Our Ideal Diet menu plans in this chapter will consist of four 4-Day rotation diets, one for each season. This diet/eating plan may require some adaptation from our usual way of eating, and may not necessarily be an easy diet plan to follow.
For many people, it could be a very difficult shift, because it essentially includes no already prepared foods, such as pizza or sandwiches. Others will feel limited because they are used to more foods per meal, more variety, and especially the commonly consumed protein-starch meals, which personally I find the most challenging change to make in my diet. However, this diet is also potentially highly therapeutic for a variety of food-generated and digestive problems. It is also very helpful in normalizing weight and for the average person with some food reactions or allergies. Those who have usually eaten a variety of foods and who are healthy with good digestive function will probably not need to follow strict food combining or a strict rotation diet. This is to say that in order to make them more realistic to the average consumer the following diets and recipes are not exact to some of my previous rules of rotation and food combining. The recipe variances we have made in our food combining are usually minor, such as dried fruits or nuts with a grain breakfast. It is wise, though, to continue to eat simply of a variety of foods and to avoid the daily eating of specific foods, especially commonly allergenic ones such as milk, eggs, wheat, corn, soy, tomatoes, and oats.
The food charts shown later offer four Day s of sample meals for each season. With my guidance, Eleonora Manzolini has put together these seasonal menu plans and many delicious, yet simple, recipes. Even so, our suggestions may not all be to the liking of everyone. There are, of course, many other possibilities; feel free to adapt them to feed your heart, mind, soul, and of course, body. Creativity is an important part of nutrition. The sample menu plans and recipes are offered primarily to educate and inspire you to follow the principles of simple, regular, wholesome meals combined so as to best promote digestion and utilization.
For example, in reviewing the meal guidelines of the previous chapter, we see that breakfast is a meal composed of a simple carbohydrate (fruit) followed by a complex carbohydrate, such as whole grains. Some of our breakfast recipes are even a little more involved, with some fruit, grain, and even nuts combined. Often we may give more than one breakfast suggestion, and those wanting to follow stricter guidelines and eat lighter can just consume fruit in the morning, which may be followed in an hour or two by some starchy food. In the summer, this may be even more apropos. Even our complex breakfasts are still simpler than many people may currently eat, containing much less protein or fat, and allow our body to prepare for those heavier foods later. However, if our jobs require strenuous physical effort or we feel our bodies require more substantial foods earlier in the Day (this may be true when we do not eat anything after dark), some proteins can be used for breakfast. Eggs (poached or soft-boiled are best; over-easy with a small amount of butter is okay) can be eaten with toast or tortillas and some vegetables. One of my favorite (and heavier) breakfasts is two eggs over easy served on tortillas with alfalfa sprouts, diced tomatoes, a slice of avocado, and some salsa. However, I definitely do not support the typical American breakfast of bacon or sausage (no cured or lunchmeats ever) and eggs, potatoes, toast, and juice; it is excessive in food, fats, and protein.