Tip#1056: Coping Tools & Methods for Mental Health, Part 2 – Alkaline Foods – The Martian

Once again I had a refreshing, rejuvenating time at my friend’s cottage up north this summer! The bright sunshine and clear, fresh water lake was so deliciously energizing for my mental health and wellness. The big difference was being conscious of what I ate and drank based on my recent discoveries of acid and alkaline foods. See previous tip#1055 

I ate more raw vegetables like broccoli and cherry tomatoes and drank less alcohol. I hydrated myself constantly with my trusty water bottle by my side. And when I ate baked potatoes I ate the skins which contained the most nutrients. I’ve learned that our bodies need to have more alkaline forming foods like raw vegetables and less of acid forming foods like meat products, dairy and refined carbohydrates (white bread, white rice, cookies, snack foods). This means reducing so much of the foods I love and yet I already know my body and mind has been benefiting from my new diet and lifestyle changes over recent years. See related tips at bottom of this post.

This was the first food chart that helped me get started learning about acid & alkaline foods (click to enlarge)

Certain foods cause inflammation in the body and this is the working theory I’m following for a primary trigger for my depression symptoms. What has been helping me is studying Acid & Alkaline Food charts online. There are so many and not all consistent. So I’ll be following the definitive food chart from the book The Acid Alkaline Food Guide by Dr. Susan E. Brown and Larry Trivieri, Jr. It’s a small, compact book and you can see a sample of the foods at this link: Alkaline Food List

“No disease, including cancer,
can exist in an alkaline environment.” 
Dr. Otto Warburg,
1931 Nobel Prize winner for cancer discovery

I often think about this quote I shared in the previous post tip#1055 and have realized that an alkaline diet is where I’m headed. I also wrote about how Dr. John McDougall (see video interview) enthusiastically talked about The Martian movie where Matt Damon’s character survived on a diet of rations, supplements, water and potatoes. This was a good excuse to rewatch one of my favourite films on perseverance, resourcefulness and indestructible optimism!

The Martian (2015)

The science fiction film, The Martian, is about astronaut, Mark Watney (Matt Damon) left for dead on Mars by his crew and must use his wits and training to survive. This highly engaging and entertaining movie also inspires for demonstrating the inner strength of one man and the vast support from the people of Earth. Great performance by Damon along with a diverse cast including Jessica Chastain, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jeff Daniels, Benedict Wong, Kristen Wiig and Donald Glover. See: movie trailer 

In the film Watney is able to survive by creating water and growing potatoes which has been praised by the scientific community for its accuracy in reality. Potatoes offer a surprising amount of nutrition. They are high in vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, iodine and some B vitamins. However sweet potatoes would have been a better choice with its added nutrients and alkaline levels as suggested in this article: Can You Survive Just On Potatoes… Like In ‘The Martian’?

The Martian is on my list of Top 20 Inspiring Movies for Indestructible Optimism and now it is a favourite film for inspiring me to learn and understand more about the benefits of nutritional alkaline foods. This hopefully will continue to help me reduce clinical depression symptoms and increase my health & wellness. The even greater picture is claims that diseases like cancer, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis cannot survive in an alkaline environment. This is exciting stuff and will continue to share my experiences and research on this blog.

Whatever challenges you face with your mental health and wellness remember that there is an abundance of coping tools and strategies waiting for you to discover. Find something you resonate with and then feed your mind with articles, books and success stories on the subject. And for inspiration and motivation find exciting movie heroes to empower your passion, perseverance and indestructible optimism to keep moving forward!

Related Tips:
Tip#880: How Movies Help You Visualize Success, Part 2 - Health & Wellness - Fantastic Voyage
Tip#945: Believe in Miracles, Part 2 - Health & Wellness - Miracles from Heaven 
Tip#1055: Believe in Miracles, Part 3 - Health & Wellness - What the Health 
Tip#1052: Coping Tools & Methods for Mental Health, Part 1 – Baby Driver
Tip#1056: Coping Tools & Methods for Mental Health, Part 2 – Alkaline Foods – The Martian



MOVIES & MENTAL HEALTH INTERVIEW:
Listen to Emmanuel’s interview on the podcast show THIS MOVIE’S ABOUT YOU with Thom Ernst (former host of TVO’s Saturday Night at the Movies) and Louis Marrone. Emmanuel discusses his ideal double bill of GROUNDHOG DAY and PLEASANTVILLE and how they helped him cope with clinical depression. Click here

DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE THAT NEEDS CHEERING UP?
SEND THEM THIS: Uplifting Movie Montage produced by Emmanuel Lopez!

LISTEN TO EMMANUEL’S CBC RADIO INTERVIEW on
MOVIE MESSAGES OF HOPE: The Fresh Air Show

Remember How Movies Can Help You:
A) Entertain & Escape
B) Re-energize & Release
C) Inspiration & Motivation



Emmanuel Lopez-Motivatorman
Motivational Speaker on Health & Wellness
Discover How Movies Inspire Resilience & Indestructible Optimism
See website: www.motivatorman.com
 
© Emmanuel Lopez 2017

Tip#1055: Believe in Miracles, Part 3 - Health & Wellness - What the Health

Enjoying a freshly juiced carrot, apple, ginger juice while soaking up the summer sun's vitamin D!

