Good Nutrition Starts in Your Pantry!

Anyone trying to get healthy by dieting, exercise, or taking mega doses of supplements?  I know,  in the past, I’ve tried it all!  As a health ambassador currently studying to be a nutrition consultant,  one thing my professors impress upon me daily is “food effects function”. You can actually ditch the diet, most of the supplements and your boot camp membership in trade for mega servings of vegetables, less meat, lots of fresh fruit, and walks in the park.  It will do the body wonders!  It’s simply amazing.

I have a friend that recently decided to end an affair with meat, dairy products and processed foods that mostly contained sugar and guess what happened.  80% of his health complaints vanished! I’m talking about aching joints, cramps, constant headaches, fatigue, and numbness in the extremities gone!!!  It’s been replaced with a body that is 45 pounds lighter, more energy, and a very positive outlook, all in just a few months.

Sounds simple, but without guiding principles, it can be tough.  A good resource, especially if you are a Christian, would be “The Daniel Plan” based on the Old Testament book of Daniel.  Another good resource is “What the Bible Says About Healthy Eating“.  This book contains a list of all the clean and unclean foods listed in the Old Testament and tells you why, in scientific and medical terms, this has been proven true over and over.  Although everything was deemed “clean” after Jesus came, not everything is beneficial for our body.  God’s laws still hold true.  Amazing stuff to read about!

When your ready to begin, you need to have a day set aside to clean out and restock your pantry.  It’s important to do it all at once.  This way, you are not tempted to resort to your old standbys at night when your watching TV, or when you are running out the door to work.  The “bar” you grab on the way to work can be replaced with fresh fruit, or a healthy pea protein drink, or a bowl of whole grain oatmeal with bananas, walnuts, and honey!  The chips for your movie marathon might be replaced with raw almonds, veggies and dip, nut butters and fruit, or some whole grain organic pop corn popped in coconut oil.  Sounds pretty good, huh?

The meat served with every meal, needs to be minimized in your life, and maybe even eliminated for a period of time, to get the digestive tract working well.  It needs to be replaced with whole grain pastas, all kinds of beans, and fresh veggies, either raw, stir fried in olive oil, steamed or baked!  There’s so many to choose from.  Enjoy Sweet potatoes, edaname, all kinds of peas, brussels, broccoli, carrots, squashes, egg plant and more.  You could change your regular salad up with baby spinach, baby kale, Roma tomatoes, cucumbers, and sprouts!  Add some nuts, seeds, apples, croutons, and dressing that is all natural to jazz it up!   For your whole grains try quinoa, buckwheat (makes excellent pancakes), and brown rice.  For some great vegetarian recipes get Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s book, “Eat to Live Quick and Easy Cookbook”.

To continue to be successful, remember that it all starts in the pantry.  Make sure your pantry is full of “grab and goes” that are healthy.  Also, don’t let your staples run out for cooking.  Once a week shopping is key for eating healthy.  Fresh produce and fruit goes bad after about a week.  Buy what you need for the week and head to the store again.  This is not an eating plan for your Costco run! Although… Costco can help you out with fresh water.  You definitely need to increase your intake if you are not drinking at least three bottles a day of fresh, pure spring water.  Spring water is my favorite because it contains minerals.

Do you need to become a vegetarian to become healthy?  Absolutely not, but….. with compromised fiber intake, which most of us suffer from because of low raw vegetable and fruit intake and “store-bought” low fiber breads,  it’s very hard to digest meat. Waste deposits are left inside the body, including hard fats that wreak havoc on our health.  This affects almost every system in the body.  Giving the body a rest from so much meat and increasing fruit and vegetable intake will assist the body to eliminate trapped waste which will leave you feeling better than you have in years.  When you decide to add meat back into the diet, decrease your portion size and keep up your new plentiful portions of fruits, veggies, and whole grains.  You’ll be feeling better before you know it!