Diet

‘Diets don’t work’….as soon as you put yourself on a diet all you think of is a world of denial, of all the things you cannot have any more – and then you crave all those things….eventually having a fight with your own willpower as to whether you can stop that hand reaching towards the biscuit barrel!!!

I think the best piece of advice I have ever heard when it comes to changing your eating habits and making sure you are eating nutritionally rich foods, is to “add in the good stuff and eventually there won’t be any room for the bad!”

And who doesn’t want:

– Renewed Energy

– Positive Mental Attitude

– Slimmer figure

– Glowing skin

– Elimination of illness and disease

– Longer life expectancy

 

And what do we have to do to achieve all these wonderful benefits? It’s simple, we must eat more fruit, veg, nuts, seeds, beans and pulses. Yes it really is that easy!!!

Alkaline Foods

Eating Alkaline Foods is really simple and easy to understand. You just have to focus 80% of your eating on fresh, energising, alkalising vegetables, salads, fruits, oils, seeds, nuts, beans – and minimize your consumption of acid-forming foods such as chips, chocolate, alcohol, tobacco, cola, bad fats, meats and dairy. It is that simple.

Eating a diet rich in alkaline foods can have tremendous health benefits. Alkaline foods raise the amount of oxygen the blood can absorb, helping to fight disease and illness. Alkaline foods elevate the body’s pH balance, turning it from acid to alkaline. Acidic environments disrupt oxygen absorption and contribute to such serious conditions as heart disease, arthritis, diabetes and cancer. Eating alkaline foods not only helps prevent those conditions, it assists in alleviating stress and increasing energy.

Raw Foods

A raw food diet is based on the knowledge that the most healthful, nutritious food for the body is uncooked. It is recommended that most food is eaten raw, however heating food is acceptable as long as the temperature stays below 104 to 118 degrees Fahrenheit. Cooking is thought to kill the enzymes naturally present in food. According to raw foodists, enzymes are the life force of a food, helping us to digest food and absorb nutrients. If we over consume cooked food, our bodies are forced to work harder by producing more enzymes. Over time, a lack of enzymes from food is thought to lead to digestive problems, nutrient deficiency, accelerated ageing, and weight gain. Cooking food can diminish its nutritional value.

There are different ways that people follow a raw food diet. Most people who follow a raw food diet are vegan. Some consume raw animal products, such as raw milk, cheese made from raw milk, sashimi, ceviche (raw fish), or carpaccio (raw meat). Some people eat only raw foods, while others include cooked food for variety and convenience. The percentage of raw food should be 70 percent or more of the diet.

Wholefoods

Whole foods are any food in its most essential, pure and basic form: an asparagus spear, a lemon slice, a scoop of quinoa or a fillet of salmon. Favouring a whole foods-rich diet is a simple way to ensure that what you eat is micronutrient dense and free of unnecessary additives. Whole foods are the best ingredients for creating tasty and healthy meals, and diets loaded with whole, unrefined and unprocessed foods may help keep you healthy.

The more we learn about nutrition, the more it seems we should eat the way people did a hundred years ago. Recent research appears to be pointing us in the direction of eating mostly whole foods. Many health experts believe that eating more whole foods is our best bet for improving health and preventing disease. Whole foods – like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and legumes retain their fibre as well as the whole portfolio of beneficial phytochemicals and nutrients that are often removed in processed foods.

Superfoods

Superfoods are a special category of foods found in nature. By definition they are calorie sparse and nutrient dense meaning they pack a lot of punch for their weight as far as goodness goes. They are superior sources of anti-oxidants and essential nutrients – nutrients we need but cannot make ourselves.

We all may be adding more salads and vegetables to our diets, but concern over the quality of foods grown on mineral depleted soils makes Superfoods an intelligent choice:

Green Superfoods – Greens are good, Green Superfoods are even better! Green superfoods have the highest concentrations of easily digestible nutrients, fat burning compounds, vitamins and minerals to protect and heal the body. They contain a wide array of beneficial substances including proteins, protective photo-chemicals and healthy bacteria helping you to build cleaner muscles and tissues, aid your digestive system function and more effectively protect you against disease and illness. Green superfoods are extremely rich in chlorophyllthe pigment that gives plants their green colour. They include: Wheat Grass, Spirulina, Barley Grass, Wild blue-green algae and Chlorella.

