Living a healthy life is not about creating rigid structures but about holding a vision of total health and healing, followed by taking appropriate actions that help to embody that vision.
Creating better health starts with our daily activities. In fact the things we do all the time are the ones which impact us the most. For example let’s look at the effect of drinking coffee for a moment. Drinking coffee every day surely has a different impact on you than drinking it twice a month. In order for us to reach better health and add quality years to our lives it is useful to have a clear understanding of how we can add years to our lives.
The below mentioned guiding posts are meant to help you create a more nourishing support structure for your life. You are also welcome to bring this hand-out with you to your next office visit with me if you have any questions about it. I would be happy to answer them.
How to create a more nourishing support structure for your life:
Try not to eat dinner after sunset.
Don’t skip meals! Eat three meals per day with snacks in between if your blood sugar calls for it, in other words if you get hungry. Any failure to respond to hunger will result in blood sugar imbalances and therefore cause endocrine stress, especially imbalance your brain!
Try to bring variation into your meals so you enjoy them more and also to reduce the possibility of your body developing food sensitivities. Food Rotation is indeed an essential tool to prevent these.
Eat proteins with every meal. Increase your intake of wild fish (not farm raised unless organically or sustainably farmed), eggs, lentils, beans and lean meats like chicken. All these are great choices. Always choose organic.
Double your organic vegetable intake and also your variety of veggies.
Remove all sugars and sugary fruits, cut down your bananas (even though a good source of potassium but way to high in sugar). Focus more on sour apples, apricots and especially berries.
Remove all pasteurized diary from your diet and only consume non-pasteurized diary if you are able to digest it
Remove all soy (including soy milk, cheese, tofu). Unless you are of an asian heritage it will be difficult for you to digest it.
Remove all wheat and wheat products from your diet. There is much research available about the pro-inflammatory effects of wheat and even many associated grains (cross-reactive foods). So foods like breads, pasta, cookies should be the first foods you want to reduce to a minimum.
The better kind of grains are: millet, quinoa and amaranth. Buckwheat is a seed so that might work great as a substitute eg. as a breakfast porridge with shredded apple and coconut butter and berries or with a whey protein shake and berries.
Night shades are ok for some but not for others, see how you feel with them.
Don’t abuse stimulants like black tea, coffee and even green tea or even mate tea. Moderation is the key.
Tune in on what foods make you feel good and which ones don’t.
If you have food sensitivity issues, let's talk about it in a one to one session. This is a more complex and individual issue.
What about food cravings? The foods we crave are often the foods we are most sensitive to.
Fruits and nuts work well together as snacks between meals and are useful to avoid quick blood sugar spikes.
Stop eating fruit with regular meals in which you eat vegetables and proteins.
Don’t boil vegetables, either steam them lightly (and then drink the water of the steaming process) or quickly stir fry them in a pan with coconut oil or ghee.
As fat sources use: Ghee (make it yourself, just email me how to) and coconut oil for cooking; for salads use olive, sesame and hemp seed oil.
As condiments for your meals use:
Gomasio - (high in Calcium and other minerals), dry roast some sesame seed with celtic sea salt in a pan and then grind both together in a blender to a powder which you then can sprinkle over your vegetables.
Nutritional Yeast (high in B vitamins): sprinkle it over your all veggies too.
Bragg’s Aminos: nice taste enhancer instead of soy sauce.
Apple Cider Vinegar: Great source of minerals and great stomach acidifier. Add it to your salads.
Get some Dulse - (sea weed that comes in stings) at your local health food store and and stir fry it in a pan with ghee or coconut oil and then eat it crispy as a side snack. Super loaded with minerals and iodine.
Beans: Presoak beans and lentils overnight. Toss the water they have been sitting in and boil them in fresh water. Add spices like fenugreek, coriander seeds and cumin to them to make them easier digestible. If you get bloated let’s talk about it more.
Avoid citruses beside lemons and lime as most of them are too mucus forming.
When eating salads, add your own dressings made up from:
An oil of your choice (70% of the total fluid volume)
Apple Cider Vinegar/Balsamic Vinegar (20% of the fluid volume)
One lemon (high in natural Vitamin C)
Some celtic sea salt (from your health food store), go by taste
Optional: add some garlic (natural sulfur and great antimicrobial)
A little honey or B Grade maple syrup or Agave to round of the flavor
A squirt of Bragg’s Aminos (amino acids rich)
Some horse radish (high in SODs) in a jar to add a little spice to it
Enjoy your meals and be creative with them and share them with others!
Put your heart into food preparation.
Don’t skip meals. Skipping meals is destabilizing to your blood sugar!
Don’t eat when being in a rush or when driving.
Don’t’ eat before you go to bed.
Don’t watch TV or read a book when eating your meals. Focus on the colors, flavors and textures and enjoy the richness of your meals.
Give thanks for the food in whatever form that works for you but do something to create a transition between the time before the meal and partaking the food. This way you are shifting your nervous system from a fight and flight state (sympathetic dominance) to a more receptive state (parasympathetic).
And beyond all: Enjoy this beautiful life, let it truly nourish you back to total health and healing.
Most of your healing is the work of your consciousness.