The Goddess Plan is a lifelong method for any woman or girl to achieve and maintain goddess status.

• basics
• unhealthy diets
• healthy Goddess diet
• changing habits
• changing day by day
• explanations
• addictions
• Day 1: dedication
• Day 2: morning water
• Day 3: stretching exercises
• macronutrients
• Day 4: water
• carbodydrates
• proteins
• fats
• pH balance
• balance of yin and yang
• Day 5: hemp seed oil
• nutritional supplements
• exercise
• Royal Canadian Air Force exercise programs
• Day 6: oatmeal
• Day 7: oatmeal
• herbal baths
• Day 8: apple cider vinegar
• Day 9: cut back on meat
• Day 10: broccoli
• stop eating meat

tomb of Queen Nefertari

basics

    We are taught that diet and exercise are the only factors in being healthy and that those who are overweight are simply lazy and undisciplined. That’s garbage.

    While exercise, nutrition, and diet are important factors, the greatest single cause of obesity is depression. The most common self-treatment for depression is eating “comfort food”.

    The second most common cause of obesity is low self-esteem. If a woman doesnt’t love herself, then she has little or no motivation to properly take care of her body.

    The starting point for achieving and maintaining a healthy body is to create a lifetstyle that encourages and supports love of self.

    Certainly you want to learn the right foods to eat and the proper exercise and that kind of stuff, but it is far more important to transform your mind and spirit.

    You want to set yourself free from the ancient Sumerian belief in “sin-nature” and realize that you are a manifestation of the divine. You are Goddess incarnate!

    You can use Witchcraft to transform your life and achieve a healthy you.

    Learning about how food affects the health of the body is a very practical way to start learning about Witchcraft.

    As you learn about healthy eating, your overall health will improve, but you need to avoid the tendency to start lecturing your friends. Nobody appreciates the Food Nazi.

“Health is more than simply the absence of illness. It is the active state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being.” World Health Organization

    The process of a woman seeking the Goddess within involves both the physical and the spiritual.

    Any woman can become goddess incarnate, but very few women actually achieve this goal. The path towards this goal is often fulfilling and enriching on its own. Sometimes the journey really is more important than the destination.

    “One of the most interesting developments in women’s spirituality is that of a widespread view of Goddess as immanent rather than transcendent, i.e. within each person, within all of nature, not as a woman sitting on a throne or flying around up in the heavens. Many women today perceive Goddess not only as immanent but as immament process, as the flow of life energy.” —Merlin Stone in Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood, page xiii

    Some women have numerous advantages (such as genetics, economic wealth, cultural acceptance, control over their time, etc.) and still fail to become goddesses, while other women facing extreme hardships (such as physical disabilities, mental disabilities, poverty, cultural oppression, poor neighborhoods, etc.) are able to become goddesses.

    Certainly there are many external circumstances and other factors out of your control, but there is much that each woman can do if she really wants to.

    Ancient cultures have three basic archetypes of goddess: Maiden, Mother, and Grandmother (or crone). You will want to achieve the goddess nature appropriate for your age.

“There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.” Socrates

unhealthy typical diet

    A 2006 survey of obese American adults revealed that 70% of these obese adults thought they ate a healthy diet! Obviously there is a great deal of confusion about what constitutes a healthy diet.

    The typical diet plan in popular mass market diet books provide a list of easy to follow directions that a person follows for a short period of time. One to four weeks produces a temporary weight loss of five to twenty (5-20) pounds. This is typically water loss, but can be some other harmful effect.

    This short trendy diet is followed by a return to your normal habits. You regain the weight you just lost, plus a few extra new pounds as your body tries to recover from the drastic swings in diet it just experienced.

    Pick another trendy diet and repeat the process, slowly yo-yoing to ever increasing weights and ever decreasing healthiness.

“A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings.” Hippocrates

healthy Goddess Diet

    The Goddess Diet Plan is different. This is a long term plan for permanent life changes that allow you to bring out the Goddess within yourself.

