Joel Fuhrman - Eat To Live

Eat to Live 165

ies is that they are addicted to their bad habits and unhealthful ways

of eating and drinking.

Imagine if you were drinking ten cups of coffee daily. If you

slopped drinking coffee, you would feel ill; you might get headaches,

feel weak, even get the shakes. Fortunately, this would resolve slowly

over four to six days, and then you would be well.

So, if you were this heavy coffee drinker, when do you think you

would feel the worst? Right after eating, upon waking up in the

morning, or when delaying or skipping a meal?

You are correct if you answered either upon first waking up or

when delaying or skipping a meal. The body goes through with-

drawal, or detoxification, most effectively when it is not busy digest-

ing food. A heavy meal will stop the ill feelings, or you'll feel better

if you just take another cup of coffee, but the cycle of feeling ill will

start all over again the minute the caffeine level drops or the glucose

level in the blood starts to go down.

Delaying a meal brings about symptoms most people call "hunger."

These symptoms include abdominal cramping, weakness, and feeling

ill — the same as during drug withdrawal.

This is not hunger. Our dietary habits, especially eating animal-

protein-rich foods three times a day, are so stressful to the detoxifi-

cation system in our liver and kidneys that we start to get withdrawal,

or detoxification, symptoms the minute we aren't busy processing

such food.

Real hunger is not that uncomfortable. True hunger is mediated

by the hypothalamus in the brain. The hunger-related activity of the

hypothalamus correlates best with increased sensation of need in the

mouth and throat area.^38

You could feel better by drinking a cup of coffee every three hours,

evenly spaced out, to keep your caffeine blood levels constant. Or

you could take medications such as Fioricet, Cafergot, Excedrin, Es-

gic, Fiorinol, Migrainal, Wigraine, and others whose active ingredi-

ents are narcotics, barbiturates, ergotamines, or caffeine; or you can

just get some amphetamines or cocaine from the alley behind the

liquor store. Either way, I hope you understand that temporarily

feeling better does not mean getting well. Putting toxic drugs in your

body can only compromise your health and lead to further depen-

dence and suffering. In order to detoxify, you need to feel worse, not

better; then after the withdrawal symptoms are completed, you will

truly become well.