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A Good Start to Eating Right
​for OPTIMUM HEALTH

(scroll down for a sample menu to help you get started EATING RIGHT)
We humans are surrounded by truth everywhere we turn, yet we can’t seem to figure out one of the simplest things… WHAT WE SHOULD EAT. Perhaps it’s because as a society, we’ve been so thoroughly “educated” to think a certain way and believe certain things, that we struggle to see the obvious.

​Answer this: How would you like to be as strong and healthy as any of the animals on this list?
  • Elephant
  • Gorilla
  • Bull
  • Rhinoceros
  • Hippopotamus
  • Musk Ox
  • Horse
  • Wildebeest
  • Ram
  • Deer
  • Yak
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Guess what? NONE of these animals eat meat. They are ALL HERBIVORES! They are NOT predators on the prowl in search of living animal flesh to sink their teeth into. Instead, they eat primarily PLANTS when they are not interfered with or taken from their natural habitat!
"TO BE STRONG AS AN OX, EAT LIKE AN OX."
Where do we think they get their PROTEIN from? NOT protein powders or prime rib steak! Good thing for them they are not as "educated" as we are, because if they were, they’d get sick like so many of us do. Wild animals living in their natural habitats that haven’t been tampered with by human interference -- or contaminated with pollution or toxic waste that often results from human/corporate industry and enterprise -- are perfectly healthy and don’t get sick. Of course, some people will argue against the forgoing statement, precisely because either they represent corporate interests OR they’ve bought into some “information” (due to education) that says animals in the wild do develop cancers and other autoimmune diseases. There is and will continue to be lots of info out there set up to make money from what people don’t know, so BEWARE. It’s sad that the CONFLICTS OF INTEREST are not obvious to everyone (the conflicts being that the entities financing and promoting misinformation campaigns are the same ones who profit when people believe them). 
TO "WAKE UP" IS A CHOICE
There is no pharmaceutical or medical profit in permanently fixing a person’s health, the massive profits (and we’re talking about a TRILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY) are made from people who get sick and then take prescriptions or over-the-counter drugs that run out and have to be replenished; or from people who undergo irreversible surgical procedures (like removing organs, such as gall bladders, thyroids, etc.) which makes life-long customers out of them due to health complications related to “no longer having these vital organs in their bodies to perform the specialized functions these organs are designed to perform;” or from people who have no real idea why they've gotten so fat and can't lose the extra pounds even though they think they are doing all the right things (not to mention the ones who, again, undergo unnecessary and irreversible surgeries that purport to help them lose weight, like gastric bypass surgery). If you want to be TRULY HEALTHY (which implies a slim, fit physique), you have to acknowledge the glaringly obvious CONFLICT OF INTEREST. WAKE UP!
HEALTH IS NOT COMPLICATED. Any system or individual who complicates health or promotes a complicated program for establishing health should be approached with extreme caution. HEALTH IS SIMPLE. Unfortunately, because of all the mis-education and dis-education we've all received over the years, and because of all the misinformation and disinformation that constantly circulates in and throughout society which most of us are constantly surrounded and bombarded by all the time, SIMPLE DOESN'T MEAN EASY, necessarily, especially because we learned to like consuming the very things that make us ill, and we've developed habits of behavior (we call it cultural) and built customs (we call it tradition) around eating to our own detriment and demise. Want to be physically healthy? EAT RIGHT, period. How does that look? Keep reading.

The Simplest way to EAT RIGHT FOR HEALTH is also THE LEAST EXPENSIVE, believe it or not...
  • it doesn't cost you lots of money (like most mistakenly believe), and
  • it doesn't cost you your health and peace of mind (which is what really breaks the bank).