    With the Goddess Diet Plan, you learn about your body and apply time proven physical, mental, and spiritual changes that transform you into a manifestation of the Goddess of your choice.

    The three basic Goddess archetypes are the Maiden, Mother, and Grandmother. There are a wide variety of Goddesses of each type from cultures all over the world. Pick one or more Goddess archetypes that are appropriate for you personally.

    The Greeks divided the Maiden archetype into three kinds: Kore Persephone (the young woman seeking marriage and family), Kore Athena (the young woman pursueing a profession or craft), and Kore Artemis (the wild young woman, including lesbians, musicians, artists, and librarians).

    Americans are accustomed to diets that involve counting. Counting carbs. Counting calories. Counting fat. Counting protein. Itemizing vitamins and minerals. Calculating glycemic indices.

    In reality, what matters is the quality of the food eaten. A good diversity of high quality foods will tend to naturally result in a good diet, without having to do math.

changing habits

    The Goddess Plan takes into account that human beings are creatures of habit. You are going to create new habits. It is impossible to simply break an old habit.

    As an exercise, for the next thirty (30) seconds, attempt to avoid thinking about pink unicorns. Really concentrate on avoiding thinking about pink unicorns. Do this experiment now.

    You will find that the more you concentrate on not thinking of pink unicorns, the more you actually think about pink unicorns. No human being can break a habit through sheer will power.

    Now for thirty (30 seconds, concentrate on thinking about black cats. Imagine a black cat. Picture the black cat in detail. Think about exactly what the black cat looks like. Think about exactly how the black cat acts. Concetrate completely on the black cat. Do this experiment now.

    At the end of the second experiment you will notice that you did not think of the pink unicorn. Human beings can replace old habits with new habits.

    The secret to success is to replace old habits with new habits, rather than attempting to simply break old habits through sheer will power.

changing day by day

    Another problem with most diet and health plans is sudden drastic change. There is only so much that any one human can handle at one time.

    If you overload yourself with too much to do (on top of your already busy life), then you will fail. You simply won’t be able to keep up with it all. You will be overwhelmed and fail.

    The Goddess Plan includes a daily plan of one healthy change a day. This is a manageable amount of change for most people. This is an amount of change that is sustainable for a lifetime. Each day you will improve your health and become sexier.

    This daily plan assumes a reasonably healthy start. If you have are under medical care for a drastic, life-threatening condition, then you need to immediately follow your doctor’s orders.

    If you are reasonably healthy, you can start the Goddess Plan at any time.

    Feel free to adjust the plan to your personal needs.

    If you have special health needs, then modify the Goddess Plan to take into account your special needs. For example, if you are allergic to a specific food that is recommended by the plan, then use your growing knowledge of Witchcraft and good health to design your own personal substitute that serves the same essential need.

    If you already are practicing a healthier lifestyle, you may be able to skip over some steps, either because you are already doing them or because you are already doing a more advanced and healthier option. Of course, avoid becoming over-enthusiastic and attempting to do too much at once.

    If you are struggling with a step (or a group of steps), you may want to slow down the pace of the plan, possibly making changes every other day or every few days instead of dialy.

    Adjust the Goddess Plan to your specific needs, body, and life.

note:

    Note that the day by day plan is being written more slowly than the days are passing. This is not a problem because the plan involves making long term changes for the better and you are encouraged to work at your own personal pace, which will probably be less than one change per day anyway. I currently have about four to five hours a week to write for the entire website. Please be patient.

explanations

    The Goddess Plan provides for every step. Witchcraft is based on knowledge. Unlike the typical person who blindly follows whatever fad is popular at the moment, on the Goddess Plan you will learn why you are doing each step so that you can obtaint he maximum positive health effects.

    This knowledge will allow you to modify the Goddess Plan to fit your specific and unique body and life.

