Nutrition                  Back to Alternative Health     Home

Nutrition Fabulous website with really thorough information about holistic nutrition!  I quote it in part below. Twelve Steps to Healthy Eating 1. Eat lots of cooked vegetables including green leafy vegetables. 2. Eat mostly cooked and warm foods where possible (with occasional salads). Use foods prepared within 24 hours when possible. 3. Eat meals on a regular schedule where possible. 4. Eat fruit on occasion only and separate from meals when possible. Slightly more fruit in the warmer months and very little in the colder months. 5. Gradually cut back on dairy or cut it out entirely. Try to limit dairy (eventually) to occasional yogurt or kefir from a natural food store. (Unhomogenized milk is preferable when used.) 6. Eat miso soup several times per week and include the occasional use of other traditionally fermented dishes. 7. Gradually eliminate foods with additives, preservatives, caffeinated products, coloring, MSG/hydrolyzed proteins, artificial sweeteners (aspartame, neotame, acesulfame-k, sucralose, etc.), and chemical names in the ingredient list that you are not sure of. Shopping regularly at a natural foods store will make it much easier to find such products. The occasional "treat" can be replaced with healthier "treats" from a natural food store. 8. Determine with some experimentation what balance of vegetables and sea vegetables, whole grains, fish/fowl, legumes, fruits, nuts, seeds, juices, herbal teas/coffee substitutes/spring water, and treats/snacks works best for you. You may decide to regularly take a concentrated food supplement or individual supplements (e.g., magnesium, calcium, B Vitamins) until your health and nutrition plan improves. Use health food store natural supplements without additives sweeteners, fillers, etc. 9. Shop for foods at a natural food store and wherever possible, purchase organic foods. If you need to, purchase staple foods via mail-order outlets. 10. Purchase natural foods cookbooks such as those recommended in Food and Nutrition article to help you with cooking techniques and recipes. Locate ethnic and other restaurants with healthy foods so you can give yourself a break from time to time. 12. Food cravings can be handled best by using holistic healing tools such as taking classes in yoga, meditation, moderate exercise and using a Twelve Stop Program (e.g., Overeater's Anonymous) for addictions. Getting small, regular amounts of protein at meals (e.g., legumes, fish, tofu, etc.) can help reduce sugar and other cravings. * When cooking and eating (including eating at restaurants) try to have a spirit of love and joy in your heart and serenity in your mind. Of course, this isn't always possible, so just do the best you can.

The Ideal Natural Foods Diet

The Ideal Natural Foods Diet is one where you (the reader) use your own knowledge and intuition to decide what your body needs.  I sincerely hope that you do not use the ideas below as rigid rules, but instead, use them as suggested guidelines as you develop your own personal inner feeling as to what food your body needs.

As your nutrition plan gradually improves, please practice deciding for yourself what food your body needs rather than relying on what I say or what a well-known author says. So, have fun and don't get too rigid using someone's dietary rules. In the long run, this usually provides the best nutrition for your body. Any regular practice that helps you get in touch with your own inner feelings and process can help develop the ability to know what foods your body needs. Practices such as meditation, yoga, tai chi/ qigong, etc. are practices that can be helpful in this regard and may someday be something you would like to experiment with by taking a class.


Regular, Gradual Improvement without Obsessing

It is much easier for most people to change their diet over time at a comfortable pace. It is also important to not obsess constantly about improving your diet and to not beat yourself up if you don't have a "perfect" diet. Making dietetic changes too quickly may make you uptight and cause you to feel deprived. On the other hand, making no dietetic changes from a S.A.D. over time can slow your healing progress.

The following is a list of some of the problems that could occur if a person is too restrictive with their diet:

* Causes feelings of deprivation and emotional stress which can actually make some health problems worse.

* Tends to take focus away from other activities that can be extremely important in the complete healing process such as enjoyment and nurturing activities, fun, stress relief, and inner healing & transformation techniques.

* Makes it easier to fall into the trap that a temporary reduction of symptoms through a restrictive diet is the equivalent to being on the road to complete healing.

* May set you up for midnight binges and overeating.

There are cases where a very strict diet may be indicated. But this is usually where severe reactions cannot be eliminated any other way. Otherwise, please remember that these are lifestyle changes are best done gradually.

I like to eat a relatively healthy, natural foods diet, but I have fun with it by not being too restrictive. Please do not use any of the ideas below to make yourself feel guilty. The goal should be gradual progress not perfection.


How to Move to a Natural Foods Diet

There is an enormous amount of useful information in this article. But please do not be intimidated into thinking that everything has to be changed at once.

