The Preventing Phase Diet is the standard healing diet that most people can easily follow and adhere to the guidelines. The people who cannot follow the healing phase diet and stabilizing phase diet can also start with the Preventing Phase Diet (Phase 3) to restore health. You should follow this diet for your whole life for the prevention of diseases. That’s why it is named as preventing phase diet.
Preventing Phase Diet (Phase 3) provides optimum nourishment to your body and promote health and wellbeing. It also helps to prevent almost every disease and improves the quality of life in genetic disorders. It is the third phase of the Healing Diet. It alleviates inflammation and accelerates the healing process in the body.
Eating good food is not enough for good health. You also need to eat a balanced diet. It is a balanced diet plan. Everyone can follow this diet plan, regardless of age, gender, and health condition.
Prerequisite
You should adopt the phase 3 diet after completing the following 3 steps:
- Fasting for Healing.
- Healing Phase Diet (Phase 1).
- Stabilizing Phase Diet (Phase 2).
If you are healthy, you do not need to follow the second and third steps to start this diet. Just remember to do initial fasting before starting this diet. Learn more: Fasting for Healing.
Preventing Phase Diet Rules
Many rules are similar to the Phase 1 and 2 diets, with a few exceptions. Here are the basic rules of the Preventing Phase Diet (Phase 3):
- Plant-Based Food: Choose more plant-based foods. Choose different foods with different colours and variety from each food groups and their sub-groups.
- Food Groups: You can take all types of fruits, vegetables, fresh herbs, nuts, seeds, intact whole grains, legumes, and spices.
- Intact Whole Grains & Whole Grain Flour: Choose intact whole grains most of the time. More than 75% of grains’ servings should be from intact whole grains. The servings of food made of whole-grain flour should be less than 25%. So, you can also eat homemade whole grain chapati, homemade whole grain bread, or homemade whole grain flatbread, but in a limited quantity (1/4th servings of total recommended grains). Limit intake of wholemeal bread (especially yeast bread). Avoid white bread and products made of refined grains such as white rice, white pasta, refined flour flatbread or chapati, other products made of refined flour etc.
- Sunlight: In our option, sunlight is also a food group because it is essential for vitamin D formation and reactivating antioxidants, e.g., CoQ10 (combined with circulating chlorophyll obtained by eating greens). According to Nature Cure, it also has healing benefits. Take sunbath for 30-45 minutes daily. Expose both sides of your body – front and back each for at least 15 minutes. Exposing the whole body to sunlight is recommended. If it is not possible, expose at least 60% of your body to sunlight. You can wear white cotton clothes or shorts while taking a sunbath.
- 8-10 Hours Eating Window: Eat your food at a fixed time and within an 8-10 hours eating window. The eating window should be 8 to 10 hours and between 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. Do not eat and drink anything after 7:00 pm. Also, avoid the water after 7:00 pm unless you have a strong thirst. The appetite rule applies if you feel appetite outside the eating window.
- Appetite Rule: Do not suppress appetite. You can eat regardless of the time if you are hungry. You can take fresh fruits and non-starchy vegetables. You should not eat grains, legumes, starchy vegetables, nuts, seeds and other foods outside the eating window.
- Chew Well: Be watchful while chewing, enjoy chewing, and feel the taste with each chew. Chew with a calm mind. Do not be in a hurry. Meditate on eating. Make chewing a meditation. If you are using dentures or having difficulty in chewing, then put food in a food processor or blender to make its paste, smoothie, or puree. Eat the paste, puree, or smoothie. You can also add some water for easier consumption.
- Limit Cooking: Eat fruits and non-starchy vegetables in fresh and uncooked form. 60% of vegetables’ servings should be from non-starchy vegetables. You can cook starchy vegetables, grains and legumes. Use the recommended cooking methods described in the vegetable guide, whole grain guide, and legume guide.
- Limit Salt: The total sodium from added salt should not exceed 1000 mg per day. Your goal should be taking less salt and limited to ½ teaspoon (2.5 grams) a day. Avoid high salt foods. However, this rule is not strictly applicable. This rule is advisory and highly recommended. Your salt intake should never exceed 1 teaspoon (5 grams) a day with the condition that you must eat the recommended amount of fruits, vegetables and fresh green herbs. You can use spices for making food tastier instead of salt. Check the spices guide for more details about the recommended spices.
- Limit Added Sugar: You should not take added sugar most days in the week. Avoid artificial sweeteners. However, you can take raw sugar, jaggery, brown sugar (unrefined sugar, also called Sharkara) in a limited amount (20 grams per week). The total sugar intake from added sugar should not exceed 20 grams per week. Alternatively, you can eat fruits.
