As the first official blog post, I wanted the opportunity to share my top health suggestions from a diet perspective. These are guaranteed to make you feel better, have more energy, and improve your overall health.
1) Alleviate wheat, barley, and rye from your diet. Essentially, remove the bread, cereal, tortillas, and rice. These are directly linked to HBP(high blood pressure), heart disease, and obesity.
2) Eat whole foods. Generally, the first question I am asked is ‘what is whole’? Whole foods are the purest form of a particular food you can get. Let’s take milk as an example. The purist form of milk would be organic whole milk – avoid the skim milk with added Vitamin A an D. I would generally consider produce, meat, and eggs as pure as well as long as they are grown/raised correctly. Avoid things that come in a box and/or are processed.
3) Buy organic. It’s crazy to think of the pesticides, herbicides, and GMO-ized products that we eat these days. Genetically modifying foods and additives isn’t good for us. Supermarkets are becoming more cognizant of the need of organic foods and are offering more selections. Other options are Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.
4) Shop Local. When I say ‘shop local’ I am mainly referring to Farmer’s Market, your local CSA, and local farmers. This will give you the opportunity to shop for organic foods, buy directly from the producer, and guarantee you’re getting the best product, as well as supporting your local community.
5) Eliminate carbonated drinks. Drinking carbonated drinks during meal time lowers the acid level in your stomach so food can’t be broken down to a liquid form. If the food isn’t in liquid form your large intestine can’t absorb the nutrients from the food and your missing out on the vitamins and minerals it needs.
6) Variety is the spice of life. Try and expand your culinary horizons by experimenting with recipes with different kinds of vegetables, meats, and spices. I’ve got 3 extraordinary links on my blogroll and I’ll have more recipes on here at a later date. Create, adjust, and reform.
7) Baby steps. Don’t go home and throw out everything in your pantry and fridge and run to your local Whole Foods and re-invent your entire diet. Eat what you have now and over the course of the next few months, replenish foods you run out of with better options. Once you run out of milk, try organic whole milk. Before you know it, you’ll be converted!
8) Moderation is key. If you have a craving for pizza, have a slice of pizza. The key here is moderation. This is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Eat the foods you want, or have a cheat meal. The key here is to resist falling off the proverbial horse and going back to your old ways. Get your fix and then hop back on course. Eventually these cravings will go away.
9) Adjust on the fly. What we want to do here is figure out what foods we do well with, and ones we don’t. Some people don’t handle lactose or milk products very well. If that is the case, remove it from your diet. By experimenting in our food options, we can optimize how we good we feel and maximizing our nutritional benefit.
10) Lifestyle. Eating well is a lifestyle. It’s not a quick fix to drop weight in a hurry or do a 60 day challenge. Sure, it will help with weight loss and weight maintenance, but it’s meant for the long haul and a lifetime of good health, wellness, and feeling good.
I’d love to hear your comments and suggestions. Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for the next post of Whole vs Paleo Diet
Matt's Healthy Lifestyle 