The Top 10 Foundations for a Healthy Life – Nutrition

In this series we give you tips on how to reach your most vibrant health by giving your body what it needs to thrive. Here are the 10 health foundations:

Nutrition
Joy
Hydration
Digestion
Sleep

Stress Relief
Movement
Love and Self Care
Fill the Food Gaps
Remove and Avoid Toxins

Come back next month to learn more about Joy, why it matters and what it means to your health. But now, let’s talk about the big and exciting topic of Nutrition.

1) Increase Sustainable Nutrition

Food is Medicine

No matter what else is at play, nutrition heals. For a healthy body, go in the direction of more whole, natural, nutrient-dense foods.

Changing your diet can seem daunting, but it does not have to be! Begin simply with the goal of eating real, whole, nutrient-rich foods. Explore new foods one at a time and document what you love, why you love it, how you prepared it, and what you want to try next time. This can be as detailed as writing down the way your new food smells, looks, tastes, and makes you feel once you have ingested it. Be mindful and notice the effects it has on your whole body.

Additions vs. Restrictions

Focus on positive additions vs. a lot of restrictions, especially at first.

This means that instead of eating smaller portions of the foods you are used to eating, try something else that you normally wouldn’t eat (fruit, veggie, nuts), replace a cupcake with some salted sunflower seeds, or substitute your breaded chicken from a box with wild-caught salmon from the farmers market. Trying new recipes can help make this experience even more fun.

Remember: changing a lot at once is hard, small changes in little steps over time is much easier, and you are less likely to fall back into old patterns.

Food Journal

Keep a 3 day journal of what you typically consume on a daily basis. Don’t try to be ‘good’; just be honest and detailed. Write down everything that goes in your mouth. This will help you determine where your hangups are and how you can make the biggest positive changes in your diet. Remember that your mind, your cravings, your emotions all play a big role in what you eat, when you eat and why. For positive changes to stick, these need to be addressed as well.

Phone App that can be helpful: My Fitness Pal

Healthy Recipe Ideas

Mediterranean Quinoa Bowls with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Healthy and Delicious Chocolate Avocado Pudding

Food Is Medicine – Banana French ToastBanana French Toast

More Recipes

Key areas to Begin

Vegetables

Introduce more vegetables in ways you are ready to explore. For instance, try one new vegetable every week, incorporating it into your meals in a variety of ways.

Drinks

Beverages are often a BIG source of added sugar and caffeine. Move in the direction of more water or organic black / green / herbal teas. If you want to ‘treat’ yourself at meal time, consider a juice spritz by combining 1/4 to 1/3 parts of (organic) fruit juice – like cherry or apple – with sparkly or plain filtered water. The best beverage between meals though is plain, filtered water.

Fats and Oils

Seed oils are often used in multiple meals daily – and can be a major source of oxidative damage. Try to switch to healthier oils. We recommend organic extra virgin olive oil for low/no heat & coconut oil or sustainably sourced palm oil for heat. Grass-fed butter is a good option for cooking, as well, if there are no dairy sensitivities.

Organic Whole Foods

Transition to purchasing organic, non-GMO, 100% grass fed organic beef and dairy products, organic free-range eggs, open range and organic chicken and pork – best if bought locally. Work to replace packaged, ultra-processed foods with organic whole foods over time. Why? Because organic foods have much less toxins than commercially produced ones. In the case of animal products, stay away from mass produced meats, eggs and dairy products, because not only are they full of toxins, they are also bad for the animals and bad for the environment.

We like: Butcher Box delivery, local farmers markets

Snacks

Good nutrition extends to the time between main meals. Address bad snacking habits: Is it cravings or binges or boredom? Have plenty of whole foods, nuts, and healthy snacks available.

Before you start eating, ask yourself: Why do I have this craving now? Is my body truly hungry, or is it thirst? Would a short walk help, or some other form of exercise? Am I craving human contact?

Food prep: have plenty of healthy food choices “dished up” and ready to grab and take on the go.

More About These Pesky Cravings

Food cravings are the body’s way of communicating any nutritional needs. With the advent of processed foods however, additives that are being used make these foods highly addictive. If you find yourself desiring processed foods (especially something sweet), it is often hard – if not impossible – to withstand these cravings.

There are things you can do that make switching to healthier foods a bit easier. For example, add digestive bitters to your mealtime. Bitters are tinctures made from bitter tasting herbs. Taken before each meal, they reduce sweet cravings, prepare for digestion, aid the liver and much more.

Another idea is to use Xylitol after brushing teeth in the evening: Take a small amount of Xylitol – half a teaspoon is enough – into your mouth and let it dissolve. It kills ‘bad’ bacteria that increase food cravings that live in the mouth and digestive tract, and is also great for dental health.

Before changing your diet in a big way, please talk to your physician!

Organic vs non-organic food choices

Commercially grown foods add a lot of toxins to your body. For cleaner living, preparing your meals from organic foods grown by regenerative agriculture is your best choice – unless you have your own garden. But how to switch you might ask? After all, organic foods a lot more expensive?

The First Step

A good way to start is to avoid the worst offenders. They are known as the ‘dirty dozen’ – the produce with the highest pesticide load. As a first step, buy these as organic and you will decrease your toxic load by a considerable amount.

The Dirty Dozen

Strawberries
Spinach
Kale, Collards & Mustard Greens
Grapes

Peaches
Pears
Nectarines
Apples

Bell & Hot Peppers
Cherries
Blueberries
Green Beans

Buy these as organic and you will decrease your toxic load by a considerable amount

The Second Step is buying local, in-season produce. Farmers markets can be found throughout the country, and are a good way to connect to your local farmers. Switching to buy only in-season produce could be as simple as getting one or two things at your farmers market – or directly from a local farm. Fresh local eggs from free ranging chickens are absolutely delicious. So is fresh apple cider, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries. If you only know commercial versions of these foods, you will be amazed how much better they can taste!

The Third Step to sustainably healthy eating is getting involved into your local community by buying a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). This is a farm share, where you pay the farmer in spring, and receive produce as it becomes available through the growing season. A CSA sometimes includes u-pick herbs and/or flowers, and is a wonderful experience for everyone involved. You will get fruit and veggies you might not have eaten before, so be open for an adventure!

Let us know how you are doing, where your hangups are and what works well for you! And if you ever need a professional’s advice, you know where to find us!