Dr. Keith Scott-Mumsby, in his book, Diet Wise, talks of a Venetian nobleman, Luigi Cornaro. By the age of 40, Luigi had a nearly continuous fever and thirst and was getting steadily worse. Consulting a physician, he was told in no uncertain terms that it was quantity of rich food he was eating that was causing his ill health and if he continued it would quickly lead him to the grave. (Most people only lived to about 40 at that time and place.)
Vowing to enjoy many more years of life, Luigi began to systematically observe and record what he ate and how it made him feel. After a while, he discovered which foods his body didn’t tolerate well and began to avoid those. In his case, it was fish, pork, melons, fruit, salad, cheap wine and pastry. Further observations and experiments determined that 12 oz. of food and 14 oz. of good wine made him healthy, vibrant and enjoy life.
Later in his life, his relatives persuaded him to eat more to maintain his strength. He increased his intake slightly and was unhappy and in ill humor for a week, then started to get sick with a pain and fever, which lasted five weeks. Realizing it was the change in his diet that began his ill health, Luigi went back to his previous diet and became vibrantly healthy again.
Luigi went on to write and publish pamphlets on diet at ages 86, 91 and 95!
What can we learn of this? Pay attention to what you eat and how you feel afterwards. You need to do this with a food diary because frequently the beneficial or ill effects aren’t immediate.
In doing the Master Cleanse more than 18 times, I’ve discovered that I sometimes crave foods that I’m detoxing. Eating again turns off any detox symptoms. So, it may be that foods you eat every time are not good for you, but by consuming them regularly you don’t get a chance to see what would happen if you didn’t eat them. So, try eating things you very rarely eat instead for a week and see if you feel better. Bread, sugar and diet drinks are good examples of that.
When it comes to food, less is generally better for you.