I have a close friend who has an amazing success story for curing her son of autism early in his life. Despite doctors saying he would be limited and not be able to finish the 8th grade she remained defiant, optimistic and persevered in her research and discovered that a diet change was a huge key to helping her son. By eliminating carbonated drinks, processed meats, dairy and more, he is today a healthy, vibrant (and very tall!) young man successfully graduated from high school.

This reminded me of my own journey in focusing on a dietary change to help me eliminate clinical depression symptoms. Key words that were coming up were inflammation and autoimmune disease. Thankfully I’ve been finding success over the past two years thanks to my own research on gut health and gut/brain connections by Dr. Ax and Dr. David Perlmutter (see tip#880 and tip#945). What was encouraging was a timely episode of TV Ontario’s The Agenda Show where a young woman and her skeptical father both experienced profound improvements to their clinical depression based in anti-inflammatory, plant-based diets.

See: The Agenda - Digesting Depression

Recently I wanted to help a family member deal with her chronic rheumatoid arthritis and was surprised to discover another connection to plant-based diets by Dr. David McDougall. The success stories I’ve read are inspiring and he claims rheumatoid arthritis is 100% curable with a plant-based diet. Read examples…

• See: Juliea Baker: Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis
• See: Diet: Only Hope for Arthritis
• Highly recommend this interview: The Truth About Rheumatoid Arthritis with Dr John McDougall

“There were Australians and New Zealanders in a prisoner of war camp in Shanghai... it's well-known and documented that the people with rheumatoid arthritis in the prisoner of war camp, who lived off rice and potatoes, all got rid of their condition."

This eye-opening quote came from the video The Truth About Rheumatoid Arthritis with Dr John McDougall where he also talked about The Martian movie starring Matt Damon and enthusiastically said that his diet of water and potatoes was completely valid and demonstrates the basic nutritional benefits of a plant-based diet. And no meat products and refined carbohydrates were also essential to healing chronic diseases.

Another recommended video where The Martian movie diet is mentioned:
The Potato Cleanse with Dr. McDougall

“No disease, including cancer, 
can exist in an alkaline environment.” 
Dr. Otto Warburg, 1931 Nobel Prize winner for cancer discovery

Another key factor that kept coming up in my research was the alkaline & acidic factor. Read more: Your Body is ACIDIC. Here are Very SIMPLE WAYS TO ALKALIZE YOUR BODY– AMAZING EFFECTS! 

• Good video introduction: Top 10 Alkaline Foods You Should Be Eating Everyday
• The Acid & Alkaline Foods List: Click here

What the Health (2017)

The Netflix documentary, What the Health, is about filmmaker Kip Andersen uncovering the secret to preventing and even reversing chronic diseases (diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc.) and investigates why the nation's leading health organizations don't want people to know about it. This highly engaging film is thought-provoking and will make you question your eating lifestyle! See: movie trailer

There are emotional and inspiring stories of people with chronic diseases and overwhelming number of pills they must take. They show their wonderful transformations when they simply found the courage to change their eating habits and increased their awareness of what foods were beneficial to living a fuller, enjoyable life.

The film also provides easy steps for looking into a vegan lifestyle. At times this documentary felt like a Hollywood movie because of the mystery aspects but was also riveting because of the shocking news about what is going on in our culture about food and what is nutrition. Ultimately it inspired me to really look into a plant-based diet despite loving foods that include meat, chicken, fish, butter and other foods I love! My mental health and wellness now come first and am determined to find a healthy balance!

Hollywood movies and documentaries can help you discover inspiration, information and life lessons to help transform your health and wellness. And if you or someone close to you is suffering from a chronic illness then be open to looking at possible causes because of diet. It takes courage for lifestyle changes and you can find your own inner strengths by looking at the success stories of other people. Profound positive changes can be miracles! Find yours today!

Related Tips:
Tip#880: How Movies Help You Visualize Success, Part 2 - Health & Wellness - Fantastic Voyage 
Tip#945: Believe in Miracles, Part 2 - Health & Wellness - Miracles from Heaven



MOVIES & MENTAL HEALTH INTERVIEW:
Listen to Emmanuel’s interview on the podcast show THIS MOVIE’S ABOUT YOU with Thom Ernst (former host of TVO’s Saturday Night at the Movies) and Louis Marrone. Emmanuel discusses his ideal double bill of GROUNDHOG DAY and PLEASANTVILLE and how they helped him cope with clinical depression. Click here

DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE THAT NEEDS CHEERING UP?
SEND THEM THIS: Uplifting Movie Montage produced by Emmanuel Lopez!

LISTEN TO EMMANUEL’S CBC RADIO INTERVIEW on
MOVIE MESSAGES OF HOPE: The Fresh Air Show

Remember How Movies Can Help You:
A) Entertain & Escape
B) Re-energize & Release
C) Inspiration & Motivation



Emmanuel Lopez-Motivatorman
Motivational Speaker on Health & Wellness
Discover How Movies Inspire Resilience & Indestructible Optimism
See website: www.motivatorman.com
 
© Emmanuel Lopez 2017