What is The Body Ecology Diet?

The Body Ecology Diet is eating with a purpose is to restore the gut, stomach, adrenals, and thyroid. It also aims to cleanse the blood and restore good gut bacteria.  The gut is a key component of the immune system and typically the first place to focus on when restoring one’s health. 

The Body Ecology Diet (B.E.D.) is a synthesis of seven principles of eating and healing. They are pillars of the holistic health field. Some of them are thousands of years old, such as the Chinese concept of yin and yang (contraction/expansion). Others, such as the theory of food combining, are more recent.

The Diet weaves these principles together like pieces in a puzzle. They can create a framework for healthy eating for the rest of your life. They are clear and complementary. This B.E.D. book shows you how to integrate them into your daily routine. When they are properly implemented, you will see your symptoms disappear and your overall health improve. Here is an overview of the seven principles.

How does The Body Ecology Diet work?

The diet focuses on 7 core principles.

  1. The Principle of Balance.  The Principle of Balance is based on the concept of yin and yang, the opposing energy forces from ancient Chinese and Japanese traditions. Everything in the world has some properties of yin and yang but in varying proportions. Yin energy is light, expansive, wet, soft, cold, and more vegetal. Yang energy is heavy, contracting, dry, hard, hot, and more animal. Body Ecology uses the terms expansion and contraction to explain the yin and yang energy of the food you eat. Some foods, like sugar and alcohol, are examples of food that is too expansive for your body. Your bloodstream quickly absorbs sugar and produces energy, making you feel temporarily open and relaxed yet these foods are damaging because they are not balanced.  Other foods, like excessive and poor-quality salt and animal products, are more contracting and cause your cells to contract and lose fluids, making you feel tight and constricted. Your body is always seeking balance. If you eat too much salt, your body becomes too contractive and you will quickly find yourself craving something sweet. Notice this the next time you go to see a movie. While they may not fully understand this concept, the movie theaters are well aware that both soda pop (sweet and expansive) and popcorn (salty and contracting) are ever-popular combinations for concession sales. Without understanding this principle, you may unknowingly create an imbalance in a vicious cycle of cravings.
  2. The Principle of Acid and Alkaline.  To maintain health, your blood must be slightly alkaline. The foods we eat and the lifestyle choices we make impact our body’s ability to maintain that alkaline state.  Foods can be alkaline, acidic, or neutral in your body. Your goal would be to have a balance of alkaline and acidic foods so that you can maintain the alkaline state of your blood. If you get out of balance and your blood becomes too acidic, you become more susceptible to illness and disease.  At the same time, lifestyle choices like stress, taking prescription drugs, and not getting enough sleep can create acidic blood. Paying attention to a balanced lifestyle is also key to your health and longevity.
  3. The Principle of Uniqueness.  As humans, we share so many similarities with one another, but your body is unique. Each of us is an experiment of one and for that reason, you may need to modify certain elements of any diet or lifestyle to suit your own individuality.  While the Body Ecology program recommends a specific protocol for restoring balance in your body, any time you try a new way of eating, it’s vital to observe your body’s reactions and assess whether this new path is bringing you back toward balance.
  4. The Principle of Cleansing.   Did you know that your body cleanses every day? Through elimination, urine, tears, and sweat, your body rids itself of toxins that would otherwise build up and could lead to sickness and disease. Fevers, colds, and skin eruptions are actually a natural part of the cleansing process and shouldn’t be suppressed. Cleansing allows your body to restore balance and occurs when the imbalance is too great and threatens life.  As you start on the Body Ecology program, you’ll experience the symptoms of cleansing, and you might feel worse than you feel now. Hang in there — it’s your body’s way of getting rid of the bad and making room for the good. After all, you cannot heal your current condition without cleansing.
  5. The Principle of Food Combining.  The Body Ecology program teaches that combining certain foods when you eat can either help or hinder your digestion. If you combine the wrong foods, your body will actually secrete enzymes that cancel each other out! This leads to slowed or impaired digestion, causing food to ferment in your stomach or toxins to be released in your intestines. These conditions make your body more attractive to pathogens. This is a highly useful principle to improve your health and weight, and often one of the most misunderstood. For a more in-depth understanding of this principle and all the other principles, be sure to read The Body Ecology Diet.
  6. The Principle of 80/20.  This principle has two concepts that aid your digestion: Quantity and Balance.
    • Quantity – Overeating severely weakens your digestive system. Give your stomach room to digest your food by only filling your stomach to 80% of capacity and leaving 20% empty to help your body digest.
    • Balance of Nutrients – 80% of every meal should be land and ocean vegetables. The other 20% should be either a protein OR a grain.
  7. The Principle of Step-by-Step.  Just as it takes time to get out of balance, it also takes time to rebuild your health. You cannot expect instant healing, but making small, consistent changes gives your body the foundation it needs to support optimal, long-term health. Starting any new program is about creating new habits. It takes time and effort, which can sometimes feel hard. The key is to take everything step-by-step. Incorporate one healing principle (or even one element of a healing principle) at a time so that you don’t feel overwhelmed. Take care of yourself by going at the pace that feels right to you.

