercise and not eat. The reason is because the heart needs a lot of nutrition when it is being over worked through exercise. The heart is sensitive to stress on the body in all ways whether it be through not eating enough, over-exercise, emotions, mental states or life circumstances. Not eating and exercising will hurt your heart.
Kidney failure – the kidneys need food to survive - period. When the body doesn’t get enough food the kidneys suffer.
Gastric and intestinal ulcers – the stomach releases Hydrochloric Acid (HCl) and if there is no food in the stomach to digest, then the HCl can burn the stomach lining. Also, Helicobacter Pylori (H-pylori bacteria) that is a cause of ulcers can sometimes find a sustaining environment in a host whose immune system is weakened because of a lack of nutrition.
Endocrine disorders – adrenal gland exhaustion, hypo-thyroidism, and other disorders of the endocrine system. Over-exertion and taking from reserves.
Fibroid tumors in the uterus – slow moving blood and malnourishment to cells.
Cancer – although not proven, Chinese medicine offers some insight into some forms of cancer. Eating less food or not getting enough food weakens the blood which in time weakens and slows down blood circulation. The body turns to cold and deficient internally, which allows for stagnate masses to form in the tissue and because of the constant stress to the body from malnutrition it may lead to DNA code and cellular mutations. However, cancer is influenced by many factors and is difficult to fully understand why some people get it and others don’t.
Depression – deficient glucose levels. The brain needs glucose. Neuro and chemical transmitter imbalance like dopamine and serotonin deficiencies due to lack of food.
Anxiety – sensitivity to fight and flight autonomic nervous system pathway.
Neurological disease – nerves feed off B vitamins and these nutrients are what keep nerves healthy. When there is a decrease of complex
carbohydrates and overall nutrition to the body the myelin sheath suffers. When the nerve doesn’t get nourishment there are all kinds of neurological diseases that can develop. The most common is some kind of pain and it is usually chronic. Nerves also need uninhibited blood flow because blood is what carries nourishment to all the body’s tissue.
The SMALL changes:
Anemia – weakened red blood cells.
Body temperature changes – no fuel or warmth from food, adrenal fatigue.
Circulation – weakened blood system and no nourishment and strength from food for the heart muscle to work properly.
Bloating and distention, no appetite – damage to digestive organs.
Never ending appetite – the body’s attempt to correct deficiencies, a survival mechanism to stay alive.
Kidney stones – kidneys can’t function the right way without food.
Shortness of breath – oxygen absorption and transportation, weakening of blood which is the oxygen transport system.
Feeling dizzy – oxygen levels to the brain, weakened blood.
Immune deficiency, always sick – no support or stability for healthy immune function.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – lack of cellular ATP, glucose from complex carbohydrates, adrenal exhaustion, cellular deficiency, organ deficiency, weakening of blood.
Jaundice – as already mentioned hemolysis which means red blood cells dying or destruction, bile leakage, other medical disorders.
Inability to produce milk for breast feeding – this might be a small change for a mother but it is significant for a baby. Mother’s milk is the best source of food and nutrition for a baby’s normal and natural physical development. It also allows for bonding between mother and child. It is always best to breast feed. Not eating enough food or limited reserves in the body can lead to lack of milk production.
Menstrual disorders – weakened deficient blood.
Mood changes, personality changes – the glucose hog a.k.a. the brain, lacks the one thing it feeds on glucose - allowing for changes mental function.
TMJD (Temporomandibular joint disorder) – this is a problem with the jaw. When the body does not get enough food, the network of tendons, ligaments, and muscles around the lower jaw stop working the way they should. The tendons and ligaments that hold the jaw in place weaken. It can be painful. It can also lead to cracking sounds when the jaw is opened and closed. Leaving the jaw vulnerable to changes that may need medical attention.
Chronic urinary tract infections – immune system lacking food for its “soldiers” so they are unable to capture and kill bacteria and other pathogens.
Craving for sweet food – for some reason when the body has internal deficiencies especially digestive weakening there is a craving for sweet food. Chinese medicine has an interesting explanation and that
is sweet food strengthens the body. Sweet food helps correct internal deficiencies.
Edema (body swelling and facial swelling) – protein deficiency, overall nutritional deficiency, weakening of organs that are involved in water/fluid metabolism.
Insomnia – glucose and internal deficiencies.
This is all as true as 2+2 = 4. How do I know? Because when I was sick I tried to heal myself through fasting. I came home from college didn’t have medical insurance and was on my own with my body and health. At times, I would just stay quiet, wait, pray and hope that one day I would wake up and all the pain and confusion would disappear. Other times, I would be aggressive in fighting what was happening to me by trying to educate myself and learn more about the human body. During the time I was searching for healing, it wasn’t long before I heard about the miracles of fasting. The books promised so much. I was going to be healed. No more pain. I just needed to drink water and juice to detoxify my body. It sounded really easy. So, I stopped eating. For months I didn’t eat.
