Overload and Target Organs 71Why most people feel better on vacation
Incidental life events can play havoc with these threshold levels. Virus
infections often shift the values markedly, usually to the patient’s
disadvantage; so does emotional stress. If bad things are happening in a
person’s life, I always counsel them to be much more careful than usual
about what they eat. Of course the tendency, when under duress, is to do
exactly the opposite and let standards fall. That’s one reason why people
become ill when under stress.
You will probably understand that this also applies in reverse.
When you are relaxed and happy you can get away with eating indiscretions,
whereas normally you would expect symptoms. That’s one of the main
reasons people feel better on holiday: their overload and intolerances recede
and symptoms may disappear altogether.
Now you understand the mechanism! You see, when you learn the
real reason for things, it all starts to make sense. You are truly becoming diet
wise...
Just don’t expect to get away with the same dietary excesses when
you are back home!
Individual food overloadTime and again I will be advising you not to eat
one food repetitively but to vary your intake. It is
possible to think in terms of individual food overload.
To eat one food in excess is really just another
aspect of Selye’s GAS hypothesis and will cause
system stress. In its fullest format a rotation diet
prevents the repetitive eating of any particular
food but also guards against eating closely related
foods too frequently. Not everyone, fortunately,
needs to follow a strict rotation plan but variety
in eating is a key health principle. This will be
explained in Chapter 15.Target organs
The final and most interesting aspect of the overload model is that of
“target” or “shock” organs. I have referred to this several times already.
When the body is stressed, as with bandit foods that cause trouble, the