Healthy Food Selections - A Guide to Better Health

I have been asked by my clients, what can I eat?  I completely understand their confusion because of the constant conflicting so called “diet” advice in the news.  It is hard to make sense of it when one week you read it is okay to do something, and the next week it is not okay.  For example, first we were told how healthy butter is for you, and then we were told it was bad for your heart and best to avoid it. The current sentiment is butter is better for you because margarine contains dangerous trans-fats.   Our understanding of nutrition, which is so important to our health and longevity, has been narrowed by contemporary science.  What’s important is that you eat whole foods that are nutrient dense.  I completely agree with Michael Pollan’s food mantra, “Eat food.  Not so much.  Mostly plants.”  In addition, these three food rules from Michael Pollan are a great rule of thumb;  don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food, do not eat any ingredient you cannot pronounce and stick to eating things that have less than five ingredients.  Our great-grandparents would not have eaten hydrogenated soybean oil, propylene glycol, sodium stearoyl lactylate, cellulose gum, xanthan gum, and artificial flavor.   (Ingredients from a box of Wild Blueberry Corn Muffin Mix from Betty Crocker.)

Please remember to eat three healthy meals a day around the same times each day.   This is important so your body has a continuous flow of energy.  Please do not eat anything after the sun goes down.  Night eating can cause kidney and liver stones, insomnia, a weak immune system and nervous disorders. 

I have listed some healthy meal suggestions below.  This is not a comprehensive guide.  Feel free to use my suggestions as a “starting point,” from which you can either add or subtract, depending on how you feel.  A great book to check out if you want to maximize nutrients for each meal is Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig.

*Fruits and Vegetables – There is no limit on fruits and vegetables that you can eat during the course of the day.  Feel free to juice them, eat them raw, or cooked.  Just be aware that it is best to eat fruits alone.  Fruits digest a lot quicker and should be eaten ½ hour prior to a large meal or 2 hours after a meal.

Breakfast

Oatmeal

Cream of Wheat

Malto-Meal

Eggs – not factory farmed

Organic cereal

Sprouted whole grain bread with raw organic cream cheese or butter

Yogurt or Kefir

Lunch

Sandwich on whole grain sprouted bread (Hummus or nitrate-free coldcuts)

Avocado on toast

Leftovers from the night before

Homemade Soups (For example:  http://innerbeautyworkshops.blogspot.com/2011/01/minestrone-soup.html)

Homemade Pizza

Salad*

Fermented Foods

There is a huge assortment of fresh/raw, or cooked salads you can have for this meal.  Be creative….

Dinner

Pasture raised chicken

Grass-fed beef

Lamb

Cornish game hens

Turkey

Wild Meats

Wild Salmon

Rice Pasta (For example:  http://innerbeautyworkshops.blogspot.com/2010/12/dinner-on-run-rice-pasta-with-peas.html )

Vegetarian Dishes ( For example:  http://innerbeautyworkshops.blogspot.com/2010/11/lima-bean-red-curry-squash-stew.html )

Homemade or Sprouted Grain Bread

Salads

**If you like having your main or heaviest meal at lunchtime, switch the dinner with the lunch suggestions.

***If you are extremely busy and do not have a lot of time to cook, invest in a crockpot.  This way, you can put everything in it before you head out the door in the morning and come home to a home-cooked meal.  There is no need to be Susie Homemaker……

Snacks

Fruit

Air popped popcorn with butter

Raisins, figs, dates

Nuts & Seeds

Yogurt

Raw Cheese

Hummus with vegetables or pita bread

Guacamole or salsa with non-GMO chips

Smoothie

Granola

Apples with nut butter

**You can also have homemade or organic muffins, cookies and cakes in moderation

(http://innerbeautyworkshops.blogspot.com/2011/02/valentines-heart-cookies.html)

REFERENCES:

Pollan, Michael, Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, Penguin 2009.

Tombak, Mikhail, Can We Live 150 Years?, Point Roberts, Washington: Healthy Life Press inc., 2005