Potentially Life-Changing Nutritional Talks

On The UK's Leading Detox Retreat

One major aspect of the retreats are the nutritional talks given by Dao. The emphasis in these hour-long sessions with the group is to provide useful examples of many of the major dietary issues today. A deliberate emphasis is put upon the practical realities of food.

The current method of dietary advise is often a list of restrictive 'should's' which leave one feeling caged in and therefore rebellious - usually leading to the urge to break all the rules and eat it anyway. This is due to a diminishing sense of options, without which, irreverent autonomy starts to rule.

Therefore the talks are styled to give you a greater sense of choice. A simple, layman's biological approach to what happens to your various bodily systems when foods are eaten and the life that you can expect while existing on them. Knowing why these things happen biologically often generates sufficient empathy for the body, so as to want to respect it. There is not a "shouldn't" in there. More of a sense of cause & effect.

This page is a simple rendition of the subjects covered.

Alternatively, follow this link to the more global and ecological parts of the talks.

Pages relating directly to condition such as IBS, Crohn's and Candida can be found here and here

Day 1

The first step is to help clients see how the various organs in our digestive system function.

Their individual chemistry and roles tell us much about the various nutrients they are built to digest, and therefore that which the body needs. Their relative positions also indicate sequences of chemical and bacterial actions that are best adhered to in order to fulfil optimal digestion.

See the Digestion page for further details on this.

Day 2

Secondly, the digestive bacteria is highlighted for the essential role that they play. The naturally leads to a discussion of the nature of bacteria itself throughout our bodies, and to look at the immune system differently; IE: as a bacterial management system, not a defence system. More on bacteria here.

Also mentioned here is how the old 'mucoid plaque' argument has caused more questions (and problems) than it has solved, as it clearly is NOT true - as modern investigation techniques demonstrate.

Day 3

Once the dynamic physical and bacterial flow is understood, we can start to look at how we can feed our gut, rather than just our palate. This talk covers why food combining is important, as well as how cooking foods affects their digestibility.

Understanding the experiential impact of cooking and combining foods helps us to understand why so many cultures around the world have adopted these unfortunate practices.

Day 4

There are many reasons why we eat food, and few of us do so for nutritional reasons.

Here we begin to bring in other elements about diet, get to grips with the difference between the body's cellular calls, and the confused way in which we answer them.

Untangling this web clarifies nutritionally confusing issues and compares them to biological data.

Cholesterol is the body's first line of defence, so why is it being over-produced in the system?
Why are so many cancers Oestrogen dependent, when Oestrogen is a vital hormone in us?
Why is there such a fuzzy relationship between fat in our food, and fat on the body?
Why have the most biologically important nutrients (Sugars, Salts, Fats) become known as national killers?

Day 5

Looking into laymen nutritional terms to understand where much of our confusion comes from, and helps to identify where many food myths come from - some often supported by well-meaning nutritionists.

Proteins are found everywhere in the plant and animal world, so how can we lack them ?
Calcium is also abundant in nature, how can we need supplementation, especially when we are consuming so much cow's milk.

Day 6

An attempt at conscious transition to a more deliberate diet is advised, and how to put all this information into a 'how to' format. Not too fast a leap, as they are often unsuccessful, but a steady, sustainable, advance towards eating what we want to eat for our whole systems, not just for our taste buds - and also, not just for our bodies. A wholistic approach to food.

Descriptions of how to break the week's fast, and how to remain guided and fair to oneself in the weeks to come, especially around family & friends who have not gone through this enlightening experience.