I started fasting on the weekends. I wouldn’t eat at all. During the week I just ate vegetables and soups. It wasn’t enough. I wanted to be healthy and didn’t want to wait anymore. I wanted to get better. I figured I would speed up the process of healing by eating even less. I ate three meals a week and the rest of the days I wouldn’t eat. I just drank water and waited for my body to detoxify and become brand new. It didn’t work. Months later I was near death. I could barely stand on my feet. I didn’t have
the strength to shake a person’s hand. I was bleeding internally.
What’s the point? The point is that I starved myself indirectly not for beauty but for health. To overcome the physical pain and to restore my body but it didn’t work. It made me so much worse. So, the reason I know that those physical changes will take place is because most of them happened to me. I was so cold all the time. My hair fell out. I was pale. My jaw could never close properly and it was always in pain. I couldn’t sleep. I felt fear. I wanted to be alone. My heart was palpitating for the first time in my life. The rhythm was completely abnormal. I found out in China that I had a perforated ulcer and that is why I was bleeding. I couldn’t eat anything. My stomach hurt when I ate and would be so distended after even the smallest meal. But at the same time I had this ferocious hungrier than a wolf appetite that wouldn’t go away. I was just over 100 lbs. My left kidney and stomach were prolapsed, and that wasn’t it. My body went through so many changes and even more when I started to eat again. This was all on top of my original problem with my muscles, blood and kidneys.
I hope that through my struggle you can understand the effects of eating less or not eating does to your health. It robs and steals. For some people it may take longer but it will happen, and when it does remember that not only will you lose your beauty but you will lose your health.
Here is the last part of the truth about beauty. That is to understand the Food variable in Food= Beauty.
DNA vs. dead empty stuff
Food=Beauty, when I write this I am being specific but at the same time general about the Food variable of the equation. What I mean is the definition I have for food is anything that is not man-made or processed and that has a DNA code (comes from land, water or air). But at the same time after we know what Food means, I am generally speaking because there is no right Food. Does that make sense? Food to be considered food for humans has to have a DNA code or in other words something that was living at one time. This is how the world and humans lived from the beginning of history. It only changed in the last century. So, food has to have a DNA code to be considered Food and that is what I meant when I wrote specific. At the same time the Food part of the equation is general as well as specific. By general, I mean that there is no right Food. Food is food, doesn’t matter if a person prefers to eat rice or bread, lamb or chicken, carrots or green beans. In some parts of the world, rice is a staple food that is eaten with every meal. In other parts of the world, bread is the staple food that is eaten with every meal. There is no right food to eat. As long as it is Food (something that has a DNA code and was living at one time). Generally speaking when food is Food then it doesn’t really matter what a person eats. They eat according to their preference and cultural heritage and what is best for them. In China a majority of people prefer rice. In
Central America people prefer corn. In the Mediterranean most people eat bread. One is not better than the other. They are all eating Food. There is no wrong food if it is Food. That is what I mean by explaining Food=Beauty as both specific and general.
The opposite of Food is dead empty stuff. Dead empty stuff is pretend food that does nothing for us except take up space when we eat it and lead to internal deficiencies. Things like candy, soda, energy drinks, processed foods and manmade things, anything that doesn’t have a DNA code. Dead empty stuff is not found on land, sea or air. Now that doesn’t mean that you can’t eat it. What it means is the main thing that should be going in your mouth is Food - not dead empty stuff. Dead empty stuff is what makes people gain weight. People who make dead empty food a way of life tend to be unhealthy. They develop problems like obesity, diabetes and other health complications. In our country, eating dead empty food is normal.
Usually these pretend foods are filled with processed white sugar. Does anyone realize that in nature there are only a few sources that yield white sugar? The two most familiar are sugar cane and sugar beets. What does that tell us? It says that the human body was not made to consume excessive amounts of this type of sugar. You can eat it all you want but remember that white processed sugar is the greatest beauty thief out of all the dead empty foods.
