The Dreaded Diet Diary
Whenever I’m asked to coach someone through a crisis of some sort, the first thing I have them do is email me a list of everything that goes into their mouth each day along with a list of how they’re feeling, and the times all these are happening. This gives me two huge bits of information:
- which system is having the hardest time functioning
- what beliefs this person has about food and nourishment
Then it’s pretty easy to point someone to the appropriate website pages and help them understand how they are shooting themselves in the foot. It’s hard for many to understand before keeping this Diet Diary though, and you can learn much by keeping one yourself.
Some basic rules:
- write down everything that goes into your mouth and what time it happens
- write down when you’re feeling hungry, thirsty, sad, tired, or anything else, especially pain
- don’t try to make your diary look good, just be accurate
- don’t change what you eat just because you’re writing it down
- do this until you have no problems left
- analyze them by going through the Left Lemon System page on the website
Using the information found on that page you can adjust your diet to make your life work so much better! All sorts of **-isms disappear.
For a walk-through of using a diet diary to figure out how to change your diet, read Study: John or Sue’s Skin.
Here’s how I usually tell people to begin:
- Get a smallish spiral notebook. Begin listing your food and drink intake every day along with how you feel before and after each meal (or between if there’s something worth noting).
- If you are significantly overweight or have difficulty losing weight, two scales would be very helpful: one digital scale to weigh you to tenths of pounds, and one scale to weigh your food. I know this sounds tedious, but I was amazed at how much I was eating once I finally got around to counting calories. And weighing yourself every morning helps you to see the impact of that extra whatever you ate or drank yesterday. If you have bone density issues, get a digital scale that includes bone mass. You might have to go online to find one.
LO Problems
LO problems are simply a lack of good oils.
Maybe your entire fat and oil intake come from fried foods. Or maybe you use olive oil a lot but you cook it. Or maybe you’re trying to lose weight by not eating fat.
LO problems reveal: your body needs good oils.
If you don’t know what LO means, please read Left Lemon System first.
Typical LO situation:
- Most of your problems of pain, weakness, or other complaints are in the green section of Stickman
- Your body type is apple-shaped — you have a rounded chest and shoulders with a narrow pelvis
- You don’t digest oils well or you don’t get enough of the good ones
- You crave simple carbs like pasta and baked goods
- Your eating isn’t balanced according to 30/30/40
- You feel the need for an afternoon nap
- You suffer from depression or fatigue
- You’re low in essential minerals and high in toxic metals
- You frequently have swelling and inflammation
- You tend to get gall stones
- You have cholesterol issues
To get out of this trap:
- Add fresh lemon and good oils to your diet
- Don’t cook with olive oil, put it onto your food after it’s cooked
- Eat avocado, olives, and fatty fish for extra good oils
- Avoid fried foods and hydrogenated oils
- Eat marinated greens frequently
- Eat foods high in calcium: nuts and seeds, dark green veggies, sesame seeds
- Avoid calcium supplements
- Don’t depend on dairy products for calcium — they are highly processed, especially “ultra pasteurized”
The solution for LO people is to add good oils to every meal and clean up your diet
I make a small jar of equal amounts of fresh-squeezed lemon juice and olive oil and keep it on my kitchen counter. Just shake it up and pour some over your meal.
Your liver’s ability to make hormones depends on getting oils into your body. If you think you’re aging too quickly, your liver needs help with good oils. If your skin is having problems, you need more oils.
60% of your brain is made of fat. Wonder why a low-fat diet makes you feel bad? That’s why. And most of the fats in your brain are from something called DHA. DHA can be converted in your body from ALA, but if you’re still eating sugar it could have a hard time doing it.
ALA is found in dark leafy greens, nuts and seeds, and other veggies. If you’re eating Balanced meals, and using the Left Lemon System to troubleshoot, you’ll be getting plenty.
DHA and ALA aren’t in olive oil, but they are in fish. Fatty fish — salmon, herring, and sardines. Two servings weekly are enough to keep you in good health, but if you’re deficient, you might want to double up for a few weeks.
Think about this: if 60% of your brain is fat and you haven’t been eating right, maybe some of your brain functioning problems could be solved by opening a tin of sardines once a week. Lack of good oils have been linked to depression, memory loss, psychosis, Alzheimer’s, and bi-polar disorder.
Read The Skinny on Oils for more information on which oils to use.
Energy Cycles
A lot of people have solved pesky problems by using the Energy Cycle chart. You wake up at 3:00 in the morning sweating or with pain somewhere and you’re too groggy to wonder why. But then it keeps happening.