- Take Vitamin B12: Take at least 25 mcg of Cyanocobalamin twice daily. Generally, 100 mcg tablets are easily available. So, you can take a quarter (1/4) of tablet 2 times a day. Check Vitamin B12 Guide for more details.
- No Oil: You should not use any kind of oils. Cooking is possible without oil. Check the vegetable guide, whole grain guide, and legume guide to learn oil-free cooking methods.
- No Animal Food: Avoid all animal foods, including eggs, meat, fish, and all dairy products (milk, butter, cheese, yogurt, etc.).
- No Processed Food: Avoid all types of processed food. In our opinion, professed foods are defined as food prepared outside our recommended cooking guidelines (oil-free cooking). Check the recommended cooking methods here: Vegetable Guide, Legume Guide and Whole Grain Guide. It also includes foods high in salt and fats, overcooked foods, fried foods (paratha, French fries, fast foods, etc.), biscuits, cookies, crackers, crisps, commercial bread, commercial rolls, pies, etc.
- No Yeast Containing Food: Avoid or limit any food containing yeast, e.g., baker’s yeast, brewer’s yeast, nutritional yeast, malt (malt syrup or extract), etc. The common examples include bread, beer, wine, ciders, candies, kombucha, soy sauce, miso, etc.
- Fasting: Do not take anything except water till 6:00 pm for a day every week. Choose the same day for fasting every week. Take only salad at dinner (at 6:00 pm). Children should only skip breakfast and can start eating in the afternoon. Learn more: Fasting for Healing.
- Exercise: Exercise for at least 30 minutes a day. Involve in physical activities at least for 120 minutes daily. Thirty minutes of exercise and 120 minutes of daily involvement in physical activities (e.g., playing) are mandatory. In total, you should be physically active for about 2.5 hours daily.
- Massage: You should have a full-body massage (with oil) once a week.
- Gratitude meditation: Gratitude meditation is to express your gratitude and thankfulness to Nature. When you are doing this, you should have a smile on your face and a feeling of happiness inside. Even you may not be happy but pretend and teach your body and mind to feel happiness. You should do it immediately after waking up in the morning, before and after eating food and before doing breathing meditation at night.
- Breathing meditation: Watch your breathing – inhale and exhale, with closed eyes and feeling of happiness and smile on the face. Just watch, do not entangle with it. Watching is key. Do it 2-3 minutes immediately after waking up (after gratitude meditation), 20 minutes in the morning after getting a shower, and 15 minutes before sleeping at bedtime (after gratitude meditation).
Recommended Timings
In this phase, you can eat in the following way:
| Timings | Children | Adults |
| 8:00 AM | Whole grains + vegetables + nuts or seeds or plant-based milk | Green Herbs’ Smoothie (optional) |
| 10:00 AM | Fruits (group 1 and 2) | Fruits (group 1 and 2) |
| 1:00 PM | Vegetable Salad + Fresh Herbs + Whole Grains + Legumes | Vegetable Salad + Fresh Herbs + Whole Grains + Legumes |
| 4:00 PM | Fruits (from Group 3 or 4) | Fruits (from Group 3 or 4) |
| 6:00 PM | Vegetable Salad + Whole Grains + Cooked Vegetables +/- Vegetable Soup (optional) | Vegetable Salad + Whole Grains + Cooked Vegetables +/- Vegetable Soup (optional) |
Early Morning
Recommended Timings: 7:30 am to 9:00 am
Food Type
| Children | Whole grains + vegetables + nuts or seeds or plant-based milk |
| Adults | Green Herbs’ Smoothie (optional) |
There are slight variations in the recommendations for children and adults in the Preventing Phase Diet. Children should also have 1/3rd of their whole grains’ servings in the morning. For adults, they can take either Green Herbs’ Smoothie or nothing.
Children
Children should also eat whole grains along with vegetables in the morning. The breakfast should provide about 1/3rd of their daily calories needs. You should serve breakfast to children with three major components:
- Intact whole grains.
- Vegetables (raw or cooked).
- Soaked nuts or seeds or plant-based milk (only one of these options). Check nuts’ guide and seeds’ guide to learn about the recommended amount.
Examples:
Most recommended examples: It means you should use intact whole grains instead of food made of whole-grain flour. You should use intact whole grains at least four days a week for preparing children’s breakfast.
- Cooked quinoa with steamed vegetables and soaked walnuts, almonds and pumpkin seeds.
