“In food lies 99.99 percent of the causes of all diseases and imperfect health of any kind.” – Arnold Ehret
When I asked my father whether I could share some of his own healing journey insights on my blog, including the ordinary anti-aging routine that helped him thrive, he jumped right at the opportunity! Just like my own journey with healing chronic eczema through an alkaline diet, my father, who is in his mid-70s, had ups and downs with his health since I can remember. From high blood pressure to kidney and heart problems, he decided years ago to heal naturally through diet and lifestyle, and never looked back!
While many of his illness symptoms subsided with a vegan diet, he had a long way to go to move away from protein-rich, cooked, and complex foods that did not provide enough astringency for detoxification and healing.
In fact, I worked with my dad in the last handful of years to get him to get even healthier with a fruit diet, fasting, and a proper herbal protocol. Initially, he was afraid to eat fruit, since he believed the sugar myth that groups all sugars as “bad.” It took some convincing and reminding him about the profound effects fruits had on my own healing to get him to start eating fruit and not too long after, see and feel the incredible rejuvenating results.
The biggest errors my dad made on his path to wellness were to combine foods in the wrong way, eat all cooked meals and rely on supplements instead of raw fruits and vegetables. But once he started introducing more raw foods and fruits into his diet, he felt so much better, experienced fewer aches, more vitality, and felt much less stressed. His digestion and gut improved, his kidneys got stronger, he started sleeping better, and in the last few years, he started to look years younger!
Some qualities that I really admire about my dad are his dedication to his goals, his commitment to growth, and his ability to put in the work to see long-term results. These traits inevitably helped him maintain a strong resolve and stay strong during the healing crisis that he experienced as his body went through detoxification and regeneration. This attitude was indeed key to his progress and success!
So, how did he do it and what are some wellness tips he can share that can help others heal and reverse aging?
Changing Dietary Habits: Before and After
Before his diet change, my dad ate a standard diet of grains, meat, dairy, cooked vegetables, and wheat products. He was carrying a few extra pounds and was usually depleted from work and tired. Over time, after being placed on blood pressure medication, he realized that symptom relief wasn’t the solution, and he needed to change something in his life to bring himself back to balance and wellness.
My dad had always been very easy to stress, and his emotional coping had inevitably contributed to his health issues over time. He understood that he needed better stress-management skills, and that’s when he decided to take time out of his day to sit with himself, turn on soft music, close his eyes, and just re-balance and let himself relax into the present moment. He would meditate in this state for about 30 minutes and integrate meditation whenever he found himself sitting down, relaxing in a cafe, or sunning himself on the balcony.
In addition, he knew that his diet had to change, which played a big part in causing the onset of his health problems. But, he didn’t know how to eat properly and which diet would work best for him. As he was ruminating about solutions in his mind and thinking about all the changes he wanted to make, one day, he stumbled upon a book in a bookstore that was the key catalyst to help him see the light about understanding the nature of food and how to cultivate healthy habits.
It talked about pH balance through the alkaline diet, prompting an AHA moment in my father, who became the most avid proponent of the advice. He loved the book so much, that he got all family members a copy and advised all of us to read it and apply its protocol. Indeed, its insights helped me expand further in my health awareness, as I was learning all I could about wellness, and was the foundation for my interest in food chemistry and bioenergetics. The book was The pH Miracle: Balance Your Diet, Reclaim Your Health.
My father followed the alkaline diet plan advised in the book and after years of experimentation, relapse, pushing deeper, and understanding more about the body and what it takes to get well, he reversed all of his health conditions and recently informed me to write that he is more energetic today than he was 10 years ago.
Above are the before and after pictures of my father. The first is a picture of him in December 2018 enjoying his birthday lunch, and the second one is of him on his birthday in 2020. In those two years, he incorporated more raw foods and particularly fruit into his diet (which he was afraid to do, thinking fruit sugar is harmful).
As you can see, his white hair had turned darker (I remember it was all white a handful of years ago), and the whole family was both shocked and impressed at the changes. My dad calls his new brown hair growth his “boyhood hair.” Likewise, you can see how vitality, color, and plumpness had returned to his face.
Being there for him on this journey from the beginning and watching him transform in such a profound way, I am so proud of him!