EATING RIGHT for excellent health can be condensed into a single sentence, which if understood completely and applied wholeheartedly, would solve all food related dis-ease for an individual -- and all physical dis-ease is related to food and eating, make no mistake about it. The single sentence is...
"ONLY EAT THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF WHAT'S MEANT TO BE EATEN WHEN IT'S TIME TO EAT."
This single sentence answers three vital questions when it comes to EATING RIGHT...
     1.  When to eat?
     2.  What to eat? and 
     3.  How much to eat?
Let this sentence be your mantra!
WHEN SHOULD WE EAT?
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EAT ONLY WHEN HUNGRY
In alignment with the adage KNOW THYSELF, we must learn to distinguish the difference between BEING HUNGRY and HAVING AN APPETITE. Having an appetite is due to conditioning, and we've been educated to consume, consume, consume. Whether we take the word consume to mean buying things or eating, we've been groomed to spend money on things (even food) and we've been trained to eat (whether the reasons are cultural, emotional, or philosophical), and that makes someone else lots of money. So, there is no incentive for consumer industries to promote anything related to TRUE HEALTH, because that would undercut their bottom lines, which is primarily what drives consumer industries and why they exist in the first place (for their bottom line financial profits).

In terms of EATING, the more people eat, the more favorable statistics lean toward the profits of medical, pharmaceutical, and food industries. Look around, and you will see that over the past century (especially the last 30-50 years or so), people have gotten heavier, the incidence of disease has skyrocketed, and people are dying at younger ages due to health complications. DO THE MATH. DON'T BE A STATISTIC.

The purpose of a hunger pang is to let us know when we are hungry, and 
that our bodies are READY to digest food - this is our innate natural intelligence, our divine design talking to us. We've not been taught or trained to listen to or hear our inner awareness for when it's time to eat. Instead, we've been taught, trained, conditioned and raised to eat 3 square meals a day, with snacks in between if so desired, without regard to whether or not our bodies have given us the signal that it's ready to digest food.  Eating on a breakfast-lunch-dinner schedule is far from natural.  In fact, we are the only species (I repeat... THE ONLY SPECIES) on the planet who eats when we are not hungry. And what do you get when you habitually eat when the body isn't ready to digest? Answer: FAT, misshapen, and/or sick.

If we learn to eat ONLY when we are hungry, we will eat less, which means we will spend less on food, and saving money.
WHAT SHOULD WE EAT?
EAT ONLY WHAT IS MEANT TO BE EATEN
​There are foods that are designed by nature for our bodies to digest and metabolize.  The relationship we have with naturally grown and organic produce is one that has been in place for at least millions of years.  How can we possibly think we can simply throw away a plan that has worked for millions of years and trade it in for a new food and eating paradigm that is barely a century old, if that, and not suffer the commensurate repercussions and consequences of trying something out for the first time that has never been done before? Really smart, huh? 
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KJV GENESIS 1:29
"And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed,
which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the
​fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat."
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If you were a member of the first tribe on the planet, what do you think you'd most likely eat? A piece of fruit dangling from a tree OR a rib-eye steak? Logically, the steak wouldn't even be an option if you were among the first people, because killing a cow, draining its blood, cutting out certain parts of it, and cooking it wouldn't be a natural or intuitive instinct (aside from all the other things you'd have to know and have developed in order to go from a living cow grazing on a grassy field to a steak platter). Plus, would the sight of a living cow make you salivate? Doubtful (if you are a HUE-MAN anyway). A piece of colorful fruit, on the other hand, might appeal to your senses (the sight of it to lure you closer to pick it, and the sweet smell of it to make your mouth water enticing you to bite into it for a taste).
Our eyes have to be open wide enough to see that regularly eating foods infused with mysterious ingredients that have been invented in chemical labs in order to save on production costs is not such a bright idea.  With each subsequent decade over just the past 50 years, more and more poor quality foods and toxic additives chemically engineered as flavor enhancers designed to disguise the tastelessness of these poor quality foods, continue to quietly make their way into the mouths and digestive tracts of an unknowing and unsuspecting populous wreaking ever-increasing and needless havoc on the health and well-being of individuals.

