Principles on The Body Ecology Diet
Tara Carpenter, NC.
Nutrition Consultant for people regaining natural gut microbiome after yeast, bacterial, viral infections with The Body Ecology Diet.
I started practicing The Body Ecology Diet (B.E.D.) in 2010 with my boys, then ages 3 and 8 years old. Now they are 16 and 21 and though we no longer practice such a restricted way of eating we do still follow the core principles found in this system of health and healing that I will forever be grateful for bringing the kids and I deep restorative healing.
Now my focus and outlook is outwards on helping people begin and stay on this diet through nutritional consultations, meal plans, and cooking.
Our youngest making purple potion probiotic unsalted cultured vegetables.
Principles on The Body Ecology Diet (B.E.D.)
- Principle of expansion and contraction is understanding food has an energetic property. For example eggs and meat are contracting foods (yang) and refined sugar, ice cream, and alcohol are expansive (yin). B.E.D. encourages selecting foods that primarily land in the middle of this continuum, emphasizing leafy vegetables and seed-like grains.
- Principle of acid and alkaline is maintaining blood slightly on the alkaline side of normal range. This can help discourage growth of yeast, bacteria, and viral overgrowth/infections and cancer. Ideally a meal will contain 20% acid-forming foods and 80% alkaline-forming foods.
- Principle of uniqueness acknowledges that no one size fits all in terms of eating; some people do best with a slightly higher percentage of carbohydrates whilst others do better with more protein. Principles of the blood type diet can guide food choices, although Donna Gates (founder of B.E.D.) does not agree with the new principles introduced by the younger Dr. D’Adamo.
- Principle of cleansing states we must continually cleanse to attain and maintain good health. Modern-day life is full of exposure to toxins that must be continuously removed. Bowel cleansing is recommended.
- Principle of food combining stems from the work of Dr. William Howard Hay in the early 20th century with premise that macronutrients need different conditions inside the stomach to digest. For example, animal protein requires a highly acidic environment and carbohydrates require a more alkaline one. If carbohydrates mix with protein in a meal the stomach may struggle to set proper conditions for digestion to take place and components may suffer. By eating fruit separately from other food (with exception of soaked nuts/seeds, milk kefir, etc. and keeping starch and protein-rich meals separate the efficiency of digestion can increase with less unwanted fermentation (a.k.a. flatulence).
- Principle of 80/20 is from Oriental medicine, which states to never eat more than 80% of your stomach capacity in one meal to leave you with 20% of your stomach empty to give room for meals to mix with enzymes and acid.
- Step by Step Principle states that healing comes in steps that happen in their own time and order. When a person is sick, they may not have the capacity to handle a full-blown healing crisis so the body will go through cycles of progress followed by rest periods. Each step will get deeper into body and pull out toxins as well as heal the affected organs. Basically this means you may feel deeply tired then more buoyant as your natural healing energy increases throughout the body.
May all bellies be happy!
Nutritional Support with Tara, NC.
Beginner Recipe: Unsalted Cultured Vegetables (probiotic-rich)
Food Combining Chart for B.E.D.