- Porridge cooked in plant-based milk with steamed vegetables.
- Oats pulao with cashew cream.
- Millet (choose any type) vegetable pulao with soaked nuts and seeds.
- Brown rice (or wild rice) vegetable pulao with soaked nuts and seeds.
Acceptable Examples: It means you can use a meal prepared from whole grain flour.
- Cooked vegetables with homemade chapati (made from whole grain flour kneaded with seeds and nut flour – flaxseed or almond meal).
- Homemade whole grain chapati with cooked vegetable and almond milk or soaked nuts.
- Flaxseed and sesame seed whole grain flour chapati along with cooked vegetables.
- Vegetable stuffed chapati with homemade almond butter, peanut yogurt, tahini, or cashew cream mixed with tomato sauce.
- Homemade whole grain wrap with steamed vegetables and almond butter.
There can be several examples. You should use your creativity to include three foods groups in children’s breakfast – vegetables (either cooked or raw), whole grains and soaked nuts or seeds or plant-based milk.
Note: If you do not know how to make chapati, you should learn it. Watch several YouTube videos for it. Wholemeal bread generally contains 20% to 70% whole grain flour. The rest is always refined flour. Besides, we do also not recommend yeast bread. Therefore, it is best to learn how to make chapati.
How to Make Dough for Chapati: You can knead whole grain flour with your hands. Just add 1 cup of whole-grain flour, ½ cup of water and 1 tablespoon of flaxseed powder. Knead the flour until dough. You can also knead it using the food processor (with a kneading attachment). Wet your hands when you are removing the dough from the food processor. This ratio gives you proper consistency for making chapatis. When you practice, you can start kneading flour using vegetable puree.
Recommended whole grains servings in the morning for children, pregnant and lactating women:
| Age Group | Male | Female |
| 1-8 | 1 serving | 1 serving |
| 9-11 | 2 servings | 1 ½ serving |
| 12-13 | 2 servings | 2 servings |
| 14-18 | 2 servings | 2 servings |
| Pregnant | – | 2 servings |
| Lactating | – | 3 servings |
Pregnant & Lactating Women
Pregnant women and lactating mothers should take 2-3 servings of whole grains with vegetables, nuts and seeds in the morning. A similar recommendation applies to pregnant and lactating women as described for children above.
Adults
Adults can skip the early morning meal, or take fruits, or take a green herb smoothie.
- Green Herb Smoothie: Smoothie is optional. You can also skip it and take only fruits instead. A green herbs’ smoothie is a good option because it boosts greens’ intake and keeps you energetic. If you cannot eat green herbs and green leafy vegetables in the salad, you must go with green herbs’ smoothie. Learn more about Green Herbs’ Smoothie Here.
- Fruits: If you eat a sufficient serving of greens in the salad, you can also take fruits in the morning. You should take as per the recommended serving amount. Choose fruits from group 1 and group. Check the Fruit Guide for learning about fruit groups. If you take group 1 and 2 fruits at this time, then you can take citrus fruits at 10:00 am.
- Nuts & Seeds: You can also take overnight soaked nuts and seeds at this time. Check the nuts’ guide and seeds’ guide for the recommended amount. You can also add nuts and seeds in Green Herbs Smoothie. We generally recommend specific seeds and only walnuts in the smoothie. For more details, check the article on Green Herb Smoothie.
We highly recommend Green Herb Smoothie because it offers an appropriate serving of greens and fresh herbs.
Mid-Morning (Fruits)
We generally recommend fruits in the mid-morning. You can take any type of fruits, but we usually recommend group 1 and group 2 fruits. Try to take only one type of fruit at a time, but you can take it in any amount (according to appetite) or the recommended amount given below. Taking one fruit at a time is not essential. It is recommended for people who experience gas, abdominal discomfort or bloating after eating fruits’ salad. However, it is uncommon, but you may be one of such people who have such complaints. You can also choose various fruits from the same fruit group to avoid this effect.
Recommended Time: 10:00 am to 11:30 am
Recommended Fruit Servings
The following table represents the serving size for fresh fruits for the mid-morning meal. You should also eat 7 servings of berries every week. Include fruits from various fruit groups. Check Fruit Groups in Fruit’s Guide.
| Age Group (in years) | Recommended Servings |
| 1-2 | 2/3 Serving |
| 2-3 | 1 Serving |
| 4-8 | 1 ¼ Serving |
| 9-11 | 1 ½ Serving |
| 12-13 | 2 Servings |
| 14-18 | 3 Servings |
| 19-50 | 3 Servings |
| 51-70 | 3 Servings |
| 70+ | 3 Servings |
| Pregnant | 3 Servings |
| Lactating | 3 Servings |
Standard Serving Size for Fruits
| Fruit Form | 1 Serving Size equal to: |
| Fresh Fruits (except berries) | 150 grams |
| Fresh or Frozen Berries | 75 grams |
| Dried Berries | 50 grams |
| Dried Fruits (dried apricots, dates, prunes, figs, raisins) | 30 grams |
| Dehydrated Fruit Pulp | 30 grams |
Berries are essential fruits. You must eat at least 7 servings of different types of berries each week.