If we learn to ONLY eat what's meant to be eaten, we can avoid being hopeless victims of countless modern autoimmune diseases. 
HOW MUCH SHOULD WE EAT?
EAT ONLY ENOUGH TO NOT BE HUNGRY ANYMORE
Again, we are the only life form on the planet that eats when we are not hungry.  Much of this is due to how we've been educated and conditioned to live in today's modern civilization. As time goes on, corporations grow more sophisticated and their marketing strategies and materials become more clever, stealth, and effective in an effort to sell more product and make more money.  In addition to sophisticated educational tactics designed to influence people's beliefs so they behave (i.e. eat) a certain way, these big businesses hire engineers and chemists with the express intent of developing additives designed to trick the eaters into eating more (by ignoring their inner sensor that signals to them when they've had enough to eat). 
"All disease begins in the gut."
~ Hippocrates
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We also have to be sensible about this... to overeat causes our inner plumbing to back up. We all know what happens when the plumbing in the bathroom clogs or gets backed up, and it ain't pretty. When toilets back up, poopy water stagnates smelling up the bathroom. If the backed up toilet overflows, that's even uglier and nastier! 
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Well, our bodies back up too, when we eat too much and too often (just look at people's bellies these days; most people have a bulging midsection). Chronically backed up bowels lead to serious physical diseases and complications, and ever so frequently, the average person comes down with a cold, flu, or some other congestive issue. Just look at the word CONGESTION... this is the opposite of DIGESTION. Eat only enough. Push the plate away when you are about 80% full.
See...? It's SIMPLE.
Wait... there's more.
And, you want to steer clear of what's on the following list, unless you want to be a member of the walking dead...
(to keep it simple)
• FAKE FOODS • DEAD FOODS • PROCESSED WHITE SUGAR • 

 • WHITE ENRICHED FLOUR • TABLE SALT • WHITE BREAD •
 • SOY/TOFU • MEAT • WHITE RICE • PROCESSED FOODS •
 • PASTEURIZED MILK • GMO’s • MYSTERY INGREDIENTS • TAP WATER • 
 • SODAS • ENERGY DRINKS • SPORTS DRINKS •
There's more to it, but this is a good starting place for things to eliminate and avoid for clean eating. For many of us, giving these up will be enough of a challenge. BIG baby steps...
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WATER
What is the best water to drink? Great question! This is heavily debated. Truth be told, the healthiest water to drink is natural, living spring water from a pure mountain stream or spring that you've prayed over. The problem is that most don’t have easy/convenient access to this truly FREE and refreshing water. That said, what NOT to drink? Never drink unfiltered tap/faucet water if you can help it (as it’s often fluoridated and contains chlorine and other toxins/pollutants). Reverse Osmosis (RO) is what I drink in a crunch, but this is not the BEST either. The trouble with RO water is that not only does it effectively filter out the toxins (which is good), it also strips the water of its beneficial trace minerals (which is not-so-good). The best thing about RO water is that it is NOT POISONOUS; however, we need certain trace minerals for our bio-physiological systems to run right and to build strong bodies. 
Tip: Place RO water in Sun to reconstitute the water, add trace mineral drops, and infuse it with loving thoughts and laughter. That said, when it comes to a filtration system, the one I prefer is www.santevia.com (by pouring RO through the Santevia filtration system). Another filter I hear raving testimonials about is the Nikken water filter; and I’ve heard others go on about Kangen water. Use glass bottles over plastic whenever possible.
JUICES
Fresh juice is essentially WATER that has been filtered through the plant, tree, or fruit it’s named after. Some tasty and healthful juices are: Lemonade, Apple, Pineapple, Orange, Berries, Carrot, Beet, ANY edible Greens (for the chlorophyll; use cucumber and/or Granny Smith Apples to bulk it up), Tomato, etc. Basically, any “watery” and “juicy” fruit, veggie, and/or green will do. So, NOT bananas, avocados, etc., although these are great for smoothies. Juice is best when it’s fresh squeezed. Avoid pasteurized juices. Fresh squeezed means RAW. Unbeknownst to most, "pasteurized" means COOKED, KILLED, DEAD.

