You Are What You Eat Book Review

Howdy!

I think I might be allergic to Dallas. I never had any problems with allergies when I lived in College Station, and I really hardly ever got sick (minus my ongoing battle with headaches). However, since I moved to the lovely Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, I have been a walking immune system nightmare! It is starting to get pretty frustrating. Eric didn't feel all that great at the end of last week and this weekend, so I knew I was doomed. I woke up on Tuesday feeling (and probably looking) like death. Yesterday was pretty rough, but I am feeling a bit better today. I have been spending some quality time with my heating pad (body aches are the worst)! In fact, I am leaning against it right now.

I had heard stories of people getting sick when they moved to new places because of different allergens in the air, but I didn't think I would be one of them since I had never had "allergies" in the past. Boy was I wrong! Apparently, I am not eating enough winter super foods or something. A lady at work told me to eat local honey to help my body get used to the pollen in the area faster. Has anyone ever heard of that, or have any other suggestions?

Anyways, enough complaining! I just finished reading a book called You Are What You Eat,  by Dr. Gillian McKeith. I would actually go as far to say that I have been studying the book pretty intensely. Check out all of the color coded tabs. I know, I'm a dork!

It was a great book. Dr. Gillian McKeith really knows her stuff! There are really two parts to the book. In the first part of the book, she goes over different symptoms you might be experiencing and what those say about your diet. For example, we all assume that dark circles under our eyes mean we are simply tired. However, according to Dr. McKeith, this could actually indicate that you are experiencing food allergies and possible weak kidney energy. To remedy this, she suggests rotating your food, eating quinoa, drinking cranberry juice and eating from a list of foods that nourish the kidneys. The book goes over dozens of these kinds of scenarios! It's really cool to see what deficiencies could be causing your different symptoms.

The other half of the book, discuses Dr. McKeith's diet of abundance. This section includes the top 100 foods you should have in your diet as well as suggestions on foods you should eat if you are tired all the time, have digestive problems. have stress related issues, or a suppressed immune system (maybe I should go re-read this section). Essentially Dr. McKeith shows you how food can cause and cure common ailments. It's really pretty cool.

Above, is the good doctor herself! [source]

Although this book is very interesting, it would be very hard to follow her diet to a "T." Dr. McKeith goes into a lot of detail on food combining, and what foods you should and should not eat together. Let's just say, I tried to follow her rules and it lasted about 1/2 a day. But other than that, I was a huge fan of the book! I have definitely learned a lot about nutrient deficiencies and what foods I need to be eating more of.

Food for thought:
Any advice for adapting to a new cities allergens?
Has anyone else ever gotten sick after moving to a new city?
Has anyone read You Are What You Eat? What did you think?

In health,