Lunch
Lunch should consist of salad, whole grains and cooked legumes during the Preventing Phase Diet.
Recommended Time
| Timings | Food Groups |
| 1:00 PM | Salad: Non-starchy Vegetables + Fresh Green Herbs |
| 1:30 PM | Whole Grains + Legumes |
Lunch Salad
Lunch salad should consist of non-starchy vegetables and fresh green herbs.
Choosing Salad Ingredients and Ratio
| Cruciferous Vegetables | 20% |
| Fruiting Vegetables | 20% |
| Leafy Greens and Petiole Vegetables | 20% |
| Marrow Vegetables | 20% |
| Root Vegetables | 20% |
| Fresh Green Herbs | As recommended acc. to age |
Choose different vegetables from various vegetable categories. Find more details about vegetable categories in Vegetable’s Guide. Learn more about choosing vegetables for salad in the article – Recommended and Restricted Vegetables for Salad. Find a list of recommended Fresh Herbs in the Fresh Herbs Guide.
Recommended Servings
One serving size for uncooked raw vegetables is 150 g. The following table represents the minimum serving amount for vegetables and fresh herbs for making salad according to age group:
| Age Group (in years) | Raw Vegetables | Fresh Herbs |
| 1-2 | 1/3 serving (50 g) | 5 g |
| 2-3 | ½ serving (75 g) | 7.5 g |
| 4-8 | ¾ serving (100 g) | 10 g |
| 9-11 | 1 serving (150 g) | 15 g |
| 12-13 | 1 ¼ serving (190 g) | 22.5 g |
| 14-18 | 1 ½ serving (225 g) | 30 g |
| 19-70 | 2 servings (300 g) | 30 g |
| 70+ | 1 ½ serving (225 g) | 30 g |
| Pregnant | 2 servings (300 g) | 30 g |
| Lactating | 2 servings (300 g) | 30 g |
Note: If you take Green Herbs’ Smoothie, you can reduce the intake of fresh herbs accordingly.
Whole Grains
75% of servings of whole grains should be from intact whole grains. 25% of servings can be from food made of whole-grain flour. You should not use refined grains.
Recommended Grains Servings
According to age group, you should choose the recommended daily servings:
| Age Group | Male | Female |
| 1-8 | 2 servings | 2 servings |
| 9-11 | 2 servings | 1 ½ serving |
| 12-13 | 2 ½ servings | 2 servings |
| 14-18 | 3 servings | 3 servings |
| 19-30 | 3 ½ servings | 3 ½ servings |
| 31-50 | 3 ½ servings | 3 ½ servings |
| 51-70 | 3 ½ servings | 2 ½ servings |
| 70+ | 2 ½ servings | 2 servings |
| Pregnant | – | 3 servings |
| Lactating | – | 3 servings |
Learn more about here: Whole Grains Guide.
Standard Serving Size for Whole Grains:
| Whole Grains (cooked) in general * | 100 g (approx. ½ cup) |
| Chapati or Flat Bread ** | ½ big chapati (approx. 40 g) or 1 small chapati (approx. 40 g) |
| Bread (wholemeal) *** | 1 slice (approx. 40 g) |
| Pasta (boiled) | A half-cup (around 100 grams) |
| Popped Popcorn | 3 cups |
| Porridge (boiled in water) | 120 g |
Learn Here How to Cook Whole Grains: Whole Grain Guide. You can eat cooked whole grains with cooked legumes.
Legumes
You can start taking all types of legumes during this phase.
