Rules for Healthier Eating

1. Eat 90% of your food to nourish your body and 10% just for fun. This is a major improve ment over half for fun and half for health and it allows for the occasional chocolate chip cookie, glass of wine, or serving of steak. Your eating doesn’t have to be perfect, just look for progress!

2. The life in foods gives us life. When possible eat local foods in season. They usually have the highest nutrient content and the greatest enzyme activity. Eat foods that will spoil. This insures that the food still has life in it! Food is fuel and food gives us energy. Because we really are what we eat, if we eat foods that have little enzyme activity, they don’t “spark” our body to work correctly. Enzymes are to our body what spark plugs are to the engine of our car. Without those sparks, the car doesn’t run right. Processed foods are devitalized of these “sparks”.

3. Eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day! Eat at least 5 servings, preferably up to 9 or 12 servings, of fruits and vegetables each day. Fresh fruits and vegetables are loaded with enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and important phytonutrients such as carotenoids and bioflavinoids that protect us from cancer, heart disease, and most other chronic degenerative illnesses. Fruits and vegetables also provide us with fiber. 

4. Choose organically grown foods whenever possible. The average American eats a pound of herbicides and pesticides each year. Organically grown foods generally have higher levels of nutrients because organic farmers pay more attention to their animals’ health and to their soils. Bob Smith, from Doctor’s Data, has released a study, which analyzed organic versus commercially grown apples, pears, potatoes, wheat and wheat berries. He found that the mineral levels in organically grown food were twice as high, on average, as commercially grown foods. Animals raised without hormones and antibiotics can’t pass them along to us! Research is more strongly linking them with breast and prostate cancer each year.

5. Increase high fiber foods--if you can tolerate them. Americans eat 12 grams of fiber on average each day. Recommendations from the National Cancer Institute are to consume 20-30 grams of fiber daily--the same amount Americans ate in 1850. Richest sources are whole grains (brown rice, whole wheat, bulghur, millet, buckwheat, rye, barley, spelt, oats, quinoa), legumes, vegetables and fruits. Fiber protects our colon health, and reduces our risk or colon and breast cancer.

6. Eat adequate protein for your body type. We find protein in virtually all food. Protein is the main building block of our body--the matrix of bone, substance of muscle, our immune system, and many of our hormones. You can find excellent protein in fish, poultry, lean meats, legumes, low-fat dairy products, and eggs. Fruits, vegetables, and grains also have excellent protein but in a smaller ratio. Nuts and seeds provide protein, but watch out for the fat and calories--they add up really fast!

7. Eat high quality fats. Fats found in fish (salmon, mackerel, tuna, and sardines), nuts and seeds, and grains provide nutrients called essential fatty acids. Even though Americans eat a lot of fat, many of us are deficient in these protective oils. Make sure to get some every day.

8. Drink pure water. Use a filtering system of some type to remove chlorine and toxic substances.These rules will work no matter which basic diet works best for you. You can change the way you feel simply by eating better quality foods. Remember to make changes one step at a time.

Foods That Help Lower Cholesterol

• Soluble Fibers all types of legumes/beans

• Oat bran, oatmeal, rice bran

• Green peppers, cucumber, sweet pottatoes

• Cold Water Fish High in EPA/DHA Omega 3 fatty acids

• Helps normalize serum cholesterol and triglycerides

• Prevent platelet stickiness and relax blood vessels

• Eat at least 2-3 times weekly

• Best sources: tuna, salmon, sardines, herring, lake trout, swordfi sh, striped bass, halibut

• Yogurt 3 cups daily can lower cholesterol levels up to 10% per week

• Pectin found in: apples, pears, plums, grapefruit, blueberries

• Soy products Tofu, tempeh, miso, soy-ice cream

• Olive oil Can help drop cholesterol levels

• Nuts/Seeds almonds, walnuts, pecans, sunfl owerseeds, pumpkin seeds

• Garlic, Onions Raw

• Supplements which may be helpful:

•Niacin NAC (N-acetyl-cysteine)

•Vitamin C Grapeseed extract/blueberry extract

• Vitamin E Green Tea extract

• B6, B12, folic acid Guguplex

• Co-enzyme Q10 Carnitine

• Garlic Psyllium

• Chromium Ginseng