Healthy Diet

What constitutes a healthy diet is really very simple.  It's lot of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, organic as often as possible.  A healthy diet includes a small amount of fat, what are termed essential fatty acids, and very little, if any, meat, dairy or sweets.  The USDA's new food pyramid illustrates this.

There is so much information available "out there" on healthy eating that we're going concentrate more on tips for how to ease into a healthy diet if you're not eating one now. 

We suggest that you first analyze your eating habits.  Figure out the ones you're the LEAST attached to and start working on those first.  The idea is to make as many improvements that aren't TOO hard, so that the dreaded feeling of deprivation doesn't set in before you start to actually feel and look better.  Substitute wherever you can.

Here are some ways to begin substituting.

Instead of frying (unless it's stir-frying), eat foods that are baked, broiled or steamed.

Instead of a candy bar or pastry in the late morning or late afternoon, eat an apple a day.

Instead of ice cream, try frozen yogurt or sherbet.

Instead of half and half or non-dairy creamer, use low-fat milk or creamy soy milk in coffee and tea.

Instead of dessert, try a piece of hard candy.

Instead of gravy, salsa!  This is shorthand for suggesting you increase spice to make up the loss of flavor from fat content in food.  If spicy food doesn't agree with you, go at it slowly.  If you try food-combining  and taking digestive enzymes, your digestion can improve and become able to accomodate more spice and fiber.  Try out ethnic restaurants and ask for the mild foods. 

Instead of a hamburger, the salad bar.  Use lemon wedges along with a bit of salad dressing.  Instead of pouring the dressing all over the salad (no savings in fat content here!), keep it in a little container on the side and dip the veggies into it, just enough to give the bite flavor.

While cooking:  Halve the amount of oil suggested.  (This won't work in baking, but it will in most everything else.)

  –  Instead of whole eggs, use an egg white with a tablespoon of fresh vegetable oil.
  –  Buy liquid lecithin as a pan coating when frying or sautéing.
  –  Try substituting tempeh (ask for it at the health food store) in recipes that call for chicken.
  –  Try sliced, crumbled or cubed, well-drained tofu in recipes that call for cheese. 
  –  Try the Italian Model.

It's very important to add flaxseed oil to your diet.  The reason is that it can satisfy your nutritional need for essential fatty acids which are critical to your health.  Some people have found that it satisfied their cravings so effectively that they lost weight without dieting.  You need a tablespoon a day.  Buy flaxseed oil refrigerated at the health food store or as flax seed oil capsules.  Yes, a bit pricey, but the cost-to-benefit ratio is very high.  Among it's many benefits, flax seed oil has been shown to help reduce high blood pressure and other cardio-vascular problems.  It's also being researched as an anti-cancer agent. 

Actually a very important part of your food improvement program is your exercise improvement program.  Increase your level of exercise at this same time, especially walking!  It doesn't have the emotional overtones that food does.

For more tips while eating out or traveling, see our post-detox traveling suggestions.

If you're finally ready to get healthy, read Jeffrey Bland, Ph.D.'s  20-Day Rejuvenation Diet.

And when you're really ready for the truth, read Diet for a New America by John Robbins. 

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