An excellent way to start the process is the perform the following steps:

1. Locate Natural Foods / Health Foods stores in your area.
2.  Purchase Natural Foods cookbooks and begin experimenting. (See
Holistic Healing Web Page/Amazon.Com bookstore.
3. Purchase other books on Natural Foods Diet and Chinese/Ayurvedic Nutrition. (See Holistic Healing Web Page/Amazon.Com bookstore
4. Ask at local Natural Foods stores about cooking classes.
5. If you have difficulty making changes over time, don't worry about it. Try committing experimenting with one of the Inner Healing & Transformation techniques discussed on this web page. These techniques (especially the body-oriented and inner peace-oriented techniques) can be enormously helpful in reducing cravings and/or addressing eating disorders over time.



Techniques & Resources


Natural Foods Diet

What follows is a description of a natural foods diet that you can make progress towards. Please go at your own pace.

Common Ingredients

* Vegetables (Cooked and Salads)
* Whole grains
* Fish, Fowl, and other meat
* Legumes (beans)
* Sea Vegetables
* Fruits
* Nuts
* Seeds
* Dairy & Eggs (Small amounts or none)
* Herbal teas and coffee substitutes
* Juices
* Herbs, spices, sea salt, tamari, unrefined sesame oil/sesame oil (excellent source for essential fatty acids), virgin olive oil, natural sweeteners (maple syrup, rice syrup, barley malt, stevia, etc.)
* Spring water for cooking and drinking

The bulk of the diet consists of a wide variety of foods within the follow main categories:

* vegetables
* whole grains
* fish, fowl, or other meat
* legumes
* sea vegetables
* freshly made juices, herbal teas, and coffee substitutes


Helpful Tips

While it can be counterproductive to create "dietary rules," here are some general tips that many people have found helpful.

Shopping For Foods

If possible, do most of your food shopping at a natural foods store. In some cities, there are large natural food grocery stores that are not unlike modern supermarkets in that they have an enormous selection of products. There are smaller health food stores that can also provide many of the food products needed for a healthier diet. There are some health food stores that sell little more than food supplements and may not be useful for you in putting together a healthy diet.

In order to find a natural foods grocery store:

* Look in the phone book under "Health Food Stores."

*
Company resources for Healthy Foods & Organic Foods web page is a good place to look for links to health food stores, co-ops, and other resources.

* Ask local holistic healthcare practitioners (e.g., acupuncturists, chiropractors, herbalists).

* Ask friends who eat a healthy diet.

* Contact people in nearby cities where there might be a natural foods grocery store that you could visit on occasion to stock up.

* Contact a major health food store chain for information on stores in your area.

If you cannot find any natural food stores in your area, there are a number of other options:

* Shop at a large local supermarket. Many supermarkets have a small "natural foods" section. In addition, one can purchase whole grains, meats, vegetables, fruits, legumes, etc. Just try to avoid most of the highly processed foods that often make up the bulk of what is sold at some supermarkets.

* Get fresh vegetables, fruits, and whatever else is possible at local farmers' markets or farm stands. It may take some effort to locate these places, but it can be worth it. Try to get certified organic produce where possible (Buying organic is especially important for soy products, corn, and potatoes).

* Many staple foods can be ordered through the mail. See the Resources section at the end of this article for mail-order sources of natural foods.

I do want to stress, however, that just because you shop at a natural food store does not mean that everything there is healthy. Some health food stores sell some products that can actually be quite detrimental to your health (e.g., aspartame (NutraSweet), neotame, acesulfame-k (Sweet-n-Safe, Sunette), sucralose (Splenda) and other toxic artificial sweeteners, MSG, etc.). Reading labels is a good habit to have wherever you shop.

Variety

Try to eat a variety of foods within each main category listed above, especially vegetables. In addition, try to get a wide variety of cooked green, leafy vegetables such as collard greens, beet greens, mustard greens, etc.

An enormous variety of very tasty meals can be made with a little bit of practice and some good cookbooks. Please see the Holistic Healing Web Page/Amazon.Com bookstore for some cookbook titles.

Balance of Foods

There are many conflicting opinions on what the best balance of foods are for people. Most people now agree that a diet that is balanced for one person may be intolerable for another. Some people have enormous success with a traditional natural foods diet as presented by authors such as Dr. Dean Ornish or Annamarie Colbin, while others have more success with a different way of balancing one's diet such as that prescribed by Dr. Barry Sears in his book, "Enter The Zone." (Note: I believe that there is too much artificial, junk food allowed in the Zone Diet and that staying on it for *years* may not be healthy, but the ideas about macronutrient balance may be very helpful to many people.)

