This september, at the Faculty of Communication and Journalism, we started our new minor ‘Mindful Communiceren’, in which I teach mindfulness meditation. A wonderful experience – we are on a pioneer’s journey with 18 young people who chose to explore the field of mindfulness and see how it can be integrated in their profession. I admire them for their courage and innovative spirit!

This afternoon, we explored the notion of Acceptance. As the sun set, our classroom grew darker and we looked at our most difficult experiences and emotions. We ended with the Serenity Prayer, which India.Arie, whom I admire deeply, put so beautifully to music.

So actually, coffee is a one of the most unsustainable and, considering the uncontrolled use of pesticides, unhealthy  beverages. Unless you get bird-friendly, shade-grown, fair trade organic coffee. That seems like a lot to have to look out for, but fortunately  there are a number of certificates around that guarantee not only fair wages for the farmers, but also environmentally sound farming methods. Look out for these labels: Fair Trade (always shade-grown), Max Havelaar, Bird Friendly, Rainforest Alliance (although this label does not give price guarantees!). I will, from now on.

It did not take me long to find out that coffee is my favourite drug. The first thing I missed on my first day of detoxing was my morning coffee. I replaced it with herbal tea and later with a coffee substitute that tasted vaguely coffeeish. The craving eventually subsided. But why was coffee not on the menu during detox?

Health claims about coffee vary. It has been associated with the rise of LDL (‘bad cholesterol’) levels in the blood, but also with reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s and diabetes. There are claims that it reduces headaches and claims that it causes headaches. Fact is, that coffee is an addictive stimulant that, though in a milder way, operates using the same mechanisms as cocaine and heroin.

Emergency

Caffeine stimulates the production of adrenalin, which causes the so-called ‘fight or flight’ reaction in the body. So while we tend to associate our cup of coffee with relaxing, it actually does quite the opposite in our bodies. Caffeine also influences dopamine levels, which makes us feel good. However, these are short-term effects. Once the effect of the adrenaline wears off, you feel tired and possibly even depressed. Taking into account the fact that coffee brings the body in a state of emergency, you can imagine why (too much) coffee is unhealthy. It is as unhealthy as chronic stress, which does exactly the same.

Osteoporosis

Most off-putting report about caffeine though is, I think, that it affects the brain aversely. It allegedly interferes with the absorbtion of important nutrients such as vitamin B1, zinc, potassium, iron, calcium. Yes ladies, calcium. In other words: excessive coffee drinking increases the risk of osteoporosis. Caffeine is also in black and green tea, chocolate and energy drinks by the way.

I think in order to keep Alzheimer’s at bay though, I’ll continue to have the odd cappuccino

I actually felt weird, almost uncomfortable and a tad guilty. Strangely unliberated. After all, I had not started the plan on a whim. It wasn’t as if this was some awful diet that I’d be glad to see the back of.

It was the deliberate prelude to a healthier lifestyle. I had been thinking how, when it ended, I would accept what other people cook for me, but in my own home would stick to some if not most of my new rules. That I’d have the occasional this and the odd that, but would mainly be eating and drinking what I had been having in the past four weeks.
I had not anticipated these mixed feelings about putting the stuff in my mouth that for years I had been eating without sparing it a thought.

I might have known though. I am familiar with the proverbial bite from the tree of knowledge. It cannot be undone. I cannot pretend not to know what I do know.
So, today was another almost perfect detox day. Day 29.

In the mindfulnesstraining, in week 8, which is the last class, we always discuss how week 8 lasts the rest of our lives. Who knows, day 29 might turn out to last the rest of my life.

I often have this conversation with people who want to do the 8-week mindfulnesstraining. I tell them they will have to do homework every day, 30 to 60 minutes a day, for eight weeks. Do they have an hour to spare? No they don’t. They are all busy people with jobs, a family, obligations. Their busy lives are usully why they want to take the course in the first place. So I explain to them that they have to make a decision, to commit themselves, to decide that they want to do this, to find out when and where they could plan the exercises, to plan and experiment with their planning, and finally, to just do it.

It is the same with the detox (which, for simplicity’s sake, I still call the detox, but I’m looking for a better word). I decided I wanted to adopt healthier eating habits, I made sure I had a plan, I prepared for my new lifestyle by reading up on what I would need to buy and where I could buy it, by thinking about what habits I would have to change and how I was going to do that. I prepared for this. And I committed. It means, for example, that I get up a little earlier in the morning because I need a bit more time in the kitchen. It also means that I think ahead about my shopping, something I wasn’t used to doing.

