How to Balance your Diet | 12 Food Staples
The exuberant amount of information available on diet and exercise will make anyone’s head spin, but it doesn’t need to be so difficult.
While complicated food plans, scientific talk, and expert opinions may make the newest trend sound like the next best thing to make you lose those extra pounds, a good diet really comes down to using common sense and avoiding ‘too good to be true’ promises.
It’s important to remember that people were not always as unhealthy and overweight as they are today. Just 50 years ago the majority of the population, especially in North America, was thin and lean. Just watch a few films from 1950th if you need proof. Changes to how food is preserved, grown, and delivered as well as common use of plastic and other chemicals are the reason for epidemic obesity and the growing number of people affected by cancer and other deadly diseases. Studies have shown that at least three plastics leach toxic chemicals that contribute to breast cancer for example.
Remember that healthy living is all about balance. Under-eating regularly (except during certain types of fasts or cleanses) and over-eating will only cause or add to health problems. Consuming excessive calorie, sugar, alcohol, or chemical drugs will slowly (and sometimes quickly) bring your body into disrepair. The film Food Inc. is just one example of investigative journalism exposing the former.
In recent years however, many have become vary of the negative food trends and there is a movement toward a healthier lifestyle. Wal-mart, for example has committed to selling only cage-free eggs by 2025. Last year they have urged companies under their umbrella to curb the use of antibiotics on farm animals, after getting heat from animal rights groups.
Keeping the above in mind here is a list of 12 food staples and rules to follow to stay ahead of the curb.
12 Food Staples:
Yogurt and Kefir – should be a staple in everyone’s diet because it contains probiotics (live and active cultures), that help your digestive tract fight infections by eliminating harmful micro organisms. Yogurt is said to have a lot of calcium potassium, phosphorus, riboflavin, iodine, zinc, vitamins B5 and B12. It should be bought in its most natural form, preferably in a glass container. The less additives it has, the better.
A natural yogurt will only have two ingredients, active bacteria cultures and milk. Any other additives or listings of cream and milk separately means that the product has gone through processing which has almost certainly killed a good number of nutrients. Raw yogurt is definitely healthier for you as it contains more beneficial bacteria, compared to pasteurized yogurt in which many nutrients are destroyed.
Personally, whenever I have a chance to consume raw yogurt for a week or two my nails become very hard and grow better as does my hair. Pasteurization is done to prevent diseases from animals to transferring onto humans, but most of those diseases come from improperly taking care of livestock. Rather than taking care of their animals companies tend to take the easy way out and process foods heavily instead, a more financially viable option. Be certain to purchase your products from a local farm food store whenever possible. There are many options to how a yogurt can be eaten: on its own, added to savoury dishes, and my personal favourite use of yogurt is adding it to smoothies.
Kambucha and Pickled Foods – much like yogurt, eating fermented foods is great for your gut bacteria. These foods include kombucha, sauerkraut, kefir, ryazhenka, apple cider vinegar, kimchi, and even pickles. The process of fermentation is placing the vegetable in a salt and water solution that increases good bacteria, nutritional value, and often improves the flavour of the food. These foods are also called cultured or pickled. Pickled foods have been preserved in something acidic such as vinegar. Fermented foods are also pickled, but not all pickled foods are fermented. The difference is that fermented foods produce lactic acid as a by-product of the fermentation process.
The kambucha scoby makes the drink via a fermentation process. The drink is loaded with active enzymes, amino acids, probiotics, and anti oxidants. It is an excellent substitute to soda (which you should completely avoid by the way) because it is fizzy and delicious, some call it sweet tea, likely due to the way it is made. If you have your own live kambucha you can also make your own vinegar, which is wonderful as dressing on a salad, with loads of flavour and zero additional calories. Buying kambucha ‘raw’ is the second best option.
Soups – are one of the best meals to have due to their solids to liquids ratio. Soups are normally vegetable based and allow for more intake of our leafy friends. Seeing how they are at the very top of the list when it comes to a healthy diet, regardless of whether you are vegan, carnivore, or vegetarian, sneaking extra vegetables in, is a bonus. Your calorie intake will naturally get reduced if you have a cup of soup everyday. Consuming liquids with your meal or liquefying your meal expands your stomach and makes you feel fuller due to the presence of extra liquid. It’s a great trick to use if you are trying to move away from overeating. Just make sure not to overdo it, artificially expanding one’s gut to feel fuller can also have the reverse effect if done too often. Normally we want to eat just enough to feel full, and allow the stomach to shrink back, which in turn will help us feel full after our next meal.