 
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OTHER BEVERAGES
HERBAL TEAS: Matcha Green Tea, Pau D'arco, Rose Hips, Peppermint Tea, Ginger, Turmeric, Dandelion, AND any alkalizing teas. Also, herbal teas that improve and promote digestion and intestinal health.

SOUP BROTH from boiling potatoes, carrots, leeks, celery, squash, zucchini, red onion, and a dash or two or three of cayenne pepper. Add your own organic herbs for flavoring the way you like; just keep in mind, the BEVERAGE is the BROTH. Drink veggie broth in the am when you awake or sip it as your evening meal. The word soup, believe it or not, is the root word for SUPER. Think about what it means when auto mechanics soup up an engine. SOUP UP your bio-physiological engine.
FRIENDLY SUGGESTIONS
MINIMIZE COOKED FOODS – Supplement meals with enzymes (especially cooked meals/foods)
MEAT ALTERNATIVES –
portobello mushrooms,
sautéed mushrooms,
NO TOFU FOR YOU!

MILK ALTERNATIVES – Coconut milk, Hemp milk, Cashew milk, Almond milk.
**SUGGESTED BREAD (if you just gotta have it) – Organic SPROUTED (Live Grain) BREAD is preferred… but absolutely NO WHITE BREAD.
When eating cooked foods, supplement meals with enzymes.

REGARDING GREENS – it's important to ROTATE YOUR GREENS, and it's preferred that your greens are seasonal and local. Even if you're not able to get a hold of seasonal and local greens, kale, collard, and spinach are often easy for anyone to access, as well as dandelion, chard, romaine, carrot tops, beet tops, and so on. Think of greens as a food group separate from vegetables. Vegetables are important, but greens are at the top of the food chart. Greens are a LIGHT FOOD (light as in "not heavy" and light as in "knowledge and wisdom"). Eating primarily greens keeps you "not heavy" and promotes superior brain health and super sight for your third eye.

REGARDING SALT – when consuming salt, never table salt. Two beneficial salts are SEA SALT and Himalayan Pink Salt; there are other healthful salts out there, but these are the most accessible in standard grocery stores that most people will have no trouble accessing.

POWER POWDERS THAT CLEANSE (optional) – Irish Sea-moss, Chlorella, and Spirulina; these are great to add to GREEN SMOOTHIES. NOT "protein powders" though.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JUICES & GREEN SMOOTHIES – Green smoothies are whole foods pulverized in high-powered blenders (low end blenders can’t make good "smoothies" because the consistency is often "choppy" not "smooth"). JUICE, unlike green smoothies, has had all the fiber extracted leaving just the water that has been filtered through that fruit or plant.

PREFERRED SWEETENERS – Organic Stevia; Organic Grade A Dark maple syrup (formerly Grade B); Organic Black Strap Molasses; Organic Cane Sugar; Raw Honey (when maple syrup and/or molasses is not available, but on lesser occasions); NEVER processed white sugar if you can help it.
ARE YOU STRAPPED FOR CASH,  BUT SERIOUS ABOUT OPTIMUM HEALTH?
IF YOU'RE ON A BUDGET AND ON A MISSION TO BE YOUR HEALTHIEST SELF, you're going to love this...
One of the BIGGEST MYTHS floating around about eating healthy is that it costs a lot, and lots of people use this excuse, saying - "It's too expensive" - to justify why they don't eat healthy. Truth is, if you are really eating healthy, then you should actually be spending less and saving money. Why? Because when you are truly eating healthy, then you are not overeating, you are not eating fake foods, and you are not eating too often; instead, you are eating just the right amount of what's meant to be eaten when your body gives you the signal that it's ready to eat (which means you are not eating 3-10 times per day). 

