The optimal health diets that comprise this crucial page total a dozen ways that people eat around the globe for survival and health. In fact they are diets consumed at different times in my life for my own health. In addition, some of these optimal health diets have ancient origins while others are relatively recent developments.
A collection of some of my resource material including rare items that is pre-internet.
But note that some relatively recent ‘fad diets’ like the Atkins Diet, the Keto diet, and Paleo diet are specifically geared for fast weight loss rather than long term optimal health benefits. Therefore they are not considered optimal health diets but weight loss diets. As a result, they are purposely excluded from descriptions of optimal health diets.
A Dozen Optimal Health Diets
To start, this page describes a dozen optimal health diets. They include Macrobiotics, The Five Elements System, Ayurveda, Vegetarianism, Veganism, The Raw Diet, Eating for Your Blood Type, The Rotation Diet, The Third Plate, Blue Zones Diet, The Indigenous/Cooked Grain Diet, and the Fermented Foods & Beverages diet.
Within each optimal health diet are their individual concepts. Although each seeks to be optimal within its own parameters, there are variations in their theories, philosophies, and details. These differences are indicated where ever possible. Finally, there is a list of source material where available.
Macrobiotics has two elements, yin and yang, also known as expansion and contraction
Macrobiotics(1)
(Two Elements/Yin and Yang Originated in Japan) A macrobiotic diet (or macrobiotics) is a system that has its roots in Zen Buddhism.
The Concept of Macrobiotics:
To balance an imbalance in the yin and yang elements primarily foods or the expansion and contraction elements of food and cookware. At the same time, the major principles of a macrobiotic diet include the reduction of animal products, eating locally grown foods in season as well as consuming meals in moderation. Actually fish is the preferred animal protein.
According to the Five Elements System of healing with food, there are five elements that govern our body by effecting various bodily organs.
The Concept of The Five Elements System:
The Five elements include foods that consist primarily of the fire element, the earth element, the metal element, the water element, and the wood element. To compensate for excesses or insufficiencies of any of these five elements there is an addition or subtraction of these food elements within this particular diet as one of the optimal health diets.
(2) Source Material
The Five Phases of Food: HOW TO BEGIN by John W. Garvy, Jr., N.D., D.AC.
Ayurveda, the system of six tastes, originated from India
Ayurveda(3)
This System consists of Six Tastes in combination with the bodies possible nine Doshas. Ayurveda is an ancient medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. It is therefore heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population report using Ayurveda. It tends to be fairly successful as one of the optimal health diets.
The Concept of Ayurveda:
Ayurveda takes into account a combination of a three Doshas (vata, pita, kapha) or body system types with the season of the year. As a result consuming the proper foods from the Six tastes during the proper season can correct imbalances within the body.
Vegetarianism excludes meat but includes dairy products
Vegetarian(4)
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstainance from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. For many people this is popular as one of the optimal health diets.
Veganism is the abstainance from the use of animal products—particularly in diet and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals.
The Concept of Veganism
One of the definitive books on the Raw Food Diet by Viktoras Kulvinskas with a foreward by Dick GRegoryOne of the definitive books on the raw food diet from 1972[/caption]
Raw Foods Diet(6)
Survival into the 21st Century: Planetary Healers Manual Paperback – Picture Book, January 1, 1975
by Viktoras Kulvinskas (Author), Jean White (Illustrator), Dick Gregory (Introduction)
The Concept of A Raw Diet
Even more limited than the vegan diet, the recommendation of this optimal-health-diet is the consumption primarily of only raw plant foods.
(6)Source Information
Eating for Your Blood Type by James L. D’Adamo, N.D., D.C.
Eating for Your Blood Type(7)
(7) Source Information
The weekly rotation diet involves the repetition of any food in no less than 7 days
The Rotation Diet(8)
(8)Source Information
Making farm-to-table eating a reality and not just a dream
The Third Plate(9)
“Not since Michael Pollan has such a powerful storyteller emerged to reform American food.” —The Washington Post
Today’s optimistic farm-to-table food culture has a dark secret: the local food movement has failed to change how we eat. It has also offered a false promise for the future of food. In his visionary New York Times–bestselling book, chef Dan Barber, recently showcased on Netflix’s Chef’s Table, offers a radical new way of thinking about food that will heal the land and taste good, too.
Looking to the detrimental cooking of our past, and the misguided dining of our present, Barber points to a future “third plate”: a new form of American eating where good farming and good food intersect. Barber’s The Third Plate charts a bright path forward for eaters and chefs alike, daring everyone to imagine a future for our national cuisine that is as sustainable as it is delicious.
(9)Source Information
9 Blue Zone Foods to Increase Longevity from Pinterest
The Blue Zones Diet(10)
The Concept of Blue Zones
Blue zones are regions in the world where people are claimed to live, or to have recently lived, longer than average. The notion is not based on scientific evidence but demographic anecdotes. Five blue zones suggested are: Okinawa Prefecture, Japan; Nuoro Province, Sardinia, Italy; the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica; Icaria, Greece; and Loma Linda, California, United States. Wikipedia
(10)Source Information
The Indigenous/Cooked Grain Diet(11)
Concept of The Indigenous Cooked Grain Diet
(11)Source Information
Fermentation is my friend from Pinterest
Fermented Food and Wellness Beverage consumer(12) Fermented Food & Wellness Beverages Consumer – One who consumes probiotic foods and wellness beverages.
This category literally contains an extensive list of fermented foods, which are foods produced or preserved by the action of microorganisms.
Actually recipes are also part of more than one of the other food systems listed above. This is especially so with macrobiotics, the Ayurvedic system, vegetarianism, and veganism.
Types of Fermentation
In this context, fermentation typically refers to the fermentation of sugar to alcohol using yeast. But other fermentation processes are distinguished by the use of bacteria such as lactobacillus. This happens to include the making of foods such as yogurt and sauerkraut which are prominent in all but the Five Element System.
Zymology
Unfortunately many contemporary fermented foods are mass-produced using industrial fermentation processes rather than handmade techniques. Despite this distinction, the science of fermentation is known as zymology.
Souring Process
Fermentation is actually a major part of the pickling or souring process for many pickled or soured foods. But surprisingly many are simply processed with brine, vinegar, or another acid such as lemon juice. Therefore they do not contain the healthy bacteria making them truly fermented.
