The Five Things He Won't Put on His Plate

The Five Things He Won't Put on His Plate~

At 50, Axay Shah wasn't sick. No disease, no diagnosis, nothing a doctor could point to. He just didn't have the energy he'd had in his 30s and 40s, and when he asked his doctor about it, the answer was basically: you're aging, this is normal, accept it. He didn't accept it.

Sixteen years later, at 67, he's run eight Los Angeles marathons, takes no medication, and his lab numbers are better than most people half his age. He also wrote a bestselling book, In Nature We Trust, that's been catalogued by the Library of Congress. All of it traces back to one observation he made when he started digging into why he felt the way he did: every species on the planet eats its food raw, except humans.

He started transitioning to a raw, plant-based diet the way most of us actually do things, imperfectly. For the first year and a half, he thought granola bars were healthy food and ate them alongside his morning green tea. Eventually he realized they were still processed and swapped them for almonds and walnuts. He did the same slow swap with pasta sauce, trading it for homemade salsa and a green chutney. That's the part I want you to notice: even someone who eventually wrote the book on this didn't get it right on day one. He got it right by paying attention and adjusting as he went.

His framework for what to eat is refreshingly simple: if it wasn't made by nature, it doesn't go on his plate. He names five things specifically, what he calls the slow poisons:

Sugar. Not naturally occurring in nature the way we consume it. Manufactured, concentrated, and, as he put it, impossible for the body to absorb at the rate we throw it in.

Refined salt. He still uses Himalayan salt in small amounts, because that's something nature made and we simply grind up. It's the industrially processed version he avoids.

Refined oils. His test: if the oil sitting on your skin makes you want to wash it off immediately, imagine what it's doing to the inside of your body. He still eats the oil naturally present in olives, almonds, and avocado.

Dairy. This one he holds a strong personal opinion about, human beings are the only species that drinks the milk of another species, though he's clear that everyone has to make their own call here based on their own body and sourcing.

Grains. His reasoning: raw plant food is alkaline, our blood is alkaline, and cooked food, nearly all of it, is acidic. He also points out that grains and animal products are essentially devoid of the dietary fiber that raw fruits and vegetables are loaded with.

Here's the thing that struck me most, though. Axay talked about energy the way some people talk about money, as the resource that everything else depends on. Twenty to twenty-five percent of your energy goes to running your brain even if you're sitting on the couch doing nothing. If you're running on empty, your body simply won't hand your brain what it needs, and that shows up as brain fog, low mood, no creativity, no patience, long before it shows up as a diagnosis.

When he had a brief stretch of pre-diabetes even while eating mostly raw, he didn't reach for medication. He looked at what else might be adding sugar to his system and realized it was the daily glass of red wine he'd believed was heart-healthy. He cut it. His numbers came back down. His rule, as he put it: "There is no rule. You make your own rule. This is your life." Follow the data your own body gives you, not the marketing.

And if you're thinking this all sounds extreme, he'd tell you not to start there either. His advice for beginners is almost identical to what we teach here: don't dive into the deep end. Go from 20% real food to 25%, then 30%. Progress, not perfection, one plate at a time.

You are not alone. Healing is possible. Your story matters.

You’re not broken, and you’re never alone. If you want ongoing encouragement, practical resources, or a supportive community of women walking this path, join my email list or grab our book, Real Food Recovery: If Food Isn’t the Answer, What’s the Question? And catch our weekly podcast here!

You are strong. You can do this. And we’ll walk it together.

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