"I am so confused! There are so many different
recommendations out there about 'good' nutrition that I
can't figure out fact from fiction." If I had a dollar for
every time I have heard this statement or one like it I
would be a very rich woman.
To answer this question I have to say only this; that
good old fashioned nutrition is coming out tops in all the
latest research. By old fashioned, I mean really old, as in
the days when your mother told you to eat your vegetables,
and made sure you ate two to three pieces of fruit a day.
She always gave you the benefit of three-square-meals a day
and a few good nutritious snacks as well. Fast food, soft
drinks or sodas, sweets, cakes or lollies were treats seen
only on weekends or once a month when you went on a picnic,
they were not daily dietary habits. In those days people
worked hard and long and still found time to play games
with their kids, they are also proving to be a very long
lived generation.
So let's take a look at why this old fashioned lifestyle
created such wellness, energy and a great outlook on
life.
Back in the days before everyone became so much busier
because of technology, and you thought it was meant to make
your life easier. It seems to me that technology made it
easier to be in constant contace and so people now expect
you to answer them immediately or they want to know why.
Technology has made it easier to be busier and so we skip
meals or opt for fast food, just to keep up with our
constantly updated schedules. I have to ask you, have you
thought about, not answering your phone? Or checking your
emails? Or fast forwarding that memo, during meal times or
during me-times?
What are me-times, I hear you ask? They are the highly
important VIP all areas access times that you take to
recharge you. They need to be right at the top of your
priority list, not at the bottom where they more than
likely are now. Without these times as your top priority
where will you ever find the energy to give the best of
yourself to your endeavours and become the success I know
you can be? I promise you, the world will not stop if you
take time out to eat well, exercise and de-stress. In fact
the very people you want to impress will be impressed with
your dedication to yourself. Why? Because the most
successful people do exactly that, and one thing my NLP and
Coaching Master courses have taught me well, is to model
yourself on the people who have the kind of success you
want to have.
Warren Buffett, Richard Branson and Donald Trump all
take time every day to eat well and take me-time to
exercise and relax, or they would not be where they are
now. So this article is about eating well, so let's take a
good look at that now that we have my little soap-box
moment out of the way.
Good old fashioned nutrition begins with living food,
the kind that still has life in it like vegetables and
fruit, these are the carbohydrates that should make up
about 70 to 80% of what you eat each day. Not the breads,
pasta's, cakes, biscuits, chips, sodas, ice creams, and
other sugar-based foods and drinks that people seem to eat
so much of these days. Vegetables and fruit still have
their electrical energy and are not dead foods. Oh, you
didn't know that vegetables and fruit had electrical
energy? Well, my science students would be proud to show
you their fruit clocks, which are small electric clocks
that are run on the electrical energy of food. We ran an
experiment to find out which foods had the most electrical
energy and it changed the way my year 9 students thought
about food for the rest of their life.
Did you know that a banana will run a fruit clock for
approximately 2 ½ weeks? Or that a lemon (the highest
electrical energy charge of all) will run one for 6 months?
We tested many things including a favourite food of teens,
a hamburger from a well known chain (which will remain
nameless), no cudo's for guessing that the hamburger didn't
even start the clock.
This electrical energy actually interacts with our own,
yes each of our cells hold a charge too, and this is one of
the reasons live food can create such good health. This
little boost of electrical energy increases absorption of
nutrients from these kinds of foods. This effect can also
been seen in some foods that are not fresh, however they
had to have been dried or packaged or processed under very
special circumstances. So if you are like me and love my
green barley extract (a powder) or my acai complex juice (a
bottled juice) you need to make sure that you only buy from
reputable and good quality companies that take care to
preserve not only the nutrient density of the product but
as much of this live cellular electrical charge as
well.
Vegetables and fruit grown in organically in good soils,
are naturally high in antioxidants, minerals and vitamins,
and fibre and are the foundation of any good nutritional
lifestyle. Ask yourself right now, does 70 to 80% of my
dietary intake consist of fruit, vegetables or nutrient
dense versions of them? If not, it might be time to rethink
your dietary lifestyle.
What about the other 30 to 20% of your nutrient intake?
This needs to consist of quality protein, fats and oils and
wholegrains in that order. Good quality protein is trimmed
meat of any kind, fish, chicken, whey protein concentrate
or isolate, eggs, or soft cheeses like cottage cheese. Some
vegetables and fruit also contains protein which is a
surprise to most people, but please just search Acai berry
and note that it actually contains more protein than eggs
per gram and is filled with essential amino acids which are
one of the main reasons we need to eat protein. (for more
info)
Protein helps us build the components of our bodies, the
tissues are all made of proteins and many of the
interactions in our bodies are catalyzed by amino acids, my
friends in biochemical research have told me that we do not
eat enough good quality protein any more. By good quality I
am talking about protein rich foods that have not been
cooked in saturated fats, or combined with other bad fats
like transfats, or hydrogenated fats.
However, we need fat in our diet, so do not avoid good
fats without adequate good quality lipids in our diet we
will suffer skin problems, immune deficiencies and hormonal
disorders. Good fats consist of oils and fats like virgin
olive oil, fish oil, primrose oil, coconut oil, and
more.
Wholegrains, are the only starchy grains we should be
putting into our diet, not those white overprocessed grains
that have the nutritional benefits of eating cardboard.
Wholegrains are full of the energy of life, and carry the
lipids (in the germ) and the fibre we need to create health
and vitality.
Are you starving in the face of plenty? Your body may be
starved for nutrients even though you are eating a lot. So
please take the time today to rethink your nutrition and
ask yourself, "Am I tired and stressed because of my
workload or because I do not feed my starving body the
nutrients it needs to give me the energy I need to work and
play hard?. Get on board the nutrient lifestyle revolution
and take charge of your heath today.