Eliminating fast, instant, preserved food...

(a post I've left and forgotten in ScribeFire ages ago. LOL)

For some reasons, I'm enticed to overhaul my entire diet, after my sister shared the story of one woman she met in a retreat: This woman was diagnosed with a stage 1 (or 2?) cancer but she opted not to undergo chemotherapy. Instead, she shifted to a no-meat, mostly raw veggies diet (forgot the diet's name!) - where meals are composed of raw veggies, steamed crops (I believe no one can eat raw crops hehe), tofu, beans, and nuts. Sometimes seaweeds, if she's craving for salt. Then... the cancer was gone! zero. no medications, no procedures! It really amazed me!

I believed in the diet, though I wasn't that enticed to do it for myself ...until I had lunch with a friend who has a neighbor (stage 4 breast cancer) who had the same story! Then we began talking about cancer: what's up with cancer? It seems to be a trend, when it seemed rare during the time of our grandparents! And when you think about it, there seems to be just one thing that changed over the years: the food we eat. This is the generation of fast, instant, canned foods, right? So yes, we can all blame cancer to preservatives, chemicals, to whatever that's inside these unnatural foods!

So, my (long term) goal now is to shift to all natural, vege-white meat diet. with carbs. haha! I started last last week when it was Udon Night, Lou and I agreed to have kare udon (udon with curry) with coconut milk. Originally I planned to use either canned or powdered coconut milk, it's the easiest way! Then I realized, when can I start with this all-natural thing if I can't go outside the comfort zone to learn the "originals"??

So I went to the fresh goods section of shopwise, where they sell coconuts per piece, and even grate it for free! Shopwise guy taught me that I should also get the juice (how kind! Other stores keep the juice for themselves if you're just after the meat!), he told me that most buyers get the juice and use it instead of water, because it gives more flavor when used to produce the milk. So, I got one - the grated coconut meat plus the juice, for only P30! Yes, I went through the hassle of squeezing, but in the end I loved it! My kare udon's soup was really smooth and tasty!

(I can't believe it, I made a coconut milk based dish from scratch!)

Now I'm doing this kind of stuff lately, with little failures and relapses of course. It's really hard to completely let go of red meat, flavorings and instant foods! As for me, it's harder coz I buy in bulk most of the time, so I still have those unwanted goods which I bought 2 months ago (such as sinigang mixes, and bouillon cubes) but for a start, I also tried cooking sinigang without using sinigang mix. I used green mango! It was as good as sinigang sa sampaloc or kamias!

Now I need to be focused and conscious on this gradual shift, for 2-3 months more (Besides I still have a lot of instant goods to dispose in my kitchen/ref). It's near impossible but at least now I know that it is feasible. Others can do it, so can I. Good luck to me!

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edit - found it in google! diet's name is naturopathy. :)