A doughnut or a brownie or anything sweet tastes so unbelievably good when the body lacks food. I wrote in the list of health changes Chinese medicine gives the best explanation to why the body craves sweet in a deficient state. When the body is deficient it starts to want sweet tasting things to correct those deficiencies sweet foods (which are used to strengthen the body) are naturally desired as a body’s response. The body wants sweet to re-strengthen itself. Yet, it doesn’t get any strength from doughnuts, brownies or any other dead empty sweet stuff. What it needs are Foods like potatoes, wheat, polished rice, yams, peas, chestnuts, honey, sweet potatoes, milk, pork, fat meat, papaya, figs, squash, black sesame, coconut and peanuts. These are examples of sweet natured foods and when a person is in a deficient state these foods may taste overwhelming good to them, but remember the that when a body is deficient it needs Food – all kinds of Food. What kind doesn’t really matter, as long as it is classified as Food with a capitol F (with a DNA code). Sweet foods may just be more of a craving when the body is deficient. As a body’s internal deficiencies start to be corrected the less and less it will crave sweet foods. Remember if you are craving sweet food, white processed sugar does not correct your deficiencies.
As far as what kind of food groups to eat— protein, carbohydrates, good fats, all of them are critical to a body’s life processes and healthy living. You cannot remove one and stay healthy, unless it is for a medical condition like diabetes, kidney problems, gluten intolerance or any medical condition that requires a strict diet. In that case whatever the doctor orders is what should always be followed. But, for the young girls and women who are counting calories and avoiding eating to stay skinny and beautiful, and have no health complications, all different kinds of Foods are necessary to keep beauty, body and health.
I always hear about how bad some foods are like white rice and white bread, and how good others are like raw vegetables. I just wonder if all the wise dieticians who make those claims have ever visited China. Because in China every grain is refined, rice is white, noodles are stripped, and bread is made from white flour. Rarely is any vegetable eaten uncooked. Yet, in China the majority of the country doesn’t have weight problems and most people don’t suffer from the health problems that we do in the U.S. How is this happening if white rice and refined grains, a daily part of the Chinese diet, are so bad for us? The answer is that white rice and white flour aren’t bad for us.
Not only are foods like white rice and white flour good for us but it is a myth that they make us gain weight. The heavy starch nature is not what is responsible for weight gain. China is where we can look to prove the myth is wrong. In China, I used to buy peaches in the summer time from an older man near gate #1 at Nanjing University of Science and Technology. Every time, after class at noon, I went to buy those peaches there he was sitting on his chair eating his choice of vegetables and meats with a huge bowl of rice. Why was he so lean? How could it be with that much white rice? Why was he full of energy and youth even in his old age? You see, even though white rice is stripped of its natural outer shell and in the process loses some nutrition, the DNA of the rice doesn’t change. So the health attributes it gives our body doesn’t change either. White rice is easy to digest. It clears acid from the stomach. It stabilizes the digestive system. It is full of glucose to fight against depression. It gives the brain the fuel it needs to work efficiently and the muscles the cellular energy to do their job. White or brown? It doesn’t matter. Brown rice has more trace vitamins and nutrients, but the consumption of food shouldn’t be based on how many B-vitamins or any other trace contents it has. If it has a DNA code then the only question is which do you like? In China, everything is refined. White rice and white flour are staple foods. Which means they are eaten every day and almost with every meal. A grain of this type should be eaten every day. Yes, it should. What people fear most (carbs) should be eaten daily and could be eaten with every meal. Because when we look at the longevity and health of the Chinese people we see that the wise dieticians making these claims about refined foods and raw vegetable diets really aren’t so wise. And that the people of China are right on, by eating DNA Foods of their preference and rarely eating any dead empty stuff.
If you haven’t noticed by now I haven’t given any recommendations or advice or rules about what kind of food should be eaten. That is because eating should be free. Food if it is considered Food should be freely eaten according to a person’s personal choice. Eating beef or fish, sushi or curry, it is up to the individual and preference, as long as the food has a DNA code. So, the type of food you eat is a free choice. Don’t count calories and don’t eat just protein, just raw foods or just vegetables. A quick note for teenagers or young adults who have chosen to be vegans or vegetarians...a vegan or a vegetarian diet in the young is something that can be harmful to the maturity and life process of the body in every way.
Here is something to think about. Vitamin B12 is an essential nutrient for brain and nervous system health. It is involved in metabolism of every cell in the body. It is so extremely important and vital for survival and a healthy life. Yet, the only viable source is found in animals. There are supplements of Vitamin B12. But for thousands of years people didn’t have supplements. So my question is where did people before supplementation get Vitamin B12? Vegans and vegetarians can develop severe internal deficiencies if they aren’t very careful. Still, it’s your choice. Just be fully informed and educated before you make any decision.
So, what to remember about eating?
Remember to eat all different groups of Foods.
Eat everything that suits your personal choice.
Try to eat things with a DNA code.
Don’t think too much about what to eat.