Alkaline Diet: The Anti Aging Secret to Reversing Gray Hair
Undoubtedly, reversing aging is contingent on dedication to body detoxification and regeneration through diet and a healthy lifestyle. What this means is chemically hydrating the body so that it loosens up coagulation and obstructions and revitalizes cells and tissues with nutrients and energy. When the body has the strength and energy to do so, its main objective is to self-heal degeneration in an effort at preservation.
It is a highly intelligent biological entity that, when working properly, can keep vital until 120 years of age (and longer). However, our lack of knowledge of how to fuel it properly and upkeep its functions has not only shortened our ancestors’ lifespans but has also weakened our genetic pool, which is currently ripe with endemic weaknesses.
The science of epigenetics shows us that our habits, thoughts/emotions, diet, lifestyle, and environment leave their mark on our DNA, which is then passed on to our descendants. Therefore, the stories of our lives are passed on to be felt, relived, understood, and healed by the next generations. How amazing is that?
Essentially, “reversing aging” is the side-effect of healing chronic inflammation that results in the steady degeneration and decay of cells, tissues, and organs. And once we’re on an alkaline diet path to regeneration, the anti-aging effects of the process will wield darker hair, greater collagen production, smoother skin, and an increase in energy and vitality. The results of detoxification are highly transformative and well worth the effort and dedication!
Here are important principles that are behind my father’s ordinary anti-aging regimen. The routine is less about treatments and gimmicks and more about understanding the body and laws of nature.
Lowering Protein Intake
Although protein is often lauded as an essential compound our bodies need in high quantity to be healthy, nothing could be further from the truth in terms of chemistry and biology. In actuality, protein is highly complex and is very hard to digest by the bowels and the kidneys that have to break them down to amino acids.
Proteins are known as acids (viruses are proteins, for example) and are highly inflammatory to the body. That is exactly why high-protein diets can lead to kidney degeneration and even colon cancer, depending on one’s constitution and other lifestyle factors.
What our bodies really need is essential amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins! Although our bodies make many primary amino acids on their own, the rest they require from our food source. Fruits and vegetables are the best sources of essential amino acids and are very easily assimilated by the body for their building, repair, and growth functions.
Just look at elephants, gorillas, and cows in their natural habitat- they are not only large and muscular but are also some of the strongest animals in the animal kingdom. And what do they have in common? Their herbivore and fruitarian diets! It is these assimilated plants that are the main source of nutrients that an individual would get from eating meat.
Did you know that protein makes a very small percentage of the human mother’s milk composition, which showcases the perfect food source chemistry for our species? But somewhere along the way, the protein fad craze and the dismissal of plant-based diets as deficient became the mainstream consensus of wellness, and not much has changed!
Here are just a few more sources that illuminate the protein myth and showcase how it is simple sugars and not protein that our bodies require for energy production, healing, and regeneration:
- My article about the benefits of an anti-inflammatory vegan diet (and the protein myth)
- The myth of protein deficiency
- High protein diets can cause death
Since proteins are complex, building (not cleansing), and acidic, during every detoxification protocol, protein – in the form of animal products, grains, and nuts – should be avoided at all costs!
Increasing Fruit Consumption
Not only is fruit alkalizing to the body, but it doesn’t require much pancreatic input to digest, which means it bypasses the most common digestive process that utilizes 70% of our daily energy.
Overall, fruit provides the most cellular energy out of all the foods found in nature and utilizes the least energy for digestion. It takes about 30 minutes to fully digest and energize cells with its simple sugars — the body’s most optimal source of energy.
Unlike processed complex sugar, the sugars in fruit are designed for optimal cellular nourishment and are nature’s most optimal detoxifiers and regenerators of the most complex system in our body – the nervous system.
The body craves simple sugars as well as the nutrition that comes with it, but if it only receives complex and simple sugars devoid of nutrition, it will receive a quick energy spike (and crash) but the cells will still be starving and signaling to the body for more sugar…creating a cycle of sugar addiction, hunger, and weight gain.
Contrary to popular belief, the holistic properties of fruits include minerals, vitamins, enzymes, and simple sugars that hydrate the body and strengthen its cells and organs. Therefore, not only are fruits the best food to eat for sugar metabolic disorders, over time, they heal them!
When my dad started including fruit into his diet (upon my appeal!), that’s when he started seeing the most changes in his physical, mental, and emotional states. The fruit was able to alkalize his body thoroughly, detoxifying acidity that was causing him discomfort, emotional imbalance, and weakened organ function.