Salads – are much like soups when it comes to vegetable content. Dark leafy greens are uncontested in their benefits to health. They contain tons of antioxidants, vitamins C and K, fiber, minerals, iron, calcium and other goodness. It’s very difficult to generalize about the benefits of all vegetables, because each one has a unique set of vitamins and minerals. Regardless of the salad content you can be certain that you are beautifying yourself from the inside with the variety of nutrients you’re inevitably getting. Salads can range from a simple Greek salad to a heavier potato and fish salad.
Eastern Europe is known for its elaborate salads that often serve as fairly heavy and delicious meals. Get creative and mix up your own signature salad, only advice is not to go too heavy on the lettuce, in North America lettuce seems to be the staple of many salads for no good reason. While lettuce serves well when used as a wrap or decoration, in comparison to other vegetables it has very little nutritional value and often acts as filler; mixed dark greens are a much better alternative.
Buy Local and In-Season – is a good rule of thumb. Supporting local farmers helps the world as a whole, it helps you consume more nutritional food, and it is very inexpensive. When food is picked while in season it has more nutritional value, the fact that it doesn’t travel as long of a distance to get to your local grocery store means that less chemicals are used to preserve it and that it is picked off at its peak or close to its peak, rather than before it has ripened. Fruits and vegetable nutritional value peaks when it is ripe.
The cost of mass production helps make the process cheaper, but the little that you save on buying the low cost product will reflect in the lack of nutrients you will receive and how healthy you will be in the long term. The money you are ‘saving’ today will most certainly be spent on medical care tomorrow. Nutritionally dense fruits and vegetables also taste much better; once you switch even for a two-week period you will notice the difference. Also don’t be afraid to buy the ‘ugly’ or small sized apple. Nature produces all sorts of fruits and vegetables and unfortunately, because people usually want the biggest, nicest apple, the ‘bad’ ones end up being thrown out. So be kind to the ugly apples!
Occasional Cheat – is something that is inevitable, so you may as well allow it once a week. Building willpower is a long process and the addictions to processed food, sugar, wheat, milk et cetera may take a long time to overcome. Cutting out processed food is a no-brainer; things like chips, or any food that contains more than three elements in the ingredients section must go from your diet A.S.A.P. Generally the more processed the food is the more nutrients have been stripped away. There are some products that are acceptable because they make our lives easier or they are simply not available in their fresh form. For example peeled garlic, canned tuna, and tomato sauce are products I often purchase. While cheating is OK once in a while, generally simple carbs and simple sugars should be avoided. Try to cut them out very slowly otherwise you will go through strong withdrawal symptoms. Switching to grains like millet and buckwheat is a good option.
Algae – seaweed or kelp are the oldest living organisms and in their essence, are nutritionally complete. This blueprint for life as we know it has gained popularity and is now considered a super-food, because of the above property. Asian cuisine uses seaweed and kelp widely, perhaps a clue to why Asians tend to look young for their age, are not overweight, and are comparably in good health. If you are not used to adding these to your daily diet a good alternative is to take organic chlorella or spirulina powder. It can be mixed with juices or smoothies or, if you can stomach it, taken on its own daily.
Chlorella cells must be mechanically broken or pulverized in order to get to the nutritional goodness in the centre. A pigment in chlorella called chlorophyll is a powerful cleansing agent for the whole body. It will slowly pull heavy toxins out of your system and eliminate them. It promotes growth and repair of new tissue and minimizes effects of free radicals. Spirulina is a blue-green algae, that’s easily digested and is full of B12 vitamin and a complete protein. I often take the above as supplements, because I don’t eat a lot of meat. Algae are known to improve brain function, hearth health, and strengthen the immune system. There really are no negatives when it comes to these super-foods.
Spice it Up and Portion Control – chips away at unnecessary calories and gives your body permission to stop when you feel full. Getting into the habit of eating to feel full and no more is important for overall health. While it is OK to have one or two big meals per day or split them into five small ones, listening to your body is key. Size can be a relative term so I recommend making exact measurements of how much you eat and writing everything down in detail. The practice will help shed light on your regular diet.
Adding spices to your meal will help you burn extra calories and add a little excitement. The flavour of food is very important and even the most seemingly bland dish can become a culinary delight with a correct combination of spices. Various seasonings also have a myriad of health benefits and regularly consuming a variety of them will boost energy levels by stimulating the digestive system. Current research suggests that spices need to be taken in very high quantities in order to make a difference, while others suggest that spices work by tweaking how one consumes food. Basically spices push the human body toward healthier consumption habits.
