Tuesday, July 27, 2010

tip #2 PVS (part 1)

(click photo to zoom)




pvs is the acronym i use when when talking to people about "food order" and when to eat what. pvs stands for "protein, vegetable, starch." this is not original with me. i read it once 15 years ago in my research and haven't been able to find a source for it since. but the logic of it stuck with me. and so along with my own measure, study and philosophies, i have developed a discipline in which i have become an avid proponent. it changed my life so dramatically that i have been known to get into passionate conversation almost to the point of pleading with friends and loved ones to give it a try. i've had very few takers, but the ones who have stuck with it, have benefited immensely. i won't give you the passionate speech but i will tell you what i think i know.

to explain the pvs technique, lets go backwards for a minute and i'll break down each of these food groups briefly as we build to an enlightening, life-changing punch-line.

starch.
starch digests in an alkaline environment. starch is an antacid.
what constitutes starch? bread, potatoes, pasta, etc..
keep this info in your back pocket for a second.

vegetable.
i want you to see vegetables in a new way. there are all sorts of really good statistics floating around about vitamin absorption and the daily values absorbed from say a cup of spinach etc. in my research we get about 8% to 10% of the nutrients out of a vegetable when we eat it versus juicing, but don't panic, that 8 is enough. inside of that 8 percent lives a break down of percentages that will equal high percentages in daily values so, even though the nutritional value of today's veggies has been greatly diminished within the last 100 years, i don't feel the need to panic. we are not cows. we have incisors. we do not chew cud, thus we do not get all the enzymes out of the vegetables we eat. we never will. its not our design. but that is NOT the end of the story!

here's the flip-side and the one they're not really talking about much. (i could get a lot more complicated than this with the various types of roughage etc but lets skip all that and make this easy.) let me assure you, that if you'll look at veggies as roughage, you'll get more than enough of what you need without the measuring cups or point systems. wrapping your head around this means life or death and nobody really wants to lose their own life. so lets look at vegetables as roughage and consume them for that reason. this way you'll get your nutrients by default but in the the bigger absolutely necessary picture, proteins followed by vegetables will, by design, push the protein thru the colon and strip down any fatty or toxic buildup thus saving your life! nutrients are absorbed more easily thru a clean intestinal wall and seeing veggies as roughage will allow the body actually work. sure, juicing ups the rate of absorption significantly but we can discuss the benefits of that and when juicing is appropriate, separate to this exercise. so roughage. green follows the protein, and the next paragraph will tie all this together, bear with me.

protein.
protein breaks down or digests in one place: the stomach. in order for protein to digest it must have acid to do so. in order for your body to use protein, it must be digested, broken down into dipeptides and polypeptides, so its nutrients can be absorbed. if the protein is not broken down it goes into the intestines undigested and now we have a problem. a BIG problem. i spoke earlier about a matter of life or death. dear friends listen to me. tragically John Wayne and Elvis both died with 35 to 40 pounds of undigested protein in their bodies. forgive this tidbit but Elvis was on the commode doing his best to get rid of some of that when he passed away from a heart attack induced by septic shock. why? (read this slowly and comprehend) THEY WERE MEAT AND POTATOES MEN. protein needs acid. starch is an antacid. make sense? friends, starch and protein eaten together will kill you faster than cigarettes and smog.

summary
most people carry 5 to 25 pounds of superficial weight around because of food combinations that are traditional but NOT healthy. what they carry is undigested protein which distends the colon and thins the walls creating dangerous septic risks. if sickness begins in the colon, and we carry rotted meat around in our belly's, no wonder we can't stay well. no wonder the human race smells so bad. no wonder we are dependent upon deodorants to neutralize the toxins eeking out of our pores.

i've been challenged on this a number of times by doctors, nutritionists, you name it, but none of them can keep off the weight without working their cans off to stay fit. on the other hand, i'm 41 and i have an eight pack. why? i barely work out. i mean, less than 18 minutes a week. yes you heard that right! less than 18 minutes. i walk my dog but he's little and we go slow. i work around the house and mow the yard and do chores and stuff but i'm not killing myself here. if i have an audition coming up and i need to look extra fit, i might up my water intake (see my blog on water) for a couple of days do a lunge or two, some extra push ups and make sure i keep a strict food order. other than that, i just enjoy being slim. alot of people attribute my the way i look to genetics and some of that may be, but i would certainly argue that point for staying trim. i do not believe people are genetically written to be fat. i think, just like i did, they can inherit poor eating habits, but THIS! THIS we can change!!

so lets get started
here is a basic practical application for getting started on PVS

protein
eat a piece of meat.

vegetable
follow it with a handful of mix greens, dry. you won't like the taste but we do a lot of things we don't like. this will just make you have to do less of them.

starch
eat last and at least an hour after you've started your protein. if you make the mistake at a restaurant and go for the bread first, you're done. order a potato or pasta and make it a starch dinner, minus the chicken. if you eat the salad first, you're done. make it veggie dinner.

tip
eat slowly, consciously, gratefully with blessings and thanks and healing given to every single bite. say to yourself, "salmon," and notice every single bite of it. chew!

when its time for your salad, do the same.

if you are 45 minutes into your meal, on occasion it won't hurt you to participate in starch. but as soon as it touches your mouth, your stomach gets a signal to stop producing acid. your mouth is the first step in digestion and it signals to the rest of you "GET READY, I'VE JUST GIVEN MYSELF ______."

part 2
in part 2 i will discuss the role of fruits and the necessary benefits of starch and that its commercially deemed role as a fat maker is absolutely a mistake. let me know if you have any questions so far. i will respond to your questions here :)
jP

(photo by mmckee july2010)

13 comments:

sam said...