Always remember that we don't need to eat as much as we've been led to believe we do. In fact, we should NOT eat as much as we do (which is 3 meals a day plus snacks for many) if we intend to be and remain HEALTHY. And don't forget, the word HEALTH implies that you are dis-ease free and NEVER get sick.
BREAKFAST & SUPPER
Two words to keep in mind are BREAKFAST and SUPPER. These are really the only two "meals" in a day people should be eating, unless they are NOT hungry or fasting for a number of reasons. Eating more than these two meals is excessive.
The word BREAKFAST simply means the first meal of the day when we are BREAKing our overnight FAST. Breakfast doesn't mean wake up and stuff your belly at 7:00 am with biscuits, pancakes, eggs, and bacon. I like to eat for the first time in a day  (my break-fast) around noon time, and this usually consists of a piece of fruit or a green smoothie.  The word supper means "the last meal of the day" or "evening meal." Let's take a deeper dive into the word supper and evening to see how language preserves Truth and allows us to unravel it and find gold.
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GET THE MENU
​The root of the word supper is sup, which means SOUP. And when you go a step further to look into the word origins of soup you find it means "broth" which means "liquid food." Interestingly, you also see that soup (v.) means "to increase the horse power of an engine." Observe how close the words supper and super are when considering these word origins, then do the math for yourself.
Then, try not to think of the word evening as a time of day, but instead as a verb "to make even." Supper is the evening meal, or the meal that makes you even ("level, calm, harmonious"), which is a "liquid food" (soup/broth) NOT food that stuffs you and clogs up your insides. Clogged colons are the primary culprit responsible for physical illness and obesity.

Sticking to these two meals is also a great approach to intermittent fasting, which in recent years has gotten a lot of attention because of its proven health benefits. Intermittent fasting is when you have prolonged periods each day where you are not eating. For instance, if my first time eating each day is around noon time, and I have supper (the last meal of the day) around 6pm, then that means each day there is a period of 18 hours (from 6pm until noon the next day) where I am not eating -- this is an example of intermittent fasting. Outsiders looking in might say that my wife (Kiala) and I fast intermittently, but we'd say this is just the way we live without giving a name to it.
IF YOU WANT TO ORIENT YOURSELF TOWARD HEALTH PERMANENTLY, THEN EDUCATE YOURSELF
Remember, it's not about losing weight. I know lots of thin folks who are incredibly unhealthy, so stop saying to yourself "I need to lose weight." Anyone who says that doesn't get it (they would rather "look" a certain way than "feel" a certain way). You want to develop a MINDSET where you say to yourself "I want and need to be healthy" and "I want to feel healthier than I've ever felt in my life." If health becomes your priority, and you begin to eat in alignment with health, then weight will melt away.

It's not about counting calories, and it's not about going to the gym and exercising. It's about eating right, PERIOD! Read MY FAT STORY and check out the picture where I didn't even recognize myself in the photo years later. I never made it a goal to lose weight, because I never thought of myself as fat (although I can see now that I was!). And, I didn't slim up as a result of running or going to the gym. There was a point when I just missed feeling like I used to feel when I ran up and down the basketball court for hours in a day, and I just wanted to feel better. I recognized that certain foods and eating patterns would sap my energy and make me drowsy or sluggish, meaning I felt way less than my best. So, I focused on eating foods that would supply me with energy and make me feel alive. Because I was dumb, according to my own standard, I had to go learn what I needed to know in order to feel my best and be truly healthy.
Instead of watching shows and movies that are only intended to entertain you, watch some of these to help you RE-PROGRAM yourself and take a critical step toward changing the direction your MIND is SET, which is crucial for permanent and lasting health results.
(titles with an asterisk* next to them are free as of today's publication date 4/20/2019)
  • ​The Beautiful Truth (2015)* - YouTube
  • A Place At The Table (2013) - Hulu
  • Bite Size (2014) - Hulu
  • Cowspiracy (2014) - Netflix
  • Food Inc (2009) - Hulu
  • Forks Over Knives (2011) - Netflix
  • Fed Up (2014)* - Tubi
  • Farmageddon (2011)* - Tubi
  • Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead (2010)* - Tubi
  • Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, Part 1/2 (2015)*
  • Food Matters (2007) - FREE with Amazon Prime
  • Food Fight (2008)* - Tubi
  • Foods That Kill (1993)* - YouTube
  • Fresh (2009)* - Tubi
  • GMO OMG (2013) - Amazon Prime
  • Genetic Roulette (2012)* - YouTube
  • H.O.P.E. What You Eat Matters (2016)* - YouTube
  • House of Numbers_AIDS/HIV (2011)* - YouTube
  • Hungry for Change (2012)* - Tubi
  • In Defense of Food (2015) - Netflix
  • In Organic We Trust (2012)* - Tubi
  • Just Eat It (2015)* YouTube
  • Killer At Large (2009)* - Tubi
  • King Korn (2006)* - Tubi
  • Organic Food: Hype or Hope(2018?)* YouTube

