The Right Diet For You!

We’ve all seen it.  A friend tries a new diet.  She loses all sorts of weight, finds renewed energy and zest for life.  At her urging you try it and nothing, or worse yet, you gain weight and feel more tired than ever.  What gives?

I recently found a very good answer to this question after many years of searching.  It’s called your disease type.  Traditional healing systems see disease as an expression of imbalance.  Thus, by eating and caring for yourself in a way that keeps you in balance, you stay healthy. 

There are eight disease types, or ways in which your body can go out of balance.  Everyone has one of them.  Simply put, there are eight ways of eating and taking care of you.  Only one of them is right for you.   This explains why the diet that works for your friend doesn’t work for you.  She just happened to find a diet that keeps her disease type in balance.

How Fast Does Your Motor Run?

One clue to your disease type is the speed of your metabolism.  There are three metabolic types, catabolic, anabolic and mixed.   

• Catabolic types have a speedy metabolism.  They need adequate protein in their diet to slow their metabolic rate, maintain their body structure and feel grounded and centered.  These types are often hungry soon after eating or like to graze throughout the day.  They generally do not do well as vegetarians. 
• Anabolic types have a slow metabolism.  They often easily skip meals.  Too much protein makes them feel heavy or gain weight.  They are often natural vegetarians.
• Mixed is exactly that, a blend of the disease types that change with the season. 

The Eight Disease Types

The three metabolic types break down into the eight disease types or ways of going out of balance.  Each disease type has acupuncture meridians that tend to go out of balance, a tissue type and season that tends to be affected.

Disease Type	Metabolic Type	Meridians	Tissue	Season
Heat	Catabolic	Heart/Small Intestine	Bone	Summer
Cold	Anabolic	Brain/Triple Warmer/Pericardium	Blood	Winter
Light	Catabolic	Gall Bladder/Governing Vessel	Bone Marrow	Late Summer/Fall
Heavy	Anabolic	Liver/Conception Vessel	Fat	Late Winter/Spring
Dry	Catabolic	Stomach/Spleen	Muscle	Fall
Oily	Anabolic	Kidney/Bladder	Reproductive	Late Winter/Spring
Mixed	Mixed	Lungs/Large Intestine	Lymph	-----
Karmic	Mixed	------	------	-----

It’s a Matter of Taste

A key to remaining balanced is eating the right tastes for your disease type.  Each of the six tastes, sweet, sour, salty, bitter, astringent and pungent, has a unique effect on you.  In addition to diet self-care practices such as homeopathy, acupressure, hatha yoga postures, breathing practices, aromatherapy, mantra and yantra can bring further balance your disease type.

Taste	Metabolic Action	Other Actions	Example
Sweet	Anabolic	Nourishing, builds structure	Pumpkin, lettuce, milk, butter, most grains and meats
Sour	Anabolic	Promotes Digestion and Elimination	pickles, sauerkraut, miso, citrus and strawberries
Salty	Anabolic	Cooling, increasing fluid flow (cleansing), stimulating digestion	Seaweeds and salt
Bitter	Catabolic	Detoxifying and lightening	Kale, arugula, endive and dandelion
Astringent	Catabolic	Drying, contracting	Spinach, celery, green tea, chicken and fish
Pungent	Catabolic	Warming	Cinnamon, turmeric, basil, oregano, radishes, quinoa and tempeh.

A System of Self-Care with Many Roots

Disease type brings together elements of many healing traditions including Ayurveda, Vedic astrology, acupuncture, homeopathy, yoga and aromatherapy, yet does so in its own way.  The founder of this method studied these methods quite deeply and drew new conclusions.  The result is a highly predictive and effective method to health and happiness that does not always conform to the traditions from which it arises.  For instance, the way of determining proper diet in traditional Ayurveda is different from disease type and may yield a different result than disease type.

How is Disease Type Determined?

Disease type is a human archetype, or pattern noted throughout human history.  It is determined by the configuration of the planets at the time and place you are born.  This goes to show just how much we are affected by energies around us.  Disease type sometimes can be determined by medical history or pulse-taking.  It is most easily and accurately determined by your birth information. 

Learn Your Disease Type

Dr. Klug is offering consultations in disease type.  Contact our office (left sidebar) to schedule.  Have your date of birth, exact time from your birth records and place of birth ready. 

This article appeared in Dr. Klug's monthly column, The Doctor Cooks, in the March 2008 issue of the Kansas City Wellness Magazine, www.kcwellnessmagazine.com.