    This knowledge will also allow you to function better as a Witch and give appropriate advice to others who seek out the counsel of a Wise Woman.

addictions

    The harmful effects of many addictions are so great as to overwhelm any changes in diet.

    If you have a currently active feeding addiction to tobacco, opiates, heroin, alcohol, speed, tranquilizers, barbituates, cocaine, or other similar substances, then you are not ready for this diet (although it will help in the recovery after you have stopped actively feeding the addiciton).

    If you simply have excesses of alcohol, sugar, salt, or similar problems, this diet will help you with the excess. But if you have an addiction, solve the addiction before starting this diet.

    If you have a sugar and/or salt addiction, then this diet will help you end the addiction.

    Sugar and salt addictions often happen as a connected pair.

    You should move away from refined sugar, artificial sweetners, and other sweetners as rapidly as is safe for your body regardless fo whether or not you have a sugar addiction.

    If you have a sugar addiction you should completely stop the use of refined sugar. Ever.

    You should move away from ordinary table salt as rapidly as is safe for your body regardless fo whether or not you have a salt addiction.

    If you have a salt addiction you should completely stop the use of table salt. Ever.

Day 1: dedication

    The first and most important part of the entire Goddess Plan is your dedication to success.

    If you don’t make a commitment, there is very little chance of success.

    The dedication can be very simple (such as writing down your goal in a pocket-size diet and exercise diary) or very complex (such as full Witchcraft ritual), or anything in between.

    The important thing is to formally dedicate yourself to the goal of being a healthy and sexy Witch in a year.

Day 2: morning water

    From this day on, always start each day by drinking a glass of warm water. You may optionally include fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice.

    Obtain organic fresh ripe lemons or limes. Bright green limes are not ripe. Ripe limes have started to yellow.

    Drink the lemon or lime juice in your morning water within 10 minutes of squeezing the juice.

    Store leoms and limes at room temperature on a counter that receives sunlight. Do not refrigerate lemons or limes. Use lemons and limes within three days. Check twice daily for spoilage.

    The purpose is to rehydrate your body after a full night’s sleep. Throughout the night, your body is using up its supply of water, but isn’t receiving any new water. By the time you wake up, your body is in serious need of water, one of the most vital of all essential nutrients.

    As soon as you get up, drink a glass of warn water and immediately get new water into your body. You will learn more about the importance of water and proper hydration later in the Goddess Plan.

    The reason the water is warm is to gently raise your core body tempaerature. It is normal for your body to reduce its temperature while you sleep. By gently raising your core body temperature, you invigorate your body and help yourself wake up ready to take on the challenges of your day. This is also in keeping with the principle of yang foods and beverages in the morning (see below).

    The lemon or lime juice adds vital minerals and other micronutrients that your body has used up during the night. It is important to use fresh squeezed fruit juice, not pre-packaged juices. If you must start with pre-packaged juices, switch to fresh-squeezed live juice as soon as possible.

    This is a very easy starting habit, but an important one.

    For more details on morning water, see the article on water.

Day 3: stretching exercises

    On this day of the Goddess Plan, you will start exercising. If you are already exercising, you can add these recommended exercises to your regular routine.

    The first exercise in the Goddess Plan is the bend and reach. The bend and touch is one of the most basic stretching exercises. There are more advanced versions of this exercise that you may want to use later in the Goddess Plan.

    Stand up straight in a relaxed erect position, with your feet about shoulder width apart. Lift your arms over your head. Bend foward to touch the floor or ground between your feet. Return to the starting position. Each return to the starting position counts as one repetition of the bend and reach.

    If you have not been exercising, only attempt one repetition of the bend and reach exercise. You will eventually want to build up to between 10 and 30 repetitions of the bend and reach exercise. Do not increase your number of repetitions by more than one additional repetition per day. it is important to avoid straining or damaging your muscles by over vigorous physical activity beyond your current abilities. it is essential to build up any new exercise slowly over days and weeks.