  • Our Daily Poison (2015) - Amazon Prime
  • Planeat (2011)* - Tubi
  • Plant Pure Nation (2015) - FREE with Amazon Prime
  • Rotten (2018) - a WATCH NOW Docuseries on Netflix
  • Soul Food Junkies (2012)* - Vimeo
  • Sustainable (2016) - Netflix
  • Super Size Me (2004)* - Tubi
  • Sweet Misery (2003) - FREE with Amazon Prime
  • Sweet Remedy (2006)* - YouTube
  • The Game Changers (2019) - Netflix
  • The Root Cause (2016) - FREE with Amazon Prime
  • That Sugar Film (2015)* - Tubi
  • The Future of Food (2005) - Amazon Prime
  • The Gerson Miracle (2003) - FREE with Amazon Prime
  • The Truth About Food (2012)* - YouTube
  • The Kids Menu (2016) - FREE with Amazon Prime
  • The World According to Monsanto (2013)* - YouTube
  • Vegucated (2010) - FREE with Amazon Prime
  • What The Health (2017) - Netflix
Books/readings
  • Live Food Factor by Schenck (and be sure to read Appendix A)
  • Green for Life by Boutenko
  • The Drug Story by Bealle 
  • The Master Cleanser by Stanley Burroughs
Ok, that's it for now. If you want to ask me ANY questions, feel free to shoot me a message! OR, if you are serious about making real and lasting change in your life for the better and want me to serve as your coach through this amazing transformation, click here and lets get started!

QUICK LINKS

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MUST READS

YOGA Truth & The Real Fountain of Youth 
GOD-MAN: The Word Made Flesh
The Zodiac and the Salts of Salvation
The Master Cleanser
The Live Food Factor

​Green for Life
Anatomy of the Brain and Spinal Cord


​The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali
​
Anatomy of Hatha Yoga
Think & Grow Rich
What To Say When You Talk To Yourself
As A Man Thinketh

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COPYRIGHT © 2015 DAMON GIVEHAND. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED *Some links on this site are affiliate links for which I get a small commission ​(at no extra cost to you). 
  • Home
    • About Damon
    • MY FAT STORY
    • Inner Circle Sign-Up
    • Want To Collaborate?
    • Contact
  • ONLINE CLASSES & RETREATS
    • 4-Week Samādhi Pāda Master Class
    • Sacred Site Yoga Sūtra Retreats
  • My Books
    • YOGA, Truth, & The Real Fountain of Youth
    • OPTIMUM HEALTH MINDSET (OHM)
  • Resources
    • A Good Start to Eating Right for OPTIMUM HEALTH
    • WHY LEARN THE W-4-W TRANSLATION OF THE YOGA SUTRAS?
    • Praise to Patañjali
    • Gāyatrī Mantraḥ