You can eat dead empty stuff, but the more you eat
Food the less you will want to dead empty stuff.
Every person (especially the young) has to get enough food in their bodies. This is critical when a young person is growing and developing. Eating Food will only strengthen and solidify internal organs, blood, and complex body tissues, and that means it will keep and nourish external beauty. If you forget everything in this book remember that your internal health is what is seen on your face and on the outside body. Keeping your internal body from deficiencies keep you from losing your beauty and youth as you get older. You can buy as many anti-aging creams and lotions as you want but staying young is in Food and getting enough of it as you age.
Getting enough Food is different for everyone. Some are athletes and need more to replenish. Some are students who think and use their brain power more. They also need extra Food to fight against building internal deficiencies. So, there is no right answer to how much Food is enough. Everybody is different and everybody’s energy output throughout the day is different. When you are hungry don’t stop yourself from eating and always eat till you are full. I know it sounds crazy but your hunger regulating mechanism in the brain is very sophisticated and knows what you need. When you get enough it will stop you from eating anymore. Unless, your hunger is coming from episodes of depression, emotional hurt or some other deep issue provoking eating for comfort, then usually the hunger is balanced. Remember getting enough Food and eating Food with a capitol F is what makes physical beauty and body or what breaks it.
Eating enough Food and eating till you are full will not make you gain weight. I know many girls and women are afraid to eat because they think they will get fat. There are only two ways a person gains weight. One is through excess fat cell deposits and the other is through fluid retention. Fat cells are deposited by taking in too much dead empty stuff (or by over eating to fill some kind of void) and not putting out enough energy to burn what is consumed. When this happens there is only one way to get rid of the excess weight and that is to burn it through exercise. That’s the only way. There is no magic pill for weight loss. The simple truth is to put out more energy than what is consumed. That is the answer to losing weight if the weight is from fat cells.
The other way a person gains weight is through fluid. Fluid retention can be from a medical condition like diabetes or hypothyroidism. Medical conditions that cause the fluid metabolism in the body to be disrupted are a big challenge to correct. If the internal problem is corrected the fluid retention will also be corrected. There are other problems like hormone deficiencies later in age that can lead to fluid retention. Different medication also can cause fluid weight gain. Medications like steroids, birth control and anti-depressant SSRI’s (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). Again, fixing the internal problem will redistribute the fluid in the right places.
The special case of fluid weight gain that can only be corrected through Food is the kind of fluid weight gain that teens, Hollywood stars, college girls and women get when they eat less or don’t eat to keep the beauty and get that body. This fluid weight gain is what Kristen was going through. It is what anyone will go through if they don’t eat and create internal deficiencies. This kind of weight gain can only be cured by eating and by eating the body will correct the deficiencies that were created by not eating. You can exercise all you want it won’t go away. Only eating will fix the fluid metabolism system in the body and suck the fluid from the interstitial space back to the place the fluid is supposed to be and keep it from leaking out again. What does all this mean? It means that you should never fear Food. Food is what keeps your beauty, body and health. Food=Beauty.
If you have been through any changes or the beauty loss process it is isn’t permanent. Start eating freely. You need to eat more to correct the internal deficiencies and strengthen your body again.
8 rules to recovery + the GOLDEN rule
1. Remember the GOLDEN rule: there isn’t a rule if food is Food. 2. You can eat dead empty stuff as long as you don’t eat it all day every day. 3. Don’t count calories and don’t labor over what to eat and not to eat. 4. EAT CARBS: If you have been eating just protein you have to start eating carbs like bread (white or grain) and rice (white or brown) right away and you can eat them with every meal. It all depends on what you like. It may be uncomfortable to start eating again because of digestive weakening. You may even gain weight quickly after starting to eat again. It all depends on the level of deficiency in your body. If you start gaining weight suddenly it is not fat and it is not from the Food. It is from fluid. Your digestive system is weak. The only way to correct this is by eating more Food. It may take longer to suck the fluids back in the right place but in time they will retreat back to where they should be. 5. Don’t drown your kidneys with a million bottles of water a day. 6. Take the words portion control out of your brain and never let them come back. 7. No more diets ever again. 8. Don’t over-exercise. 9. Remember that Food=Beauty.
In time, as the internal body restores itself, your body and beauty will come back.