Recommended Daily Amount
| Age Group (in years) | Maximum |
| 1-2 | 1 serving |
| 2-3 | 1 ½ serving |
| 4-8 | 2 servings |
| 9-11 | 3 servings |
| 12-13 | 3 servings |
| 14-18 | 3 servings |
| 19-50 | 3 servings |
| 51-70 | 2 servings |
| 70+ | 2 servings |
| Pregnant | 3 ½ serving |
| Lactating | 3 servings |
Standard Serving Size for Legumes:
| Type | 1 Serving Size equal to: |
| Cooked Legumes (Lentils, Beans, Chickpea) | ½ cup |
| Fresh Green Pea | 1 cup |
| Cooked Fresh Green Pea | ½ cup |
| Fresh Green Beans | 1 cup |
| Cooked Fresh Green Beans | ½ cup |
| Hummus (Mashed cooked legumes) | ¼ cup |
| Sprouts | 1 cup |
| Edamame | 1 cup |
| Tofu | ½ cup |
Learn Here How to Cook Legumes: Legume Guide. You can eat cooked legumes with cooked whole grains.
Evening
In the evening, you can take group 3 or 4 fruits. Check fruit groups here.
Recommended Time: 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm.
| Age Group (in years) | Recommended Servings |
| 1-2 | 1/3 Serving |
| 2-3 | ½ Serving |
| 4-8 | ¾ Serving |
| 9-18 | 1 Serving |
| 19-70 | 2 Servings |
| 70+ | 1 Serving |
| Pregnant | 2 Servings |
| Lactating | 2 Servings |
Standard Serving Size for Fruits: Check above under mid-morning meal.
Alternatively, you can also take Green Herbs’ Smoothie or Vegetable Juice.
Dinner
At dinner, you should start your meal with a salad. You can take whole grains along with cooked vegetables.
Recommended Time: 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM.
Dinner Salad
| Age Group (in years) | Raw Vegetables | Fresh Herbs |
| 1-2 | 1/3 serving (50 g) | 2.5 g |
| 2-3 | ½ serving (75 g) | 5 g |
| 4-8 | ¾ serving (100 g) | 5 g |
| 9-11 | 1 serving (150 g) | 7.5 g |
| 12-13 | 1 ¼ serving (190 g) | 10 g |
| 14-18 | 1 ½ serving (225 g) | 10 g |
| 19-70 | 2 servings (300 g) | 15 g |
| 70+ | 1 ½ serving (225 g) | 10 g |
| Pregnant | 2 servings (300 g) | 10 g |
| Lactating | 2 servings (300 g) | 10 g |
Choose different vegetables from various vegetable categories. Find more details about vegetable categories in Vegetable’s Guide. Learn more about choosing vegetables for salad in the article – Recommended and Restricted Vegetables for Salad.
Cooked Vegetables
One serving size for cooked or boiled vegetables (especially starchy vegetables) is 75 g. You can cook starchy vegetables along with whole grains.
Recommended Serving Size for Cooked Vegetables:
| Age Group (in years) | Cooked Vegetables |
| 1-2 | 1/3 serving (25 g) |
| 2-3 | ½ serving (40 g) |
| 4-8 | ¾ serving (60 g) |
| 9-11 | 1 serving (75 g) |
| 12-13 | 1 ¼ serving (95 g) |
| 14-18 | 1 ½ serving (115 g) |
| 19-70 | 2 servings (150 g) |
| 70+ | 1 ½ serving (115 g) |
| Pregnant | 2 servings (150 g) |
| Lactating | 2 servings (150 g) |
Learn more How to Cook Vegetables: Vegetable Guide.
Whole Grains
Try to take intact whole grains during dinner.
Recommended Grains Servings:
According to age group, you should choose the recommended daily servings:
| Age Group | Male | Female |
| 1-8 | 1 serving | 1 serving |
| 9-11 | 1 serving | 1 serving |
| 12-13 | 1 ½ serving | 1 serving |
| 14-18 | 2 servings | 2 servings |
| 19-30 | 2 ½ servings | 2 ½ servings |
| 31-50 | 1 ½ serving | 1 ½ serving |
| 51-70 | 1 ½ serving | 1 ½ serving |
| 70+ | 1 ½ serving | 1 serving |
| Pregnant | – | 3 servings |
| Lactating | – | 3 servings |
Learn about grain’s serving size and How to cook whole grains here: Whole Grains Guide.
Vegetable Soup
You can also take vegetable soup for dinner in addition to salad and whole grains. Vegetable soup is optional.
Warning & Disclaimer
This diet may not be for everyone. You should take care of your calories’ requirement. If you follow the above diet plan exactly in the provided serving sizes, you may get around 1850-2200 calories a day (in the case of adults). It also depends on your food choices. Some foods serve more calories than others in the same serving size. You may need to increase or decrease the servings of legumes and whole grains to meet your caloric requirement. The preventing phase diet may help some people but may also be potentially harmful to others. Consult your healthcare provider before making any dietary changes. Read Disclaimer for more information.