What helps, is that I want to do this. And I’m enjoying it. I’m eating new things and I like preparing them. I like drying salad in my new salad spinner, I like washing, cutting and blending vegetables, I like mashing soups with the immersion blender. It feels like I’m doing something real, something very earthly and basic. Much to my surprise, I’m enjoying cooking so much more than I used to.

It means almost anything from the supermarket is off limits; anything in cartons, packets, boxes etc. I have also changed to 100% organic, so my supermarket does not have much to offer anyway, at the moment. The ‘plan’ requires determination, a change of habits and a change of behaviour. But now that I know what not to eat (and why), it is also a lot clearer what I can eat, and actually, that is still a lot.  Basically, anything fresh, non-produced.
The list:

• fresh fruit
• fresh vegetables
• juices and smoothies prepared with those
• soups prepared with those
• potatoes in their peel
• brown rice
• salads
• fish
• goat and sheep dairy (peccorino! manchego! feta!)
• seeds
• nuts
• dried fruits
• lyophilized fruits
• herbal tea
• rice crackers
• home-made spreads, e.g. hummus, baba ganoush, pesto, guacamole
• honey

Lots to chose from, in other words. I stock up at the weekly organic market and now have a fridge filled with fresh foods. I have to go shopping for food less often, there is always enough there for a soup, salad or stew. In blogs to come, I will talk some more about the ‘why’ of what not to eat.

What is healthy?
But what is healthy when it comes to food? I remember in primary school we were taught about the ‘schijf van vijf’, issued by the Dutch Voedingscentrum (Nutrition Society) , a circle divided in five equal parts, each part representing a food group that you had to make sure you ate something from every day. They were:
1. Vegetables and fruit
2. Bread, cereals, potatoes, rice, pasta and legumes
3. Dairy, meat, fish, egg
4. Fats and oils
5. Beverages/liquids (unspecified!)

A few decades later, the schijf van vijf had fallen into disgrace and was called something else. It is back now, exactly the same pentahedron,  now complemented with five guidelines for healthy eating.

The Voedingscentrum is a government-funded institute for the promotion of healthier and more responsible eating. It provides ‘scientifically sound, honest’ information. And indeed I think if most people followed their instructions, many would have a much healthier diet than they do now. But there is so much the Voedingscentrum does not take into account. There is so much that people do not know about food. Food science is much more imprecise and tentative than many of us think, indeed, than I used to think.

Since I have started reading books about food, I am finding out that we have been misinformed on many occasions. I am starting to realize how food producers and the pharmaceutical industry have a huge influence on the advice we get. And so on and so forth.

To me, it is still a bit of a jungle and I am not at all sure that I have a clear view yet of what I should and should not eat. For now I am sticking to my plan, which is not too hard, and I feel fine. Meanwhile, I am trying to get more enlightened on the truth about food – whatever that may be.

Anyway, why I am reminded of this, is because people are asking me if I’m not hungry now that I am on this detox diet. I am not. Why would I be? I am not trying to lose weight, so I eat normal quantities and I eat whenever I like. I just eat different things. What, I’ll write about in my next blog.

What is interesting though, is that I now understand why I was so often peckish earlier. Or rather, why I had frequent sweet cravings. I love sweet things, you see. Especially artificially sweetened things. Cakes, biscuits, sweet pies… The trouble with these is, that they contain lots of fast-releasing carbohydrates, which break down into glucose fairly quickly, thus flooding the blood with too much sugar. Not much later, blood sugar levels drop dramatically, leaving you feel less energetic and less concentrated – in need of more sugar, which is broken down into glucose… et cetera.

It is not that the body does not need the carbohydrates, it does. Carbohydrates are broken down into the body’s favourite fuels; glucose, fructose, galactose. But if we eat slow-releasing carbohydrates (found in fruit, vegetables, brown rice, wholegrain pasta, dark rye bread) and get them from foods that contain more fibre, the release of sugar in the blood is slowed down. No more fluctuations in blood sugar levels, no more sweet cravings. It is really as simple as that.

I still like sweet things, but have found two wonderful alternatives to satisfy my sweet tooth, at the organic market at Vredenburg (every Friday 9.00 – 18.00). Dates, and lyophilized fruits.