    Do not lock your knees straight. Keep your knees loose. On the other hand, do not go into deep knee bends. Both extremes are harmful to delicate tissues in your knees and locking your knees can block blood flow, resulting in fainting.

    For those who are new to exercise, especially if overweight, do not worry if you can’t actually touch the ground yet. Bend down as far as you can comfortably bend. It is important to avoid any pain. This exercise should never hurt. Over a week or two build up to three to five repetitions of this exercise without worring about actually reaching the floor. Once you have reached three to five repetitions, stop increasing the number of repetitions and work on getting closer to the floor. Again, do not stretch beyond your abilities (because that can damage muscle, ligaments, and other tissues). Take as long as you need to build up to the point where you can actually touch the floor. Once you have successfully touched the floor, you can start increasing the number of repetitions (not more than one new rep a day).

    Any exercise program requires a period of warm up and stretching exercises before attempting more vigorous exercise. Jumping right into vigorous exercise will damage muscles, ligaments, and other tissues.

    In addition to gently stretching muscles and ligaments, the bend and reach exercise also helps keep the back bone flexible. A flexible back is an essential key to good health. If yourback is stiff and inflexible, it will interfere with free movement and proper exercise, as well as block kundalini and the flow of energy through your chakras. it is impossible to be fully healthy and fit without a flexible spine.

    For more details on the bend and reach exercise, including illustrations and advanced options, see the article on bend and reach.

macronutrients

    There are four macronutrients: water, carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Note that some nutritionists place water in a category by itself, leaving three macronutrients.

    Lack of water can kill in hours (typically a few days).

    Lack of the other three macronutrients can kill in weeks or months (depending on conditions).

    Insufficient amounts of macronutrients can create a huge variety of health problems. Similiarly, an overload of any macronutrient can also produce a wide variety of health problems.

    Your body needs 40-60% carbohydrates, 15-30% proteins, and 15-30% fats.

    Dr. Barry Sears, Ph.D., author of the popular Zone series of diet books, claims to have scientifically verified that the ideal percentages are 40-30-30 (40% of your diet should consist of carbohydrates, 30% should be proteins, and 30% should be fats).

Day 4: water

    Drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. Twelve glasses of water a day is better.

    One plan for getting enough water is to drink a glass of water every hour on the hour from when you wake up until sunset.

    Water is the most important of the macronutrients.

    At birth the human body is up to 90% water. A typical adult human has about 70% water. The elderly can drop to 60% water as their body loses the ability to retain water. Human blood is about 94% water.

    You should get significant amounts of water within the food you eat, especially if you eat raw frutis and vegetables.

    Most Americans drink too little water. Many Americans confuse the feeling of thirst with the feeling of hunger and feed themselves food when their body is really craving water. This is why many diets include drinking water as the first response to feelign hungry. If the problem was thirst, drinking water will solve the mistaken feeling of “hunger” (which was really the feeling of thirst).

    But you shouldn’t wait until you feel thirsty to drink water. By the time you feel thirsty your body has already lost at least 1% of its total water.

    Drink plenty of water throughout the day, fairly evenly spaced. You can dink some of your water as healthy teas.

    Do not drinks lots of any fluid while eating a meal. Large quantites of water can dilute the stomach emzymes and acids, reducing the ability to digest properly, resulting in less nutrients being absorbed into the body.

    It is best to drink a small quantity of water shortly before a meal (typically about 10 minutes before eating) and drink nothing or just drink sparingly while eating.

    If you give in to a craving and eat something that you know is bad for you, you can immediately drink plenty of water to partially limit the harm. The excess water will mean less is absorbed into the body, reducing the harm of a bad food choice.