Fruit and nut superfoods – are high in anti-oxidants that fight free radicals in the body. Free radicals may sound a little like an extremist terrorist sect evading capture and wreaking havoc across the globe and in fact within the context of your body this would be right. They are, in part, a natural occurrence through metabolism however extra and unnecessary free radical load can be put on our bodies by external factors including pollution, cigarette smoke, radiation, burnt foods, deep fried fats and cooked foods. When enough of these free radicals invade our immune system problems occurs. This is when you need antioxidants to build up the immune system and fight off the free radicals in the form of superfoods or supplements. They include Goji Berries, Raw Cocao, Maca, Coconuts, Acai and Noni.

Bee Superfoods – The Egyptians wrote about it back in 5500 B.C., the Indians used it for their religious ceremonies in 1000 B.C. and even the Babylonians have been noted to use it in their medicinal practices. The western world actually discovered the benefits of bee superfoods by accident during an investigation of native Russian Beekeepers who regularly lived past 100 years of age who ate raw honey, rich in bee pollen, every day. They include Royal Jelly, Bee Pollen and Propolis.

Seaweeds Superfoods – are one of nature’s true wonder foods! They are one of the most nutritionally dense plants on the planet and also the most abundant source of minerals in the plant kingdom as they have access to all the nutrients in the ocean. When sourcing or buying seaweed, choose certified organic brands where possible. Seaweeds will absorb the properties of the water in which they are grown, so you want to ensure that they have been grown and harvested in unpolluted waters that are pure, and free from harmful chemicals. They include Nori, Kelp, Dulce, Arame, Wakame and Kombu.

Herb Superfoods – as nourishment offer the body a whole host of nutrients it may not have received either because of poor diet or environmental deficiencies in the soil or air. Herbs as medicine are essentially body balancers that work with the body functions so that it can heal and regulate itself. Herbs have been used for centuries as part of the wisdoms of natural healing methods. Herbs are best used in their whole form rather than isolating effective plant constituents so-called “active ingredients”. They include Nettle, Aloe Vera, Echinacea, and Ginseng.

 

Anti Inflammatory Foods

It is becoming increasingly clear that chronic inflammation in the body is the root cause of many serious illnesses – including heart disease, many cancers, and  Alzheimer’s . We all know inflammation on the surface of the body as local redness, heat, swelling and pain. It is the cornerstone of the body’s healing response, bringing more nourishment and more immune activity to a site of injury or infection. But when inflammation persists or serves no purpose, it damages the body and causes illness. Stress, lack of exercise, genetic predisposition, and exposure to toxins (like secondhand tobacco smoke) can all contribute to such chronic inflammation, but dietary choices play a big role as well. Learning how specific foods influence the inflammatory process is the best strategy for containing it and reducing long-term disease risks.

Food Combining

Food combining is a health-conscious approach to eating, where foods that require different digestive environments are eaten separately, such as proteins and carbohydrates. Some of the immediate consequences of bad food combinations are digestive un-ease, gas, bloating, stomach ache, nausea, fatigue, and problems with elimination. While short-term effects can clear up within a day or two, long-term food combining can lead to more severe problems like bad breath, dry skin, rashes, chronic inflammation, poor sleep, low energy, and chronic digestion issues. Most people feel a surge of energy and naturally lose weight once they start following several simple food combining rules:

– Never eat Protein and Carbohydrates at the same meal.

– Eat Fruit on its own, or in juices, early in the day or on an empty stomach, as it digests much quicker than all other foods.

– You can eat most vegetables, salads and herbs with everything.

 

Juicing

There’s just nothing else quite as beneficial as juicing. Fresh fruits and vegetables are the healthiest sources for all dietary requirements for humans. One big reason is that there are some important health benefits of juicing fruits and veggies over consuming them whole. It turns out that it is much easier for your body to absorb the vitamins, minerals, and other beneficial nutrients in fruits and veggies when they are in liquid form, since their fibre and cell walls have been mechanically broken down before being introduced into your body. This saves your body much of the energy required to digest these foods and makes their nutritional value readily available to the cells of your body very quickly.

So, these are the main principles that I contribute to a long, happy, healthy and harmonious life! But what you may notice in every single one of  them is a central theme, something that every single one of them includes…..And that is that we must eat more beautifully coloured, nutritionally packed, gorgeous tasting Fruit and Vegetables!!

If you would like help with your own Personal Nutrition Plan then please do contact me , whether your needs are:

• Ketogenic Diet
• Detoxing
• Weight Loss
• Eating Clean
• Specific Ailment

Click here to contact me for more information, help and advice.

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