‘The Baby Boomer Diet-Body Ecology’s Guide to growing Younger’ – Donna Gates

How is your Body Ecology?                                                                                      

As an avid fan of Donna Gates first book   ‘The Body Ecology Diet’ I eagerly awaited her follow up and jumped at the chance to review it. It did not disappoint.   ‘The Baby Boomer Diet-Body Ecology’s guide to growing younger’  is an invaluable anti-age  manual  which will encourage you to nourish your body & soul using nutrient-rich living foods. It reworks the 7 original principals of anti age healing which are;

·       
           The principal of balance

·         The principal of acid & alkaline

·         The principal of uniqueness

·         The principal of cleansing

·         The principal of food combing

·         The principal of 80/20

·         The principal of step-by step

The title seems at first restrictive, what are baby boomers and is the book only aimed at them? Firstly ‘Baby Boomers’ is a phrase coined to describe the first generation that was born after the Second World War. After the war finished and normality resumed so began a new age of prosperity and mass production and baby making! So it was named the ‘Baby Boomer’ generation ( people born between 1946-1964). During this era and the proceeding years these babies would grow up in a time that unlike any before saw the most rapid changes in all areas of life. Both politically & ideologically. The invention of mass processed foods and ‘TV fast-food dinners’ from America, wide use of pesticides, petrochemical and the  plastic boom, and  GM crops have all changed the  way this generation of babies ate. 
Just ask your grand-parents, for they have lived through more changes than any other generation. In their time food did not come washed, peeled and wrapped in plastic, yes shock, you were expected to do this yourself! Microwaves were unknown and people rarely ate out. A diet of simple home-cooked foods was the norm. These changes we still live with today and even more so as the food industry makes it it’s  goal to distance us even more from the processes and methods that the food on our plate goes through. So this book has never been so relevant!

Donna is herself a ‘Baby boomer’ and seeks to educate and empower people to make the right food choices. As she says ’ eat in a conscious way’. She states in the first chapter that people from the ‘Baby Boomer’ generation and beyond have alarmingly been exposed to more environmental toxins than any other generation.  The book equips you with  the tools, dietary plans and enlightening tips to reduce your toxic exposure, eat protective foods and literally eat yourself younger!!

Chapter 3 in part 1 tells you to tap into your ‘fountain of youth’ in order to release your full health potential and tells us under no un-certain terms that;

‘‘it isn’t what you eat that ages you, its what happens to what you eat that ages you’’- 
- Donna Gates

The book is a refreshingly different approach to healthy eating  and I like the fact that it fuses western science fact with  eastern Chinese medical theory. To me this is a sublime marriage. Using this Donna answers the mega question ‘Why do we age?’ By investigating DNA  theory, free-radicals, hormones, cellular degeneration, Jing-energy, Chi-energy, Shen-energy she shows us how to put the spring back in our step and embrace our true essence,an essence I should add we were all born with.

Donna does not advocate ‘diets’ in the traditional sense and in the chapter entitled ‘The end of the road for all dieters’ she reveals the truth about why most diets don’t work. Some of the world’s best-known so called ‘quick-fix’ diets come under scrutiny and it aint pretty. There is a clear message that food-cravings and habits are linked to emotions and spirituality. The food we eat has its own vibrations, if you like its own emotional state. If that food came from a pure source, clean soil and lived in a peaceful environment then it will  resonate this. When you eat you literality ingest the emotional value of that food. This transmits  through your own emotional being. Donna gracefully reminds us to firstly love and cherish ourselves because this is the only true way to become at one with our physiology and our bodies unique ecology.

Rather than focusing on the aesthetic bonuses of the diet ( though they are abundant in the forms of clear skin, shiny hair, great digestion and bountiful energy) she focuses on her diet being a healing journey from within. Sounds corny? Impossible?  Not so, its a slow step by step approach that leads you to a new life path, no radical restrictive diet, you can still eat the foods  you love and feel full!

In the last section of the book Donna’s focus is on that buzz word ‘super-foods’ .Listing and explaining how these wonderful gifts from nature  can reverse our DNA degeneration, supply us with vital vitality and protect us from environmental pollutants we feel empowered  and for anyone who is new to super-foods it will give you a great over-view of what they can do for your body.

The key subjects on super-foods are as follows;

·         Fermented foods-anti aging miracles

·         Sugar: How sweet it isn’t?

·         Fats: The good, the bad and the ones that make us ugly

·         Protein: Body Ecology’s 7 principals shed light on controversy

·         Vegetables: for vitamins & minerals

·         Grain- like seeds: For energy, hydration and balance

·         Hydration Choices: For rejuvenation and timeless beauty

·         Healing Condiments: Delicious & age defying

·         Detoxification

The above all work together to balance out bodies inner ecology. The diet will give you more energy, vitality, spiritual awareness and love to share with others. This book is a must for anyone who has sub-optimal health, allergies, weight-issues, Candida  etc..... in fact everyone!

Donna tells us 'the future is in your hands'. Our first job is to heal ourselves, our own internal environment -our Body Ecology. Then using this new gained energy find your passion and give back to the world.  This positive quote from the end of the book is what I leave you to ponder upon and remember its up to you!

                            ‘’Our universal purpose as a generation and as individuals

                              Is to become a doorway for change and to help nourish righteous

                               Action so that a superior way of life is born.’’ -Donna Gates.

                                                    http://www.hayhouse.co.uk/

The book is available direct from Hay House Publishers, who also have a vast array of healing books.

See link:  http://www.hayhouse.co.uk/

Review by Lucie Nutri Fit Nutrition