    See water for more information.

carbohydrates

    Your deitary intakes should be about 40-60% carbohydrates.

proteins

    Your deitary intakes should be about 15-30% proteins.

fats

    Your deitary intakes should be about 15-30% fats.

pH balance

    You want at least 80% of your food intake to be alkaline-producing foods.

    pH is a measure of how acid or alkaline a solution is. pH 7 is considered neutral, pH 0 is considered the most acidic, while pH 14 is considered the most alkaline.

    The normal pH of hiuman blood is approximately 7.4 (in a normal range of 7.35 to 7.45), a slightly alkaline solution.

    If the blood drops below pH 7.35 then it is too acidic, a condition known as acidosis. The body starts to use up minerals (especially calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium) to alter the acids and remove them from the blood stream. The minerals are taken from the bones and vital organs, which can cause permananet damage. In the extreme, acidosis can cause death.

    If the blood rises above pH 7.45 then it is too alkaline, a condition known as alkalosis (or alkalinosis). In extreme alkalosis can cause permanent damage or death.

    The typical American diet is highly acid-producing and most Americans suffer from at least mild acidosis.

    Some of the common symptoms of acidosis include: acne, bad hair, bladder infections, bone spurs, brittle nails, chronic fatigue, colds, diabetes (type II), dull skin, eczema, excess weight, fibromyalgia, flus, forgetfulness, frequent infections, gout, hip fractures, joint pain, kideny stones, liver spots, low energy, mood swings, muscle aches, obesity, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, premature lines and wrinkles, poor concentration, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and yeast infections

balance of yin and yang

    The Chinese divide foods into three major groups: yin, yang, and neutral. Yang foods tend to heat the body up. Yin food tend to cool the body down. Neutral foods are in between.

    You want to build up meals that give you a good balanced diet. Start with one or more neutral foods and balance yin and yang foods.

    In the morning and evening, when the temperature is more yin (or cool), you want to eat more yang (warming foods). In the middle of the day, when the temperature is more yaang (or hot), you want to eat more yin (cooling foods).

    So, your morning meal, or breakfast, should be a hearty cooked meal (yang). Your mid-day meal, or lunch, should consist of salads and fruits. And you evening meal, or dinner, should be another cooked meal. Your dinner should be the a much lighter meal than your breakfast because the body’s ability to metabolize food decreases after sundown.

    The articles on yin, yang, and neutral foods include lists that will help you get started.

Day 5: hemp seed oil

    Eat one (1) to two (2) tablespoons of hemp seed oil a day.

    On days when you use olive oil, flax seed oil, or other nutritional oils (as contrasted with using oils as cooking oils), cut back to one (1) tablespoon of hemp seed oil.

    Hemp seed oil has all of the Essential Fatty Acids (EFA) the human body must receive from food in order to remain healthy.

    Further hemp seed oil is the only naturally occurring oil that has the exact proportions of omega-3 and omega-6 Essential Fatty Acds needed by the human body. With all other oil choices, you must blend oils to obtain the correct proportions. This indicates a logn term (at least 10,000 years) symbiotic relationship between humans and the cannabis plant (or divine intervention).

    Note that hemp seed oil is made from the same cannabis plant that produces marijuana. While hemp seed oil (or any other part of the hemp seed) contains no THC, it does contain natural cannabinoids. Inexpensive drug tests check for cannabinoids rather than THC and will therefore present a false positive if you consume hemp seed oil for nutritional, health, and/or religious purposes.

    See cannabis for more information.

nutritional supplements

    Supplements should only be used when you can’t get the desired nutrients from real foods. Some people have severe health problems that prevent their ability to absorb certain nutrients or to digest the foods with those nutrients. More commonly, lifestyle issues interfere with eating properly. For example, students at most high schools have neither the facilities nor the time to eat proper lunches or snacks. Poverty, working conditions, long travel times, busy schedules, single parenting, etc. can all intefere with the ability to eat properly.

    If you do need supplements, try to minimize the supplements to just the supplements you are really missing from your diet and try to take the minimum amount of supplements necessary to maintain health.