I have no recommendations about what to eat but I do have some that I want to share with you that have nothing to do with eating. Here they are:
NO HERBS – Herbs are very dangerous. Always remember this. Herbs have medicinal properties and they go through bio-chemical reactions in the body that can lead to devastating effects in the body if they aren’t regulated and properly prescribed like medicine. Nowhere in the world like China are herbs more studied and used in daily medical practice. China has a long and proud tradition of its own medicine and a part of that medicine is a powerful, well understood, strictly regulated pharmacy of herbs. In China, when there is a health problem depending on the problem the patient is sent to a family doctor, specialist, surgeon, acupuncturist or herbal doctor. If they are sent to an herbal doctor, the herbs that patient receives have to be prescribed. Any patient that is given a prescription of herbs is closely monitored for even the slightest unwanted side effects of the herbs prescribed. Herbs have medicinal properties and should be treated like medicine. It doesn’t mean that herbs are bad. It means herbs have unbelievably powerful healing properties on the human body, and when used the right way are unparalleled in their ability to help the body recover from illness. However, they have to be prescribed by a physician who is knowledgeable and who has the authority to use them as medicine. Never take herbs on your own for something like more energy, better concentration or to feel better. Never take herbs on your own.
NO SUPPLEMENTS – Supplements are not only a waste of resources but they can also be harmful to a person’s health. Supplements are not as powerful as herbs. They do not react bio-chemically in the body the same way herbs do, because they don’t have the same medicinal chemical properties herbs have. Even so, over time supplements can hurt the blood circulation and DNA code of the organs that clean the body like the kidneys and liver. For all of history, humans never had supplements until recently. As humans we never developed the ability to absorb or process such high concentrations of any substance. Still, this is your personal decision and if supplements work for you then do what works. The fear is over time they can cause problems in the body instead of benefits because of the hard work they put the organs through in metabolizing and processing such high concentrations. A multi-vitamin can be used to recover from deficiencies short-term, but even that is synthetic and man-made. The one thing I will say never to take is diet pills or any diet stimulants or cleansers or anything that is supposed to “detoxify” or “cleanse” you. They can really hurt you.
DON’T OVER-EXERCISE – Exercise is America’s way. All we ever hear is exercise is what makes us and keeps us healthy. This is true but only to a certain extent. Over-exercise can be just as detrimental to the body as lack of exercise or even worse. Unless you are a high level athlete that has every day and all day to practice your sport, rest, repair, eat, sleep the day away, then over- exercise hurts the body. It produces free radicals. It builds up lactic acid and other waste products. It hurts and speeds up the aging of internal organs.
Rhythmic exercise is always best. When you exercise, don’t push yourself to the point of exhaustion. Exercise to the point that when you are done you feel more energy and you feel that exercise high. If you passed this point you have went too far. You are pushing your body too hard. This can also cause internal deficiencies. So, rhythmic exercise that does not over work or over stress the body is what will keep you healthy and beautiful and aid in longevity. You definitely don’t need to exercise everyday but if you like to, make sure you are not overdoing it with the duration of the exercise. My recommendation would be no more than 3 times a week, a light rhythmic exercise that makes your heart pump and makes you sweat a little. When you are done you shouldn’t feel tired. How many tragic deaths occur every year because of over-exerting the body? It has become normal that in marathons people die. There is such a thing as pushing yourself to death. If not an acute sudden death, a slow one over time. I did it as a soccer player and developed exercised-induced compartment syndrome that caused rhabdomyolysis that ruined my body and almost killed me.
PARTYING RUINS BEAUTY AND BODY – This is simple. The more you party...the more you lose your beauty and body (especially partying in your younger years). Do what you want but remember girls who party a lot in their teens and college years look bad by the time they get to their mid-twenties. Drinking alcohol and doing any kind of drugs or taking prescription medication for fun can kill you. If it doesn’t kill in one night - it will kill you slowly and ruin your beauty and body. Every time a person takes prescription medication for a good time they are playing a game with their life. Every single time a street drug or a prescription pill or alcohol is in the body it can kill.
And remember if it doesn’t kill you it will rob you of your beauty.
LAUGH AND BE FREE – Try your best to laugh more and be free from things like diets, what to eat and not to eat, counting calories and exhausting yourself at the gym. They will only deepen emptiness. Be free from the beauty fight.
Those are all the recommendations I have.
I hope that this book gets into the hands of girls and women everywhere so that they learn how to win the beauty fight. And so that they never go through the kind of fight I had with health. For any girl or woman who is in this fight and has gone through the beauty loss process, the body changes, always remember the good news – IT IS NOT PERMANENT. Your beauty is coming back. For you teens, college girls and young Hollywood stars...remember and learn the way beauty is lost and kept. Remember and learn how easy it is to lose your health but how hard it is to get it back.
You are the generation that can break free from the insecurity, the low self-esteem, the devaluation of yourselves, and the never-ending beauty fight consuming, isolating and hurting so many.
Impressum
Texte: Ranko Tutulugdzija
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 03.05.2012
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