You body is trying to tell you there is something wrong.
You can fix it.
Ancient Chinese practitioners of traditional medicine mapped out the subtle energy pathways flowing through our bodies. They found 12 pathways related to 12 organ systems, and they correspond to twelve two-hour periods each day when these systems are most active. Points along these pathways are used as acupuncture or acupressure points.
For two hours in each 24 hour day, one pathway (called a meridian) with its organ system dominates the body physically and emotionally. Using the energy chart can help to explain why certain symptoms get worse at certain times each day.
For instance, lets say it’s 3:00 in the afternoon and you start feeling anxious. There is too much to be done before the end of the work day, none of it is coming together, you are irritable and just want to escape. But you can’t because you have to get all this stuff done!
According to the chart, 3 until 5 in the afternoons is when your bladder does its thing. The emotion you feel when it’s having problems is irritation, and you can do simple tests to see whether you need more lemon or lemon and oil in your diet to fix this.
You can poke your belly to see which quadrant has tightness or pain. Or you can do leg lifts to see which system is in need of help. Instructions for both of these can be found on the Left Lemon System page. Then you can deliberately add more lemon if the results show LL is the problem, or lemon and oil if LO is the culprit.
If you don’t know what LL and LO mean, read about it on the Left Lemon System.
Of course Balance is the key here.
If you balance every meal with 30% protein, 30% good oils, and 40% high quality carbs you won’t run into these problems.
The chart gives basic information about each meridian — the times they are the most active, the organ or systems they are linked to, and the emotions most often associated with them. This information has been used for healing for centuries.
You can also look at the emotion column to see if what you’re feeling is related to the hour of the day. If so, remedy according to the chart.
Knowledge of these cycles can help you determine the best times to eat, sleep, and exercise. You should be hottest between 7:00 and 9:00 each evening. Being too cold or too hot means there’s a problem. Too cold might mean you have low blood sugar, too hot might be high blood sugar.
It’s between 5 and 7 in the evening and my main emotion is fear — fear that if I put the chart inside this post it won’t translate via email, RSS, or onto facebook. So I’ll put it in but still give you the link so you can print a copy for yourself: Energy Cycle Chart
Energy Cycle Chart
|
Time |
Organ/Gland |
Emotion |
Commentary |
| 5-7 am | Large Intestine | Guilt | Drinking Water Triggers bowel movement making room for the new day’s nutritional intake. Removes toxins from night’s cleansing. LO |
| 7-9 am | Stomach | Disgust | Stomach energies are the highest, so eat the most important meal of the day here to optimize digestion/assimilation. LL |
| 9-11 am | Pancreas / Spleen | Jealousy/Worry/Low Self Esteem | The stomach passes its contents on. Enzymes from the pancreas continue the digestive process. Carbohydrate energy made available. LL |
| 11 am – 1 pm | Heart | Joy | Food material enters the blood stream. The heart pumps nutrients throughout the system and takes its lipid requirements. Cayenne, calcium. 4C’s |
| 1-3 pm | Small Intestine | Insecurity, Vulnerable/Gullible | Foods requiring longer digestion times (proteins) complete their digestion/assimilation. Look for pain or tightness* to determine whether LL or LO. |
| 3-5 pm | Bladder | Irritation | Metabolic wastes from morning’s nutrition intake clear, making room for the kidneys filtration. Look for pain or tightness* to determine whether LL or LO. |
| 5-7 pm | Kidney | Fear | Blood is filtered (decides what to keep, what to throw away), maintains proper chemical balance of blood based on nutritional intake of day. Blood delivers useable nutrients to all tissues. 4C’s |
| 7-9 pm | Pericardium Circulation | Unresponsive, Hurt/Extreme Joy | Nutrients are carried to groups of cells (capillaries) and to each individual cell (lymphatics). LO |
| 9-11 pm | Triple Warmer | Hopelessness, Confusion/Paranoia | The endocrine system adjusts the homeostasis of the body based on electrolyte and enzyme replenishment. 4C’s |
| 11 pm – 1 am | Gall Bladder | Bitterness, Resentment | Initial cleansing of all tissues and processes. Cholesterol enhances brain function. LO |
| 1-3 am | Liver | Anger / Frustration | Cleansing of blood. Processing wastes. LO |
| 3-5 am | Lungs | Grief | Respiration. Oxygenation. Expulsion of waste gasses. 4C’s |
* Pain or tightness in neck – left side would mean LL, right side would be LO.
Pain or tightness in back – left side would mean LO, right side would be LL.
Use Left Lemon System to determine any other pain.