    It is best to always check with a health care professional before starting any nutritional supplement.

    If you experience any adverse reaction (including alergy) to any supplement, immediately stop using it and consult with a health care professional.

exercise

    A 2006 survey of obese American adults revealed that 40% of these obese adults thought they engaged in vigorous exercise at least three times a week! Obviously there is a great deal of confusion about whaat constitutes vigroous exercise.

    Proper exercise is an important part of good health. Many Western women try to control their health through diet alone. While diet does have a powerful effect on health, it is not the only component of good health. Good exercise is important for both physical and mental health (you will feel better about yourself after a good workout).

    You may be interested in the old Canadian Royal Air Force 5BX exercise plan for men and XBX plan for women (please read the disclaimers and modern advice added at the website).

    Yoga can be an important part of any healthy exercise routine.

Day 6: refined sugar

    Get rid of refined sugar.

    This includes such variations as brown sugar, dextrose, powdered sugar, raw sugar, table sugar, turbinado sugar, white sugar.

    Go through your kitchen and remove all sugar.

Day 7: oatmeal

    Eat three to five servings of oatmeal a week. You may eat oatmeal every day.

    Use slow cooked oatmeal. Avoid instant oatmeal. The complex carbohydrates in slow cooked oatmeal give it a low Glycemic Index while instant oatmeal is more processed and has a higher Glycmeic Index. Slow cooked oatmeal may be reheated with little or no loss of nutrients.

    Steel cut oatmeal is the healthiest. Use 1-1/2 cups of water to 1/4 cup of oatmeal. Steel-cut oatmeal takes between 20 and 40 minutes to cook, but you can cook a large batch and then reheat smaller amounts for convenience. Spices can be cooked into the oats rather than added later.

    Oatmeal is high in soluble fiber. 1/3 cup of cooked oatmeal or 1/2 ounce of dry oatmeal is approximately 9 grams of carbohydrates. In 100 grams of oatmeal there are 13 grams of protein, 8 grams of fat, and 67 grams of carbohydrates. The carbohydrates in oatmeal are mostly complex, giving oatmeal a low Glycemic Index. Oatmeal has high levels of fat-burning antioxidants (especially good at getting rid of belly fat).

    Oatmeal is one of the few foods on earth that has Gamma Linolenic Acid (GLA). GLA is an activated Essential Fatty Acid made from Linoleic Acid and a precursor of Dihomo Gamma Linolenic Acid (DGLA), a source of good eicosanoids.

    Oatmeal helps cholesterol and helps fight cancer, diabetes, and obesity.

    “For as far as my knowledge goes the ultimate breakfast cereal is … oatmeal. Really. It’s unbelievable stuff. Every day one bowl of oatmeal and you’re set for the day.”
    “I started eating oatmeal about 2 years ago and still have them every morning. This grain is absolutely brilliant.”
    “What I do is take one cup of oats and 2 cups of water and mix them in a pan. I cook it until it starts boiling a bit and then I quickly add some raisins while stirring a bit. Done!” [NOTE that slow cooking is healthier]
    “Now here’s the really cool part. When you read the oatmeal ingredients label, there’s only one: Oatmeal! No added sugars, preservatives, coloratives and more-crap-atives. Just quality unprocessed and natural food — which is the way I like it.”

Nico, March 19, 2008

    Some recommended additions to your oatmeal to keep it from becoming monotonous and boring:

