Suggestions for Healthy Eating
These are general recommendations
to help most people. Individual recommendations may differ.
- Eat gracefully and gratefully. Consciously appreciate the sacrifice
by plant or animal that made your meal possible. Light a candle.
Say a prayer. Dedicate your meal to higher service in your life.
Not only the food matters, but also the spirit in which it is
eaten.
- Create a mood of good cheer and relaxation during your meals.
Avoid eating when you are hurried or anxious.
- Eat only when hungry and not to relieve stress.
- Stop eating before you are completely full. This is known to
help people live longer.
- Eat organic as much as possible. Food has a higher content
of valuable nutrients when grown on soil not depleted by modern
farming methods.
- Minimize pesticide residues by buying produce from reliable
organic sources. Wash or peel your produce when it is not organic.
- Grow your own food.
- Freshness matters. Buy locally grown and in season whenever
possible. Produce can deteriorate quickly when hauled in from
thousands of miles away. Once purchased, eat it as fresh as possible.
- Support local and organic growers or community-supported agriculture
(CSA) with your purchases.
- Look for color. Strong color indicates high nutrient content
and good quality in fruits and vegetables. Likely, the taste and
aroma will also be superior.
- Minimize sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Avoid artificial
sweeteners and food colorings.
- Eat whole, unprocessed foods as much as possible.
- Shop mostly on the perimeter of your grocery store (the whole
foods), less in the aisles (boxes and bottles), and least by the
cash register (things were put there to tempt you).
- Eat whole grains rather than white, refined grain products.
If God made it brown, eat it brown.
- Don't overcook.
- Do not to cook or thaw with a microwave oven. Long microwave
exposure times can alter the molecular structure of your food.
- Remove all plastic wrappers and containers from your food before
heating it.
- Do not put hot foods or beverages in plastic containers.
- Welcome spices and herbal flavorings into your diet. They are
plentiful in traditional cooking and help your digestive processes
in many ways. Your food should be tasty and a joy to eat.
- Eat slowly and chew well. This will make good use of the plentiful
enzymes contained in your saliva which would otherwise be wasted.
It will multiply the surface area of the food in your mouth where
the digestive juices can do their work, and give ample time for
your stomach, liver and pancreas to secrete adequately when the
chewed food arrives. Lastly, it will help you recognize which
foods are good for you and when you have had enough.
- Eat beef that is grass-fed (Bison usually is). Its fatty acid
composition, and thus effect on human health, is healthier than
meat from grain-fed cattle raised in feedlots. This is also true
for ocean-fished rather than farmed salmon or other fish.
- Buy cage-free eggs (look for the extra colorful cartons at your
store). Having been grass-fed, their fatty acid profile is much
better, even for cardiac patients. The deeper, more luminous color
of the yolk indicates better nutrient content. You will be happy
to know what a contented life these hens have. Even at the moderate
premium charged, cage free eggs are a very inexpensive source
of high quality protein.
- Eat good fats in moderation and without fear. Your body needs
them and cannot function well without them, even if you are trying
to lose weight, lower cholesterol or prevent cardiac problems.
This includes olive oil, cold pressed vegetable oils, and fats
contained in high quality meats, eggs and dairy foods, including
cheeses.
- Avoid trans fats (read the label), partially hydrogenated vegetable
oils, rancid and deep fried fats.
- Use sea salt or kosher salt. These can be a valuable source
of important minerals which are missing from refined (white) commercial
salts. Unless you have congestive heart failure or kidney disease,
feel free to salt to taste. Healthy food does not have to be bland
or unpalatable.
- Pay attention to possible adverse reactions you may be having
to some foods. Lab tests for food allergies and other adverse
reactions are not always reliable and it often takes some detective
work for you and your health care provider to figure out what
you are truly reacting to.
- Use alcohol only in moderation.
- Use caffeine only in moderation. Green tea, however, decaffeinated
or not, is a health food that does many good things for you.
- Eat kosher foods, even if you are not of the Jewish faith. They
have had more eyes watching over them. This means improved safety
and often superior taste and nutritional value.
- While we respect your ethical or religious reservations about
eating animal meat or animal products, it has been our experience
that many people have better sense of well-being and resistance
to illness if their diet includes at least some animal food. Just
how much is best varies between individuals.
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