The Italian Reset Diet. Dario Polisano

fish, seasonal fruits, ancient whole grains and much more.

      My method does not want to replace conventional medicine, but it should work side by side with it, guaranteeing, at worst, an improvement in the patient’s quality of life and a reduction in drug treatments, and at best—something not rare if an illness is caught in time—complete healing.

      INTRODUCTION

      My journey as a therapist began in early 2011. At the time, I was a young man studying Pharmaceutical Science at the University of Messina. I was then, and still am, a great sportsman, but back then I did not have my current professional knowledge.

      As often happens with athletes, I made serious nutrition mistakes. I trained four times a week to gain muscle mass, and was a big consumer of high-quality protein, derived from milk and cheeses: caseins. I drank more than 1 liter of milk every 24 hours. As a matter of fact, thanks also to my genetic predisposition to building lean muscle mass instead of fat, I soon saw results: 10 kg (approx. 22 lbs.) of lean muscle mass in six months, impressive numbers in the eyes of any personal trainer. Unfortunately, the muscle mass came with my first organic disorders.

      One evening, around 10 pm in January 2011, I was sleeping at home in Messina, when I suddenly woke up to a violent intestinal colic. Alone, frightened and panicking, I did not even think to go to the emergency room; I remained there for hours with that devastating intestinal colic. Early the next morning, around 4 am, exhausted by the pain, I called my parents, who, frightened, rushed over almost immediately from Caltanisetta. It took a two-and-a-half-hour car ride for them to arrive, and they immediately took me to the city hospital’s ER while I was almost unconscious from the pain and violent spasms. The health protocol applied there was symptomatic treatment: painkillers, antispasmodic drugs and antacids.

      From that day on, the attacks hit me weekly and grew more and more intense: toxic states characterized by nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. At night I slept pretty poorly; my nasal turbinates were always irritated and swollen, and my doctors were pushing for a surgical solution. Plus, I had cervical pain and vertigo all the time. No one could explain to me the cause of my ailments, and oddly, we talked about everything except for nutrition.

      Despite these debilitating issues, in March 2013 I earned my degree and decided to take six months off before continuing my studies. I always thank fate and my tenacity for taking that free time, which I used in the best possible way—by trying to understand and resolve my health issues. Clicking away at my mouse, my battle to take back control of my health began with the discovery of Dr. Piero Mozzi’s diet. In just a few days, I regained control of my health almost 100%: no more vertigo, no more toxic states, an exponential increase in muscle strength (which had been previously diminishing), and the total disappearance of my nasal swelling and migraines. I came to understand the great power of food, this secret medicine no one had ever told me about, and that I myself, a fanatical Pharmaceutical Science student, had ignored. The only remaining problem was my irritable bowel syndrome, which was somewhat under control without any real colics, but ever-present with the changing of the seasons, or any type of mental or physical stress. I began a new course of studies in “Food Science and Human Nutrition” as passionately as a fanatic of the blood type diet, but the desire for knowledge inspired me to search for all those food molecules that led people, especially one’s loved ones, to a bad state of health.

      I embarked on an endless search of all existing diets: macrobiotic, vegan, Kousmine, paleo, etc. I asked questions to people on particular diets in order to understand the various health issues they had resolved. I found myself with thousands of pieces of data to cross-reference where people, though on very different diets, managed to resolve their problems anyway. What was the least common denominator that allowed these people to resolve the same issues with totally different diets? Despite my study work load, and the time I needed to devote to it, I still managed to find the time for my research: nighttime. I will admit that I went a bit overboard for a while, but I noticed that by eating correctly, I was able to overcome any stressful event. I graduated in 2015 and started to work, and through gathering accurate medical histories on my patients, the data became clearer.

      CHAPTER 1

      THE “HEALTHY” MEDITERRANEAN DIET

      Premise

      The end of the Second World War was a very important and significant event in the history of mankind. Other than redistributing the population map of the West, in the early post-war period (around 1950), a true food revolution began to put strain on our bodies. The human body functions like a well-oiled machine, but when atypical dietetic conditions occur, it needs time to make the best of these new conditions. Yes, our genes do not mutate easily; it takes thousands of years for significant change in the human genome. When we input something in our immune system that is not recognized, the body does not work properly. It is up to us, maybe with the help of a nutritional biologist, to bring everything back to normal.

      The consequences of this food revolution presented themselves almost immediately. In fact, from 1950 to today, numerous new pathologies have appeared, and they are putting the best researchers in the pharmaceutical field to the test. We used to fight bacterial infections; today these are gone, making way for metabolic, tumoral and autoimmune diseases, whose causes they say are unknown. To name just a few: type 2 diabetes is affecting 246 million people, and in Italy alone there are 6 million patients with thyroid dysfunctions. In addition, there are 3 million people with multiple sclerosis, and 1,000 tumor cases are discovered in Italy every day. We could go on and on with these dismal statistics, but better to stop and make sense of it all. Despite these frightening data, we continue to believe that medicine has taken several steps forward and that life-spans have increased; honestly, I do not believe that it is anyone’s dream to live to 85 if it means being a depressive slave to ten medications, with fewer organs than before and with an inability to walk autonomously. Do you? I really do not think so.

      Even today, we continue to ignore the close connection between the explosion of illnesses and the aforementioned food revolution—on the contrary, we are constantly invited to follow the “healthy Mediterranean Diet,” recognized ever since 2010 as being on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. The consequences of these facts are devastating: I find myself in the office writing up food regimens for children with fatty livers, and rebalancing the bodies of adolescents dealing with the onset of lupus erythematosus, psoriasis, and various autoimmune diseases. What saddens me the most is that every day, when I ask new patients about their medical history upon their preliminary analysis, many of them sit down and say that there is nothing wrong with them. Considering their (maybe even a tad advanced) age, I find myself insisting they reflect on their condition:

      Me: “Ma’am/Sir, are you sure you do not have any ailments?”

      Patient: “No, doctor, I’m sure.”

      Not convinced, I ask the customary question:

      Me: “Are you on any medication?”

      Patient: “I only take a pill for my diabetes and one for my blood pressure.”

      It is moments like these that clue me into how much the average Westerner is used to relying on drugs, and to being in constant contact with diseases—so much so that they are considered a part of us. More depressing still, after reprimanding them for neglecting their own health, I often hear: “Doctor, if you call these illnesses…” or “I take the pill and I’m fine.” It is then that I understand that it is not really their fault, but rather society’s. Society does not facilitate the spreading of health awareness. Eastern populations, though not as technologically advanced, have an inherent respect for their own bodies. In Japan and India, for example, they live using natural treatment methods for their bodies and minds, which are methods available to all, and that are inculcated in them since childhood. Health education and respect for our own bodies are the really important things in this life. We should consider ourselves lucky that our conscience or spirit, (depending on one’s beliefs), came to be in a healthy body. And yet what do we do instead? We destroy our cells with the crap that is offered us every day. Adults, with their food miseducation—but even worse, with their arrogant assumption that they are perfectly able to safeguard their children’s health—convince their kids that the products