• Top with nutmeg and cinnamon.
• Add two (2) tablespoons of unsweetened pumpkin for alternative flavor with great nutrition.
• If you eat chicken eggs, consider adding four (4) egg whites while cooking your oatmeal.
• Top with eight chopped or sliced almonds and real maple syrup. Adds calcium and makes the oatmeal crunchier. 1/4 cup almonds has 164 calories, 14 grams of fat (1 gram saturated, 9 grams monounsaturated, and 3.5 grams polyunsaturated), 1 gram sugar, 3 grams fiber, and 70 mg of calcium.
• Top with fresh blueberries when in season. Adds antioxidnats and fiber. 1/2 cup of blueberries has 42 calories, 0 grams of fat, 7 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of fiber.
• Top with dried cranberries. Helps gum health and detoxes kidneys. Helps protect against bladder infections. 1/4 cup of dried cranberries has 92 calories, 0 grams of fat, 20 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of fiber.
• Top with ground flax seeds for omega-3s. 1 tablespoon has 37 calories, 3 grams fat (0 grams saturated fat, 0.5 grams monounsaturated, and 2 grams polyunsaturated), 0 grams sugar, and 2 grams fiber.
• Top wth raisins. 1/4 cup of raisins has 123 calories, 0 grams fat, 24 grams sugar, and 1.5 grams fiber.
• Add hemp milk.

    For more information, see oats.

herbal baths

    Herbal baths are an important part of the Goddess plan. The herbal bath gives alone time for quiet meditation and centering as well as immersing the physical body in healing and rejuvenating herbs. It can be difficult for low or middle income women with children to come up with the time to have herbal baths. If the male partner is still around, try to arrange at least 30 minutes per week when he takes care of the children so that you can have your Goddess herbal bath. See also herbs.

Day 8: apple cider vinegar

    Eat up to two (2) teaspoons of apple cider vinegar a day.

    Some possible ways to get your two (2) teaspoons of apple cider vinegar a day:

• Mix a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in a tall glass of water.
• If you eat fish, soak the fish in a mixture of apple cider vinegar and water before cooking. This will give the fish a sweeter taste and make the fish more tender.
• If you eat meat, tenderize the meat overnight in a mixture of apple cider vinegar, herbs, and spices.
• Use the apple cider vinegar to make a salad dressing (preferably with hemp seed oil, flax seed oil, or extra virgin cold pressed olive oil.
• Use in other recipes.

    Check the label. Only purchase apple cider vinegar that is certified organic, unfiltered, and unpasteurized. Avoid any apple cider vinegar that has additives or preservatives. Avoid anything that is apple cider “flavored” vinegar. The apple cider vinegar should have a rich brown color and have visible sediment. Cobweb strands floating in the apple cider vinegar are very good.

    Store apple cider vinegar in a dark cabinet or cupboard.

    For more information, see apple.

Day 9: cut back on meat

    If you do not currently eat meat, do not start. If you do currently eat meat (or any animals), cut back to the healthiest few choices.

    If you don’t currently eat red meat, do not start eating red meat. If you do eat red meats, switch to the recommended red meats and add the other recommended animal foods.

    If you do not currently eat white mammal meats, do not start. The exception is that if you currently eat red meat, then add the recommended white mammal meat to your diet. If you do currently eat white mammal meats, switch to the recommended choices.

    If you do not currently eat birds, do not start eating birds. The exception is that if you currently eat any mammals (including red or white meat), then add the recommended birds to your diet. If you currently eat birds, switch to the recommended birds.

    If you do not currently eat fish and other seafood, do not start eating fish or seafood. The exception is that if you currently eat any mammals (including red or white meat) or birds, then add the recommended fish and seafood to your diet. If you currently eat fish or seafood, switch to the recommended fish and seafood.

    Red meats: lamb, lean organic grass fed beef (including flank steak, round steak, rump roast, sirloin steak, tenderloin, and tri-tip roast), oragnic grass fed veal

    White meats: ham, pork

    Birds organic free-range chicken eggs, oragnic free-range skinless chicken breast, turkey

    Fish and seafood (all choices should be wild caught, never farm raised) Alaskan halibut, bass, chunk light tuna, clams, herring, oysters, salmon, sardines, trout

    For more information, see meat.

Day 10: broccoli

    Eat broccoli at least three to five times a week. You may eat broccoli every day.