Fish and Seafood are OK – but avoid meat and animal products as much as possible. Vegans know something that the general population doesn’t and that is: most animal products are very unhealthy. Even a short investigation into how a piece of meat gets to your supermarket shelf will reveal unparalleled cruelty to the animal during its lifetime. In order to make profit animals are mistreated, fed antibiotics, and cheap food alternatives that their body does not naturally accept. The combination of the two manifests diseases and abnormalities in the animal or bird. The meat is treated with harsh chemicals to quickly prepare them for human consumption. Continued food recalls is evidence enough of improper food production. Fish and seafood are a little healthier because of the way they are farmed. Wild life fish and seafood is best, avoid any farmed fish. Japanese culture has long known the amazing benefits of seafood, especially helpful to brain function, with plenty of omega-3 fatty acids, protein, and vitamin D. If you do buy animal products make sure to purchase locally farmed, cage free, organic fed, et cetera. Read the labels and think about what each one signifies.
Whole Organic Milk – with minimal dairy overall is acceptable. Organic and local whole milk is ideal for health and nutrition any other dairy product should be avoided for the exact same reasons as meat products. While generic milk is generally homogenized and pasteurized, organic whole milk is only pasteurized. The purpose of pasteurization is simply heating up the milk enough to rid it off potentially dangerous bacteria. The bacteria can also be avoided if you are purchasing raw milk from a source you can trust.
Again the upside of consuming raw milk is that you would receive a lot more nutrients with every serving, but the downside is that it is difficult to find a trusted source from which to purchase your milk. It is important to drink whole milk, because the combination of the fat in the milk with other elements is what helps our bodies achieve optimal digestion of the product; the opposite creates internal imbalances that eventually turn into extra pounds. Yogurts and kefirs are excellent dairy products everything else should be consumed sparingly. If you cannot resist the urge to eat that delicious piece of cheese, opt for the product that is organically produced from healthy, happy animals and goes through as little processing as possible. Never heat or fry cheese, the process chemically changes the cheese making it almost indigestible by your body, which means it stays in your gut for a long, long time.
Juicing and Smoothies – are best to supplement missing nutrients. If you are like me and consume minimal amounts of animal products you have to be careful to keep to a healthy diet. It takes a little while to figure out what a balanced diet looks like, especially if your whole life you have been taught to eat a certain way. Juicing should be done once a week, while staying away from too much naturally occurring sugar.
Fruits, carrots, and beets are great, but sugar is sugar even if you are getting a bunch of fiber and vitamins with it. The majority of vegetables you juice should be greens. I have also found that adding powdered chlorella, spirulina, maca, and astragalus root to smoothies is a great way to consume needed nutrients. Avoid store bought vitamins and supplements they often don’t contain what the bottle claims.
Also synthetic vitamins (which is what you would be getting in a pill form) are not processed by our bodies the same way natural vitamins are, so mostly you just eliminate them through your digestive system. Extra yellow urine colour that comes out after taking them; is the best indicator that you are eliminating the vitamins you just consumed. There is no short cut to good nutrition.
Water, Tea, and Fruit Snacks – should be consumed throughout the day. OK, OK, when it comes to caffeine there are opposing views, which are both valid. Green tea is long known for its antioxidant properties and other benefits. Black and white tea is consumed all over the world and many cultures swear to its benefits. So if you love it, drink it, if not – there are other ways to get those antioxidants. Water however, is essential to your health. Adding a little bit of lemon or lime juice is very beneficial and nutritious. Ideally you want to drink water and any caffeinated beverages through a straw, the acids in fruits like lemons and limes have a negative effect on your teeth enamel and so does caffeine.
Natural spring water and water cleaned by reverse osmosis is the only type of filtered water I deem acceptable. Tap water contains fluoride and many other harmful chemicals which are best avoided, nutrients and minerals should come from the food you eat not the water. Of course if you are able to get your hands on natural spring water that is not sold in plastic water bottles – that is also acceptable. Ideally you should invest in a reverse osmosis water filtration system.
Fruit snacks are an easy way to stave hunger away and really the only natural snack worth having. Fruits are not processed and always taste delicious. Buy in-season local organic fruits for maximum nutritional value.
Remember the feeling of when you jumped out of bed as a child, with your energy levels going from 0 to 100 in a matter of minutes, that is the feeling you will get back, if you follow these tips. It will take some time, but it is well worth it.
By:
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𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮,
𝓐𝓙☙