BONUS: Fermented Foods…the Missing Link in All Other Systems of Health – Our most brilliant scientists are seeking to identify foods that enhance wellness, yet Body Ecology already recognizes where to find them and how to prepare them. The new stars of a truly healthy diet are fermented foods! We ferment vegetables, coconut water, goat’s and cow’s milk, and the soft spoon-meat in the young coconut. It will take years for other diets to catch up to Body Ecology, and while others still search for answers, we’ve already put a complete program together for you. You needn’t look anywhere else.

What foods can be eaten on The Body Ecology Diet?

Follow these simple 7 Body Ecology steps to start your spring cleaning:

  1. Eat Vegetables from the Land and Ocean: Using the 80/20 rule, 80 percent of your food should include healthy organic vegetables and ocean vegetables.
  2. Consume Fermented Foods and Drinks: Fermented foods and drinks populate your gut with the beneficial bacteria and yeast (microflora, also called probiotics) that keep you healthy. These amazing probiotic-rich foods and drinks improve digestion, stop sugar cravings, provide essential vitamins and minerals, and boost your immunity. Cultured vegetables, Kombucha, and Kiefer are some of the most common and simple forms of fermented foods and drinks.
  3. Eat Healthy Proteins like organic pasture-fed meat and poultry and wild fish. Nuts and seeds are great sources of protein, just be sure to soak them first.
  4. Eat Body Ecology Grain – Like Seeds and Fiber including quinoa, buckwheat, amaranth, and millet. When you follow the Body Ecology program, including our recommended grain-like seeds, you can be sure you’re obtaining the fiber you need for excellent health and cleansing.
  5. Eat A Range of Healthy Fats and Oils are a must for your healthy diet. Organic unrefined fats and oils provide essential fatty acids that improve your skin, your brainpower, and your mood. They also provide energy, satiety, and help boost immunity.
  6. DO Green Drinks, especially first thing in the morning. Consider a green drink for healing your gut, boosting your energy, and bringing your blood back to its desired alkaline state.
  7. Eat Healthy Natural Sweets and Medicinal Condiments. Eliminate sugar slowly from your diet so that you are not eating sugar, honey, corn syrup, brown rice syrup, molasses, or other sweeteners. You can include healthy natural alternatives that don’t feed candida or spike your blood sugar, like Stevia.
    • What About Fruit? Most fruit is too sweet and feeds candida, upsetting the balance of your healthy inner ecosystem. Instead, eat include these sour fruits, eaten alone on an empty stomach: unsweetened lemons, limes, black currants, and cranberries.
    • Sea Salt is a good form of salt compared to the nasty white table salt typically used.

What foods are restricted on The Body Ecology Diet?

The Body Ecology Diet focuses more on including good foods. The restricted foods would be the opposite of the list above. For example, processed foods, sugar, gluten, fruit juices, and table salt are typically not recommended.

Who should try The Body Ecology Diet?

The diet is highly effective for those suffering from other immune conditions such as Chronic Fatigue or Epstein Barr syndrome. It can also help people with environmental or food allergies or sensitivities, digestive and skin problems, headaches, muscle, and joint pain, lethargy, or anxiety and depression.

Who would have a difficult time implementing The Body Ecology Diet?

Slowly transitioning to the diet should be safe for anyone. Those with severe allergies to many foods may need to modify the diet initially to help reduce the allergic reaction to stevia or various nuts.