This switch occurred approximately three years ago, and that’s exactly when my dad’s physical body started showing signs of vitality, regeneration, and vast age reversal. Most certainly, high fruit intake is a key component in how to reverse gray hair and aging naturally!
The Power of Meditation, Exercise, and Time in Nature
My dad made sure that I mentioned that taking up meditation, daily walks in the sunshine and nature as well as having regular saunas (he bought a mini one that fits inside his bathroom) truly helped speed up his process of healing. And this all makes sense in terms of rebalancing our internal terrain to the homeostasis of nature’s Shumman frequency and its healing and regenerative wisdom.
In all spiritual traditions, nature is a wise feminine principle that provides, nourishes, and keeps the biological kingdom in perpetual balance. She is medicine and she is the divine mother; it is in her archetype that we see reflected our mothers and caretakers.
Essentially, her laws are the laws of the cosmos reflected in our 3D world, and if we spend time with her, connect with her, observe her and emulate her, we will never lose that connection to our wellness and divinity.
Sunshine nourishes us and helps us create and regulate hormones that are vital for our health via Vitamin D production. Being in nature syncs our frequency with that of nature, which stabilizes all our biological processes and keeps us grounded.
Likewise, meditation re-balances our yin and yang energies, hormones, and neurotransmitters so that we feel more peaceful, become more receptive to clarity from our higher selves, and attract the type of experiences we want into our lives (mind over matter). It is the best antidote for emotional and mental disturbances and the ideal daily habit for personal transformation and actualization.
And lastly, the sauna promotes sweating, which is meant to open up the skin and assist the kidneys with the detoxification of water-soluble toxins and acids. It also improves the function and the health of the skin and promotes the healing of other elimination organs that don’t have to work as hard to process and eliminate waste.
Other Wellness Tips From My Father
An important tip my dad wanted me to share with others is the importance of deep breathing. And I couldn’t agree with him more! Breathing constitutes 70% of our body’s detoxification efforts and our lungs use oxygen to alkalize the body and promote circulation of the Qi/Prana (vital life force) through all cells and tissues.
Without proper oxygenation through deep breathing, we are not utilizing mother nature’s life force properly, and as a result, miss out on the full support yogic breath can have on our healing capacity and longevity.
Yet another tip that holds wisdom in many traditions (adopted by Yogis and Buddhist monks) is to intermittently fast and not eat past 6 pm – 7 pm when the sun starts to set. Just like in nature, our circadian cycles are synchronized with our environment, and when the sun’s power wanes, so does our solar plexus/digestive power.
Generally speaking, the production of digestive enzymes decreases significantly after sun-down, as the body is looking to soon get to rest. Therefore, dinners should always be light and eaten early to ensure its properly digested before we go to sleep.
This practice of consuming simple, early dinners and intermittent fasting (14-15 hour gap between dinner and the next day’s breakfast, for example) is one of the most potent health practices that can speed up healing and regeneration – an anti-aging tonic!
My dad also swears by organic herbal tea the first thing in the morning and throughout the day. And, I do likewise! Herbs help detoxify, tonify, and energize tissues, and hot water is excellent for flushing out the body first thing in the morning and throughout the day. In Ayurveda, hot water is known to aid with digestion and detoxification, and having it after a long fast during sleep is the optimal way to start the day!
Final Thoughts
What helped my father heal from his many ailments is his switch to an alkaline diet plan and his commitment to well-being through self-care. But the most profound difference in the level of healing and regeneration he experienced occurred when he incorporated fruit intake as 50% of his daily diet (mostly for breakfast and dinner). If you’re looking to know how to reverse gray hair and turn back the hands of time, I truly hope this advice has been valuable!
To start your body cleansing and regeneration, I truly recommend my articles on how to detoxify safely and effectively:
Natural Healing: A Guide to Full Body Detox Without Gimmicks and With Long-Term Results
Healing With Herbs: Herbs as Medicine and How to Use Them for Body Detox
Healing Crisis Guide: Common Detox Symptoms and How to Alleviate Them
And if you are looking to learn more about how your body and health truly work, you can sign up to receive my free guide to detoxification, which will help you reverse your disease symptoms and regain the long-lost vitality. To the incredible power of food and nature and may my father’s ordinary anti-aging routine inspire you to turn back the hands of time!