We live in an age in which nutrition has become a complicated choice, linked to reflections on various theories, myths, and mutually contradictory health advice. Looking for the diet that works for us and makes us feel and look good, we tend to try vegetarianism, veganity, gluten-free or lactose-free eating, or just starve to detoxify our body. In this complicated case, it is not always clear whether we follow blindly the trends or make a truly informed choice of a well-informed person.
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We meet Philip Harmandjiev – owner of the Damianitza Winery and the symbiotic Chiflik Livadi Farm. He is truly dedicated to his cause for pure food, and never refuses to be useful in meaningful endeavors that support this idea. For him, modern farming follows the natural nature of animals and offers new patterns of thinking. It is inspired by the book by American farmer Joel Salatin, who develops his theory in practice on his own farm in Virginia. This is what has been happening for several years now in Livadi farmhouse. Besides, Philip is an excellent chef, he experiments not only in his own kitchen but also in various forums, which he uses as a platform to share his experience. Here, which, he says, are the foundations of healthy eating.

How do we choose the right diet for us among all healthy eating concepts?

Firstly, it is important to note that the way people eat in different parts of the world is different because of the fact that Eskimos, Africans, Asians or Europeans live in a different environment and have different nutritional needs. There is no universal solution that works equally well for all.

Still, I would like to point out several factors that we should consider when choosing the food we eat. The first basic rule we have to follow is listening to our own body. If, when a person eats meat and then feels he does not feel good, then I will understand his decision not to eat this product. But if the reason for stopping his consumption is that he is opposed to killing animals for food, this is a political type of vegetarianism against which I am against. Just because in this way a person really hurts his body. This becomes a serious problem, especially when this choice concerns the growth of children of such people.

Death, seen as something terrible and bad in principle, is an urban concept. It is often used as a tool for controlling people while it is actually as natural as the birth itself. In the life of a village, in the nature, something constantly dies and is born. And death does not give the same meaning. Some cultures are even celebrated as an event that gives rise to something better. This, I think, is the better way to look at death.

How do we choose the products to consume?

Here I will outline the second rule in healthy eating, quoting one of the world’s largest nutritionists Michael Polan. He says, “Do not eat what your grandmother would not recognize as food!”

Today we do not consume natural products, but products of food science. Technologies in the food industry after World War II have developed to the point where food giants spew out a variety and variety of products that can be delicious and at the same time very harmful. In nature, usually delicious things are good for our health, and those that our receptors do not approve of, are in most cases harmful and poisonous to the body.

Looking back in history, for 14,000 years, people live and feed on agriculture. The human organism is accustomed to traditionally grown, eco-friendly, unprocessed and unaltered, real food. Approximately 50 years ago, the production of technological foods, which contain additives, preservatives, colorants, hormones, antibiotics, chemicals, with which our body has historically not got used to handling and staying healthy, has entered. It takes a long time to make clear which of these foods the human organism will definitely reject and which one will adapt in an evolutionary way. That is why many of the most severe, incurable diseases today are modern diseases that were previously unknown to mankind. Generations who have eaten pure food have not heard of cancer, autism, Crohn’s disease, Hashimoto, a number of allergies and diseases that are today a scourge of modern society.

Of course, there are other factors related to the contaminated environment we live in today, but food is a fundamental part of what affects our health.

What do you consider to exclude different food groups from the menu, such as those containing lactose and gluten?

Here we come to the microbial of the human organism. In our body we live ten times more bacteria than the cells in it. Useful microbes in our body help in the production of certain vitamins, food digestion and absorption of nutrients. Thus the microbial of man turns out to be the key to his good physical and mental health. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride’s research on gastro-psychological syndrome (GAPS) demonstrates the relationship between specific digestive disorders with conditions such as schizophrenia, autism, depression, etc. The main problem with them is so-called “permeable intestines”, which have lost their normal bacterial layer and are missing toxins from the food in the blood, and hence the brain. It develops various mental disorders.

Treatment in these cases goes through the healing of the intestine. And there are about 30000 different types of microbes that we need to take care of through proper nutrition. Food restrictions or the intake of toxic food would fuel bad, pathogenic bacteria in the gut, and this would lead to various diseases. Difficult absorption of lactose or gluten occurs when there is an imbalance in the organism’s microbial.

No matter the symptoms, however, we can consolidate universal truths such as the fact that we do not need fast carbohydrates and pure sugars.

We need to feed the good bacteria in our bodies, and they feed on good, probiotic food. If we eat things that they do not like, they have a different kind of pathogenic bacteria that digests them, with which these bad germs develop and start to dominate, and that is bad for our health.

How do animal products that have antibiotics affect health?

The foods that keep our microbial in good condition are not those that do not spoil for a long time. Meat and products with residual, sub-therapeutic antibiotic doses kill our microbe. Part of the good bacteria in our body die, moreover, he becomes resistant to the type of antibiotic that, if he does, will not work. Feeding meat and pasture products is the way to eat pure animal food. Moreover, when an animal is grown in this maximally natural way, it provides more vitamins and minerals than the earth and nature. Adoption of pure animal products on this line also helps for better metabolism in humans.

How to check our food?

By making the effort to check who and how it was produced!

In a capitalist society in which we live today, money is more important than people. The development of food technologies is a priority. They think of all kinds of ways of feeding and breeding animals, not seen in nature. Low cost of products and high margin in sales. The quality and usefulness of food on the market is not a concern of the clerk, the industrial producer, the big supermarket or the pharmaceutical companies. In this situation, each of us must take care of our health by choosing the right, clean food. As we research and look for recommendations for everything we buy and consume, we also need to do it for our food.

When do people really start to take care of what they eat?

Unfortunately, in the face of a serious illness, or when children are born and somehow their priorities and worldview change. Then they revisit what they eat and do more to get clean food.

Those who realize the importance of quality food do not say they have no time to explore and find it or that it is too expensive for them. If we invest the money from all the food supplements that we take on tablets in good food, it turns out that clean food is not that expensive. As Michael Polan advises: “Buy high quality products and eat less of them. Choose quality in terms of quantity and good experience of calories. ”

I think everything is a matter of motivation and priorities.

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