    For more information, see broccoli.

stop eating meat

    For those raised on eating meats, switching to a meatless diet will be difficult. It can best be handled in stages, eliminating first red meats, then all mammals, and then birds.

    In July 2009, after an exhaustive study review, the American Dietetic Association concluded that well-planned vegetarian diets are safe for all people at every stage of life, including pregnant women, nursing mothers, babies, children, teenagers, adults, and seniors.

    The American Dietetic Association emphasizzed that a meat-free meal plan may lower rates of obesity, Type 2 adult onset diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers.

    “Oh, my fellow men, do not defile your bodies with sinful foods. We have corn, we have apples bending down the branches with their weight, and grapes swelling on the vines. There are sweet-flavored herbs, and vegetables which can be cooked and softened over the fire, nor are you denied milk or thyme-scented honey. The earth affords a lavish supply of riches, of innocent foods, and offers you banquets that involve no bloodshed or slaughter; only beasts satisfy their hunger with flesh, and not even all of those, because horses, cattle, and sheep live on grass.”, Pythagoras (Greek mathematician). Pythagoras ate bread and honey for breakfast and raw vegetables for supper. He also paid fishermen to throw their catch back into the sea.

    “Can you really ask what reason Pythagoras had for abstinence from flesh? For my part I rather wonder both by what accident and in what state of mind the first man touched his mouth to gore and brought his lips to the flesh of a dead creature, set forth tables of dead, stale bodies, and ventured to call food and nourishment the parts that had a little before bellowed and cried, moved and lived. How could eyes endure the slaughter when throats were slit and hides flayed and limbs torn from limb? How could his nose endure the stench? How was it that the pollution did not turn away his taste, which made contact with sores of others and sucked juices and serums from mortal wounds? It is certainly not lions or wolves that we eat out of self-defense; on the contrary, we ignore these and slaughter harmless, tame creatures without stings or teeth to harm us. For the sake of a little flesh we deprive them of sun, of light, of the duration of life to which they are entitled by birth and being. … If you declare that you are naturally designed for such a diet, then first kill for yourself what you wnt to eat. Do it, however, only through your own resources, unaided by cleaver or cudgel or any kind of ax.”, Plutarch (Roman historian).

    “It may indeed be doubted whether butchers’ meat is anywhere a necessary of life. Grain and other vegetables, with the help of milk, cheese, and butter, or oil, where butter is not to be had, afford the most plentiful, the most wholesome, the most nourishing, and the most invigorating diet. Decency nowhere requires that any man should eat butchers’ meat.”, Adam Smith (British economist).

    “Let the advocate of animal food force himself to a decisive experiment on its fitness, and as Plutarch recommends, tear a living lamb with his teeth and, plunging his head into its vitals, slake his thirst with the steaming blood … then, and then only, would he be consistent.”, Percy Bysshe Shelley (poet).

    “Is it not a reproach that man is a carnivorous animal? True, he can and does live, in a great measure, by preying on other animals; but this is a miserable way—as any one who will go to snaring rabbits, or slaughtering lambs, may learn—and he will be regarded as a benefactor of his race who shall teach man to confine himself to a more innocent and wholesome diet. Whatever my own practice may be, I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came in contact with the more civilized.”, Henry David Thoreau, Walden.

    “Various philosophers and religious leaders tried to convince their disciples and followers that animals are nothing more than machines without a soul, without feelings. However, anyone who has ever lived with an animal—be it a dog, a bird, or even a mouse—knows that this theory is a brazen lie, invented to justify cruelty.”, Isaac Bashevis Singer (Nobel literature prize winner).

    For more information, see meat.

note:

    Note that the day by day plan is being written more slowly than the days are passing. This is not a problem because the plan involves making long term changes for the better and you are encouraged to work at your own personal pace, which will probably be less than one change per day anyway. I currently have about four to five hours a week to write for the entire website. Please be patient.

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