Living
Healthy......
Getting Started
I feel it's best for most
people to start at the beginner
level of this nutrition program.
- There are several basic
requirements in this beginning
level plan that will take
time and patience to integrate
into your daily life, and
these requirements are essential
to move on to my intermediate
and advanced nutrition plans.
- You need
to allow your body to adjust
to lowered insulin levels
.
There is, however, a general principle
that is useful for everyone, no
matter what level you choose:
Listen to
your body!
As I mentioned in the introduction,
this is one of the most important
principles in this series of recommendations.
If any food or supplement makes
you sick in any way, stop it immediately!
You have the tools to tell if
something is good for your body
or not -- please use them!
Step 1: At least one third
of your food should be uncooked.
There are valuable and sensitive
micronutrients that are damaged
when you heat foods. Cooking and
processing food can destroy these
micronutrients by altering their
shape and chemical composition
Step 2: Eat more vegetables.
Let us first start out by describing
what you can and should definitely
eat more of: vegetables. ALL vegetables
promote health, unless you are
allergic to them or they cause
gas or intestinal problems. It
would be best to consume your
vegetables uncooked, but you may
have to lightly steam them initially.
You should eat about one pound
of vegetables every day for every
50 pounds of body weight.
Vegetables contain phytochemicals,
which are powerful natural agents
to promote health. They will also
help to alkalinize your system,
as most of us are far to acidic.
Most people benefit more from
increased vegetables than from
extra vitamins. You will normally
need a large amount of vegetables
to optimize your body's pH acid/alkaline
balance
Nearly everyone would benefit
from eating as many vegetables
as possible within the allowances
of their metabolic type design
limits, or their unique biochemical
individuality. Please remember
that you are unique, and your
body knows best and will tell
you, what is an optimal amount
for you. An Eskimo simply can't
eat as much vegetables as a Peruvian
Indian can. Not only would they
feel poorly but they'd likely
develop a ravenous appetite matched
only by their sweet cravings,
as well as who knows what degenerative
process and emotional imbalances.
However, a "typical" or "average,"
amount of vegetables is approximately
one pound of vegetables for every
50 pounds of body weight. However
it is important to recognize that
everyone is unique. Please remember
though that this is the average,
it is best to eat according to
your appetite and fine-tune thereafter.
In other words, let your body
report back to you how accurate
your appetite/taste buds are at
gauging what is right for you.
Step 3 : Keep your vegetables
fresh.
If you are unable to obtain organic
vegetables, you can rinse non-organic
vegetables in a sink full of water
with 4-8 ounces of distilled vinegar
for 30 minutes, or use the solution
described at the end of this article.
Please be sure and squeeze as
much air as you can out of the
bag that holds the vegetables
and then seal it. The bag should
look like it is vacuum-packed.
I do this by holding the bag against
my chest and running my arm over
the bottom of the bag to the top,
which bleeds the air out of the
bag.
This will double or triple the
normal storage life of the vegetables
Step 4: Limiting sugar
is critical.
Eating refined suqar weakens your
immune system and promotes yeast
overgrowth. All non-diet pops
have 8 teaspoons in each can.
Most packaged cereals have sugar
as their major ingredient. Avoid
most natural sweeteners (including
corn syrup, fructose, honey, sucrose,
maltodextrin, dextrose, molasses,
rice milk, almond milk, white
grape juice, fruit juice sweetened,
brown rice syrup, maple syrup,
date sugar, cane sugar, corn sugar,
beet sugar, succanat and lactose).
When in doubt about the sugar
content of a food you can always
look at the list of ingredients
and see how many grams of carbohydrates
are listed. Unless the carbohydrates
are from aboveground vegetables
you should be concerned that they
represent sugars that could alter
your insulin levels.
Step 5: Avoid hypoglycpmia.
Most of us eat large amounts of
grains and sugars that cause us
to have large amounts of insulin
circulating in our, blood. When
you stop eating grains your body
will take several days to lower
your insulin levels. In the meantime
the high insulin levels will cause
you to have many symptoms such
as dizziness, confusion, headaches,
and generally feeling miserable.
If you eat every two hours for
the first few days of your transition
you will be able to avoid this
temporary side effect. You will
need to eat some protein, such
as an egg, piece of chicken, turkey,
fish or some seeds along with
a vegetable such as a piece of
celery, cucumber or red pepper.
This will help to prevent hypoglycemia
and stabilize your blood sugar.
Even after your system has adjusted,
it will be wise to eat 4-6 meals
a day. Eating more frequently
has been shown to normalize cholesterol
levels. It will also help your
adrenal glands better regulate
cortisol levels.
Make a Menu -- If you fail to
do this, you are planning to fail
Most people have great difficulty
implementing these suggestions
unless they sit down once a week
(at a time when you are well rested,
fresh and relaxed) and plan every
meal for the week ahead. A good
rule for working people is to
prepare your meals ahead of time.
For example, make your lunch for
the next day before you go to
bed. Also, to know what you will
be eating for dinner before you
leave the house in the morning.
This way you can go to the store
or take the appropriate items
out of the freezer. This is strongly
advised. Those who don't do this
will more easily slip back into
their old, more comfortable, and
less healthy eating habits.
Ten Recipes
All you need to do is find at
least ten recipes that you like.
That is all that most families
use. You might have to try ten
recipes to find one that you and
your family enjoy, but that is
ok as it is all part of the process.
It is vitally important to have
a variety. Do NOT rotate between
two or three meals or you will
burn out and stop the program.
Variety is the key.
Step 6: Learn to distinguish
physical food cravings from emotional
food cravings.
Many people don't understand that
emotional well-being is essential
to physical health. In fact, in
terms of dieting for weight loss,
not addressing emotional issues
- whether small or serious traumas
from the past -- is the primary
reason that most people who lose
weight often fail at keeping the
weight off. If you are maintaining
negative thoughts and feelings
about yourself while trying to
take physical steps to improve
your body, you will not succeed.
It will be like repeatedly washing
your car in an effort to keep
it clean during a dust storm.
Fine-tuning your brain to "positive"
mode is absolutely imperative
to achieve optimal physical health.
Many people shun this notion,
not because it doesn't make sense,
but because the medical establishment
has conned them into believing
that it means they'll be shelling
out many thousands of dollars
over the coming months or years
to traditional psychological care.
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