We currently live in a world full of abundance in food varieties. However, there is a lot of confusion and misconception about what is really healthy and good for the body. What am I really supposed to eat to feel my best and stay young? Do I really have to count the calories, look at carbs, fats and protein? In this post I’m gonna shed some light into this matter by providing an easy guideline you can always use to decide what to buy and eat, no matter where you are.
When you follow these 5 guidelines you will feel your best, have great energy, love your body as you will gradually get to your optimum weight and be able to keep it.
1) Avoid processed food and opt for whole food
This is the most important one! If you apply this guideline successfully, you will experience a big positive change!
Processing destroys, changes and strips nutrients in the food and can potentially make it harmful for our body. The easiest way to know whether a food is processed or not is to check the ingredient list. If there is a long one with many chemical words you don’t understand: Highly processed – better leave it! If it contains less than five: Limit the amount of intake. If there is none: Congrats!! You found unprocessed food, which is mostly vegetables including sea vegetables, fruits, legumes, grains, nuts, seeds, meat and fish.
Eat the whole food with all their edible parts, as nature provides them. E.g. fruits and vegetables instead of juices, beans instead of tofu/meat substitutes, whole grains instead of refined flour etc.
When you eat the whole food you will benefit from the balance of nutrients inside. Many nutrients require other ones to be absorbed and used by the body. If you only eat parts of it, it will create an imbalance that will drain your body of certain nutrients, because our body will take the missing ones from e.g. our bones in order to digest and absorb the food. This imbalance can weaken our body and create diseases such as cavities or osteoporosis. I will give more insights to this point in a future post =).
Moreover, whole, unprocessed food provides you with the life energy of the food. You will notice that you will feel more energised and have a better mood after eating whole foods 😉
2) Fresh & Organic
Try to eat as much fresh food as possible and avoid/limit your intake of canned and frozen food. Some people might argue that frozen food contains more vitamins, minerals etc. This might be true when in a frozen state. However, freezing destroys the cell wall of our food, thus when we cook it or defrost it, it loses its shape. As normally the cell wall keeps the major nutrients within the food, the nutrients will leave the food much much faster as soon as defrosted or cooked. Furthermore, the life energy of the food is destroyed by canning and freezing. If you ever payed attention, you can feel that it is not as satisfying to have frozen or canned food, right? Trust your body!
It goes without saying that eating any irradiated or genetically engineered food as well as any chemical additives, colorings and preservatives is not good. It messes with your body and I believe this is not what you want. So the best way to avoid all that junk is by buying organic whenever possible. I know, it’s way more expensive, but it is worth the investment. Think this way: By eating organically grown food you limit your intake of toxins that comes with commercially grown ones. Less toxins within the body means less diseases! Therefore, investing in organic food will not only make you feel better, but will ultimately save you way more money that would otherwise go to the pharma industry or hospitals.
I know, it is unfortunately not always possible to buy organic. A simple rule of when it will make a huge difference to buy organic is if you want to eat the outer layer of the food, e.g. apples, strawberries; while you can buy e.g. non-organic bananas or oranges . This is because most of the toxins is in the skin.
3) Seasonal & Local
Eat more vegetables and fruits that are in season and local! This way you will stay in harmony with your environment, which will make you feel your best! Summery and raw foods usually have a cooling effect, while Winter foods have a warming effect. This is why I don’t believe in a long term raw foods diet, as it is only sustainable in a warm climate. It will make you miserably cold during Winter and is not what nature intends us to do. Believe me, I tried that myself!
Furthermore, I also try to buy local produce whenever possible, as it is also way better for the environment, because it doesn’t require that much transportation, which contributes to freshness 😉 Moreover, buying seasonal and local food is usually cheaper AND taste better! You can totally taste the difference! Local strawberries or tomatoes here taste sooo much sweeter than imported ones!
4) Balanced
The key to health is balance! I cannot stress this enough, because I used to make the mistake of eating way too much of a certain food, because I thought it to be healthy. Yes, I used to be totally oblivious to my body’s signals and only trusted scientific reasonings. Please always listen to your body. No matter how healthy a food is considered to be, too much of anything is always bad! So eat lots of different foods, variety is the key! To keep things simple: Eat rainbowful with lots of colors, different textures and flavours. I like to eat mostly vegetables and take grains and legumes as a sider. As a snack I prefer nuts and fruits. I found this to work very well to keep a good acid/alkaline balance.
5) Delicious
I believe one can’t stick to a healthy diet if it doesn’t taste good, right? So add flavours to your food! Well, this is how I flavour my food: I use sea salt (way better than table salt, because it contains many minerals), whole cane sugar or maple syrup to sweeten, pepper, different herbs and spices. Occasionally I like to use some soy sauce, chilli and curry as well. Play around with it and you’ll be delighted by the many natural flavours our earth has to offer!
If something tastes good, we’ll usually digest it better because we’ll produce more saliva and usually chew longer. I hope you do chew your food well until it’s liquid!! This totally improved my digestion!
BECAUSE: Better digestion = more energy for your brain, for detox and repair => ANTI-AGING and better overall performance!
Lastly, I want to point out that eating healthily is never about depriving yourself! Food is our best friend! I like to live by the 20/80 rule – 20% indulgence and 80% healthy. So if you feel like having chocolate, please do it! No need to feel bad about it as long as 80% of your food intake is healthy. Life is way too short not to enjoy it =)
If you find this post helpful, please share it with your loved ones, so they can benefit from this knowledge. Sharing is caring! =)
, which is very easy, 
.
tastes almost like parmesan, you can also use grated cashews as a topping for pasta. 