Stig Bengmark’s 12 Commandments for optimal health

  1. Limit/eliminate sugar from your diet, especially fructose and sugar-like foods: marmalades, jams, breads, pizza, pasta, white rice, and also potatoes and root vegetables that are served hot – let them cool before eating – then you can eat plenty of root vegetables (the sugar turns back into fibre).
  2. Limit/eliminate all dairy products, especially butter, cheese and powdered milk.
  3. Limit your intake of meat to no more than 300 g per week. Avoid processed meats: smoked, fried, grilled, sausages, meatballs, burgers and similar, also avoid meat from animals raised on concentrates and farmed fish. Look for meat from grass-fed animals and wild fish.
  4. Limit/eliminate the intake of long-chain fatty acids: pork fat, beef fat and oils such as olive oil, rapeseed oil and sunflower oil. Instead, use medium-chain fatty acids such as coconut and avocado.
  5. Eliminate foods from your diet that contain inflammation-promoting proteins: casein (dairy products), gluten (wheat, rye and barley) and zein (corn).
  6. Limit/eliminate heat-induced inflammation-promoting proteins/heat-generated toxins – i.e., proteins that have undergone what is known as glycation or lipoxidation. Never heat food above 120-130 degrees °C.
  7. Avoid/minimise contact with bacterial toxins such as endotoxin as well as various environmental toxins.
  8. Limit your intake of salt, both sodium and chloride, increase your intake of iodine, use iodised salt and especially avoid fluorine and bromine. Avoid contact with plastic and never heat food in plastic or plastic-coated items.
  9. Limit/eliminate contact with various kinds of chemical products, even medications if they are not absolutely necessary, both for internal and external use.
  10. Eat lots of plant foods, at least 800 grams to 1 kilogram per day; as much as possible, eat fresh and raw plant foods, or frozen, – look for foods that are especially rich in antioxidants, dietary fibre and plant protein – use, e.g. gluten-free grains such as amaranth, sorghum, teff, quinoa and seeds, peas, beans, lentils, almonds and nuts. Place dried food items in water for 12-24 hours before eating.
  11. Aim for most (80%) of your fruit and vegetable consumption to be fresh or frozen and choose products with a low glycemic index. Use plenty of inflammation-reducing spices (ground cloves, turmeric, different types of pepper, chili pepper) and inflammation-reducing teas such as Pu’er and yerba mate. Eat whole olives but avoid olive oil. Take vitamin D, omega 3, turmeric and probiotics/synbiotic supplements year round – the four pillars of an anti-inflammatory diet. Supplement iodine as well from potassium chloride or kelp.
  12. Try intermittent fasting (all eating within a defined time window), i.e. limit food intake to a six hour window during the day by SKIPPING BREAKFAST (no calorie intake before lunch) or SKIPPING DINNER (no calorie intake after 2:00 pm).

Read – Why did Stig create 12 commandments? here

 

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