Sounds very common-sensical and revolutionary at the same time. I'm gonna give it a try.

thejoshuapayne said...

great sam!!! hey if you have any questions or need some blanks filled in, please let me know. i would love to help you in any way i can.
jP

BrotherEDEN said...

Not unlike my own regimen... our 'life styles' are similar, except for the eight pack..., only wish we lived near one another to truly be encouragement and support...

Gale said...

This is my 6th week of NO sugar/NO flour....sounds similar to what you do. I have been thinking about purchasing a juicer. Do you have one that you would recommend? Thanks for sharing
Gale

thejoshuapayne said...

hi gale. i would recommend the jack lalanne juicer at target. here is the link. http://www.target.com/s/187-8768501-3314256?_encoding=UTF8&CPNG=Appliances&LID=79773494&search-alias=tgt-index&keywords=jack_lalanne_juicer&ref=tgt_adv_XSGO0767&searchNodeID=1038576%7C1287991011&AFID=google&searchPage=1&LNM=jack_lalanne_juicer

stay tuned for an article on juicing. i plan on presenting a good plan with some do's and don't tips. i'll leave you with this one: fruit juice isn't as beneficial as you might think and has a tendency to spike insulin levels. stick with vegetable juice at first and use beets sparingly. 1/4 beet is PLENTY!!

sam said...

thanks jp! about 3 years ago, i found out my insides were being destroyed by acid. the GI prescribed a med (of course) which worked like magic, but i'm tapering off it. and food-wise, i was just told to avoid spicy or acidic things. i eat a lot better now, but no doctor ever suggested that the order in which i eat foods would have any effect on anything at all. i've been on 'The Bland Diet', gone gluten free for over a year (wow - very hard), and tried various things, but never anything like this.

also, i'm working out 10-15 hrs per week now. it's not that i don't enjoy it, but i can think of other things i'd rather do with some of that time :)

Aimly said...

First of all, thank you for sharing this valuable info. I was wondering. Is it essential that you eat PVS in that exact order given and can I eat my protein and veggie at the same time? I often have chicken on top of my salad for lunch or dinner. Also, can you eliminate the starch altogether and just eat the protein and veggie? Thanks for any and all light you can shed. I appreciate your help!

thejoshuapayne said...

sam,
thanks for your comment. let me know if the pvs helps you. stay with it, and trust it for awhile. keep a journal. lets keep up with where you are and what you were eating. check in with me weekly and lets suss this out. i have some answers for you but i honestly believe pvs is going to be your first line of defense. let me give you a few more suggestions that may help sort some of this out. 1. separate fruits into two catagories, citrus and not. eat them in their entirety and isolate them as snacks either 2 hours after or 1 hour before a meal. citrus fruits should of course be peeled but do it by hand. you want all that inner white stuff. 2. eat 7 raw almonds a day. they are protein, so before breakfast would be a good time to do this. they are alkaline and 7 a day will adjust the acidity level in your body over time. lastly check out my blog on water every hour and stick with it.
PLEASE keep me posted. i'm with you on this brother!

thejoshuapayne said...

sunflower,
you are welcome! glad to have you here. its my belief that you really should separate the two. part of making this work is focusing on what you are eating. imagine having to go out, find a chicken, kill it, skin it, and eat it. before you can actually eat it you've got to build the fire. get the fire hot enough and now you are way late in the game. all that time it took to prepare one grateful piece of chicken was time for your body to prepare itself for what it was getting. your mouth watered for an hour while it slow roasted over the fire and now you are so hungry you can't stand it. you don't want salad at this point, you are dying for meat and each savory bite, though way too hot at this point to eat, is on purpose, its careful and so perfect. your head rocks back and your eyes close and you look up to heaven wondering how you made it this long without this piece of chicken. we are gatherers and convenience kills us. we overeat with no time to prepare and we microwave (btw never microwave anything and i'll talk about that later) we drive thru fast food and we have no concept of what it actually means to prepare our minds, our body's and our hearts to receive the essence of life. so, prepare, go slow, eat slow, then be. wash it down with slow conscious bites of roughage. it will change your life.

now to starch. can you throw it out? absolutely not. its essential. you can throw out the junk starches, including enriched floury type stuff but the whole grains etc are a must unless you've got gluten issues. eating this way is not convenient but there's nothing wrong with picking up a piece of whole grain something or other, and eating it in the car post breakfast. :)

tip: morning ritual. scrape your tongue. start in with the water.
5 blueberries. wait an hour if you can, but 30 minutes will suffice. eat a bowl of oatmeal al dente. its fabulous and there's a starch that will stick with you because its a complete carb. it will release glucose slowly and burn slow. steel cut oats are even better.

Unknown said...

joshua drew, you need to write a book. scratch that--you need to write several. but one (or more) should definitely be about this. and your other health/body/spirit ideas and suggestions.

wunderbar!

Aimly said...

I couldn't agree more with rebekahgbryant. Rereading this just now. Going to try and take heed now that I'm back to working out.

J. Daniel Robertson said...

Great post, Josh. PVS seems to make sense based on things I've read. I'd like to give it a try, but feel like I need more info. to implement it fully. Can't wait for the "PVS Part 2" post?

meganmadeja-hendrixlifesjourney said...

I have started doing this and it has changed my digestive system! I feel better. My body works better.