What works for you may take a little bit of experimenting. I suggest that you look eat each of the ideas for balancing types of foods and find out what works best for you through experimentation- But keep in mind the following two very important points:
* Whatever balance of foods you choose, you can still have the majority of your diet made up of natural, healthy foods; and
* Your food needs will likely change over time. For example, for several years you may start out eating a small percentage of whole grains and more meat and fat as described by Barry Sears, but over time as your health improves using nutrition and other possible healing techniques (e.g., Tai Chi, Yoga, Herbalism, Acupuncture, Bioenergetics, Meditation, Qigong, etc.), you may find it more beneficial to move towards a natural foods diet as described by Annamarie Colbin. In addition, as your health improves you may find the ability to eat foods that you could not tolerate years earlier because they caused wild insulin swings or because of allergic and intolerance reactions.

The following examples dietary percentages are meant to give you a general idea of what a balanced diet might look like for one person. These percentages would vary widely depending upon several circumstances.

20-40% whole grains
20-30% vegetables
10-15% legumes
0-10% sea vegetables
5-15% fish or other meat
5-10% fruits (mostly in the warmer months)
10-15% herbal teas, coffee substitutes, freshly-made juices, Spring water, etc.
0-10% Organic dairy, ghee & eggs
5-10% other (spices -- ginger, turmeric, etc., seeds, nuts, cooking oils, etc.)

Some people have difficulty digesting whole grains. If that is the case, try using soba (buckwheat) noodles (which can be purchased at a Natural Foods store or Japanese grocery store) to see if that helps. For others, eating too much grain causes them to crave large amounts of carbohydrates. In these cases, increase the use of vegetables and meat with the knowledge that you may find it beneficial to begin adding more whole grains to your diet several months or years later as your health and condition allows.

As an example, many persons with chronic immune system disorders, carbohydrate cravings, excess weight and other conditions feel much better if they start off with a diet that includes fewer carbohydrates and more protein in the form of fish and chicken:

10-20% meat (mostly a variety of fish + a small to moderate amount of "organic" fowl or red meat)
20-40% vegetables (including green, leafy vegetables)
5-15% sea vegetables
10-15% herbal teas, and coffee substitutes, and other healthy beverages (see below)
5-15% grains and/or buckwheat (soba) or udon noodles (chewed very well)
5-10% legumes
0-10% dairy and eggs
5-10% other (e.g., fruit if tolerated -- separate from meal)

Forcing large amounts of whole grains in your system if it cannot handle it is not a good idea. Over a long period of time and as the body heals using a healthy diet and other important techniques, it is preferable to gradually add more whole grains into the diet. You will have to find out what your body needs and tolerates with some experimentation.

I suggest reading some of the books listed in the resource section by Annamarie Colbin, Dr. Dean Ornish, and Dr. Barry Sears. Please try not to get overly caught up in all of the theories. The important thing is to take the steps necessary to find what works best for you and keep open to future changes as you condition changes.

Variations

* Climate

In colder climates, it is traditional to eat slightly more root vegetables, meat and heavier grains (e.g., buckwheat, barley), and much less fruit. In warmer climates, it is traditional to eat more lighter grains, more green leafy vegetables, more salads, slightly more fruit, and less meat. However, these subtleties take a back seat to eating whatever balance feels most comfortable during your healing process.

* Individual

This is the most important variation. Please try to avoid obsessing about percentages of food categories. Over time, you can work towards the very approximate percentages that feel right for you.

A holistic health practitioner can give you a diet to suit your needs. In general, start out by gradually moving towards a diet that includes plenty of vegetables, some whole grains, some legumes, some meat, a small, but regular amount of various sea vegetables, regular use of small amounts of natural cooking oils or ground seeds, a limited amount of fruit (although more in the warmer climates is fine), some herb teas or other beverages, and some treats from time to time. Then vary it over time to find out what works best for you.

* Illness

Some illnesses make it necessary to vary the percentages of food eaten. For example some people cannot easily tolerate whole grains. In this case, it is important to try to incorporate easily digestible grain products such as soba (buckwheat) noodles or even baby food made from whole grain. If it is still not possible, you may want to consider whether you have a gluten intolerance. (See the Gluten-Free Web Page for more information.) You may also need to take regular supplementation as discussed later.

Try to do whatever you can to include some food from the main food categories. However, if it is not possible, then don't worry. As your health improves, you may eventually be able to incorporate easily digestible foods from categories that you may not be able to tolerate at this time.