OPTIMAL NUTRITION

Everything we eat and drink either strengthens or weakens our health & vitality. Our food is the fundamental building block of our health.

1. Listen to your body! A fundamental piece of wisdom many of us forget is that our body knows exactly what it needs. Our internal biochemical computors are constantly busy adjusting & maintaining the bodys’ equilibrium & sending out signals of what is required which the brain can interpret as a sirloin steak or maybe just a handful of grapes & a stick of celery. The cleaner & healthier our bodies are, the stronger these signals become.

2. Eat a wide variety of foods, avoiding having a particularly food everyday even if it’s healthy.

3. Quality is Everything! If we feed our body’s dead, processed food, guess what …. that’s probably how you’ll feel. Eat whole grains, fresh fruit & vegetables, choose organically or bio-dynamically grown food where possible. A good golden rule is: if it has been refined, processed or mucked around with somehow, you can do without it. Choose whole foods & you will not tip the biochemical scales out of balance. Food as it exists in nature comes in a package that is completely biochemically balanced.

4. Avoid the consumption of sugar & refined carbohydrates. In addition to throwing off the body’s homeostasis, regularly eating sugar results in a number of other significant consequences:

- suppresses the immune system

- upsets mineral balance in the body & can lead to chromium & other nutritional deficiencies

-  can cause irritability, anxiety, hyperactivity & crankiness in children, difficulty          concentrating

- Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides & cholesterol, & reduce the ‘good cholesterol’.

- Causes a loss of tissue elasticity & function & cause premature aging

- Causes excess acidity in the body………………….etc

In fact Nancy Appleton, Ph.D. in her book ‘Lick the Sugar Habit’ outlines 124 ways sugar can ruin your health. Ouch!

There are so many ways to substitute sugar for a healthy alternative. Replace sugary foods & desserts with fresh fruit, try agave nectar as a sweetener, see our suggestions for the use of Cacao, & see Healthy Recipes.

5. Reduce saturated fats such as margarine (substitute with a nut/seed/vegetable oil spread such as Melrose or organic butter) fried foods & animal fat. Include foods high in essential fatty acids such as Chia seeds, fish, nuts, seeds & avocados

6. Reduce acid-forming foods such as white flour/bread (go for whole grain or rye), bottled orange juice, coffee, olives, alcohol, dairy, meat, pasta/noodles, cereals, white rice.

7. Start the day with a cup of herb tea or just a squeeze of lemon juice in hot water as a cleansing tonic. Try substituting coffee for chai, green tea or herbs such as rosehips (circulation), dandelion (liver), peppermint(digestive tonic). There is nothing wrong with the occasional cup of real coffee (rather than instant or bags which are a chemical cocktail!) if you enjoy it & are not using it as a crutch

8. Fibre & roughage (in whole fruit, vegetables & grains) are important for bowel health. A spoonful of natural bran in the morning muesli bowl is a super bowel food Also molasses, licorice root tea, slippery elm & plenty of brown rice.

9. Basic food combining: protein is best eaten with green vegetables, animal fats should be accompanied with paw-paw or rockmelon (high in enzymes) &/or alfalfa sprouts (for protein digestion). If vegetarian combine more than one source of vegetarian protein to obtain the full spectrum of amino acids, eg tempeh with brown rice, legumes with nuts & seeds.

10. Eat meals in a relaxed atmosphere & chew food well so that assimilation can take place. Try not to eat in a hurry. When under stress it is better to eat light meals more often rather than heavy meals quickly. A light evening meal is best, at least 3 hours before bedtime.

11. Substitute table salt with a good quality sea-salt (a more balanced source of minerals). If you were to give up adding salt entirely you would find that your taste buds became surprisingly reactivated, so you would enjoy nuances of flavour you never appreciated before.

12. Again, everyones requirements vary but as a bit of a guideline, check out the following:

* Meat, including chicken & game, 2-3 times per week is usually enough for most people. Here quality is the key! Buy organic & hormone free where possible & avoid processed meats which contain many chemicals we can do without!

* Seafood,  The local farmers markets normally have the freshest seafood. Omega-3 in fish and seafood is high in two fatty acids crucial to human health, DHA and EPA. These two fatty acids are pivotal in preventing heart disease, cancer, and many other diseases. Your brain is also highly dependent on DHA – low DHA levels have been linked to depression, schizophrenia, memory loss, and a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Omega-3 is  one of the rare instances when I recommend you take a supplement instead of getting it from your food. This is because the major source of dietary omega-3 is fish, and most fish that is commercially available (even wild-caught varieties) are polluted with mercury, PCB’s and other toxic substances.

* Dairy:  Milk: is not the most usable source of calcium in the body, & is now of questionable quality. If you drink milk it is best to go for raw milk. Despite the bad press that raw milk has received, it is one of the best foods out there for nutrient value. The downside is that it remains a bit difficult to come by, depending on where you live. Not only does raw milk taste better than pasteurized milk, it contains more nutrients that are beneficial because they haven’t been destroyed by heat.

Cheese: quality, mild, clean cheeses like quark, fetta, paneer, haloumi, ricotta are a fantastic sourse of protein. Avoid heavier cheeses as they are congestive & acid-forming in the body!

Yoghurt: go for the ones that say ‘live cultures’ on the label, otherwise they are not much value. Watch out for the brands with high sugar levels such as ‘Yakutlt’. A good quality yogurt is excellent maintenance food for healthy gut bacteria; have regularly.

* Eggs: Eggs are a fantastic source of protein. However, not all eggs are equal. There is mounting evidence of a huge nutritional difference between true free-ranging chicken eggs and commercially farmed eggs due to the different diets.  “Free-range” means coming from chickens that have “access to the outside”. This does not specify whether the “outside” is a field for foraging or a cement courtyard and does not define their diets.

It is always best to obtain your eggs from a local farmer whose methods are known. To find free-range pasture farmers, ask your local health food store. Many people are finding it rewarding to raise their own eggs. If you must get your eggs from the grocery store, your best bet is to look for free-range organic.

Avoid all omega-3 eggs as these hens are typically fed poor quality omega-3 fat sources that are already oxidized.

It is best to eat your eggs raw, so throw the occasional one in a smoothie.

• Alcohol: can be a therapeutic substance if we keep two things in mind: moderation & quality. It is important to give the liver a break from alcohol at least 2 days per week and to completely avoid binging as this is very damaging, ie enjoy a glass 3-4 times a week. Go for red wine, clean & good quality spirits (avoid the mixers) & real beer that is properly brewed from hops (rather than the chemical brews like VB & Fosters) such as Coopers, Grolsch & James Squire.

What else can I eat?

Eat Superfoods! The best approach is maximum nutritional density & less empty calories.

Have fun & be creative when you prepare your food, make time for creating good food no matter how busy you are. There are sources of inspiration everywhere, recipe ideas can easily be found on the net.

Most importantly preparing, serving & eating your food WITH LOVE makes a profound difference to the energetic quality of your food. It has been observed that ‘naughty’ foods eaten while thinking positive thoughts such as love & the enjoyment of the food is far better for us than eating ‘good’ food whilst thinking negative thoughts or whilst stressed.

For educational purposes only