I’ve got great news …vibrant health which includes: immense energy, youthful countenances, sharp minds, positive outlooks, loving and giving dispositions with well functioning bodies are attainable for you and your family. The road to change can be an easy one if patience and persistence are practiced. Our bodies are complex organisms, which have an incredible ability to recover from illness and long-term abuse. Consider that your body is a structure that is not stagnant- it is ever changing. It is made of over 30 trillion cells. These cells are not the ones we were born with. Every moment cells are dying and being replaced with new cells. Therefore, we can be daily changing for the better or for the worse. Our bodies are our "health bank accounts". Our daily decisions and habits are either making deposits for health or withdrawals towards decline, which will eventually lead to sickness and disease. My desire is to give simple and attainable steps to embrace that will profoundly affect your family’s future. All the factors I discuss work synergistically. The combination of them is far more powerful than any one individual change. No one step will result in long-term health. This mountain can only be climbed one step at a time. The summit will be reached faster than we ever dreamed possible.
It has been said that we are what we eat. This is true on many different levels both spiritually and naturally. It is impossible to achieve a higher level of wellness for our families without evaluating how we are doing in this area. Once informed, we are empowered to make better decisions. This information can be built upon over time but in our "21 Days to Better Health" series we are considering areas of change that will produce the greatest effect.
A number of years ago my family traveled to Italy. I found it very interesting to visit a grocery store there. They were much smaller and according to American standards they were missing many isles, primarily those that could be considered junk isles. Have you ever noticed how many isles in the grocery store there are for canned, boxed, processed and refined foods. American groceries have at least double the isles for these foods when compared to the isles for fresh fruits and vegetables. The typical diet in the U.S. has been accurately given the acronym, S.A.D., for Standard American Diet. (I’ve mentioned this a number of times already- Im trying to get the point across- If we eat like everyone else, we will suffer the same diseases that the masses suffer) Truly, it is sad to see the huge consumption of nutritionally devoid food in our society. We are a grossly overweight yet a massively undernourished country. A proper diet is a foundational requirement of good health. It is a vital necessity. Our daily habits can either be those which help to build better health or those which work to destroy our health. Dietary changes require a strong commitment.
The American Cancer Society (ACS), publishes recommendations from a national panel of experts which express the most current scientific evidence related to dietary and activity patterns in the prevention of cancer. Their recommendations are consistent with the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association for the prevention of heart disease and diabetes. The ACS suggests that, next to smoking, poor diets and sedentary lifestyles are among the highest contributory factors that increase our risk for cancer.1 The ACS currently predicts that a U.S. male has a 47% chance of getting cancer and a U.S. female has a 38% chance of getting cancer in their lifetime. In addition, ACS has recommended eating 5 or more servings of fruit and vegetables each day for the prevention of cancer. Five is minimal. The United States Department of Agriculture has updated it suggesting requirements from what was 5 to 7 to currently 5 to 13 servings of fruits and vegetables each day. 2
A serving size is relatively small:
• 1/2 cup of fruit
• 1 medium piece of fruit
• 1 cup of leafy vegetables
• 1/2 cup of raw or cooked vegetables
These fruits and vegetables can be easily incorporated into our daily diets.
One of the most informative books I have that helps prepare live foods with ease and without sacrificing flavor is, “The World’s Healthiest Foods, “ by George Mateljan. It is a wonderful book full of information on the safety of food selection, nutritional richness, and food preparation from planning to storage. This book contains a wealth of information. In addition, his website at whfoods.org contains a weekly seven day meal plan with shopping lists included as well as extensive lists of recipes to choose from. The best part is that his recipes generally take around 30 minutes to prepare.
According to George Mateljan, “Research has now shown that even the genes we’ve inherited that render us more susceptible to various chronic diseases do not, inevitably, cause disease. Their damaging messages remain silent unless we make food, lifestyle or environmental choices that trigger them into action.”3 This is powerful. Our genes actually respond to the way we eat and how we live!!! We can make changes in our genes by our choices. This brings great hope to those who feel like they’ve made too many wrong decisions. New choices can bring new change even at a cellular level!!!! In other words, our genes do not have the final say in determining whether or not we are snared by disease. In fact, T. Colin Campbell, PhD, writes in his book, The China Study, that research “findings demonstrate that a good diet is the most powerful weapon we have against disease and sickness.”4 Dr. Campbell also overwhelmingly demonstrates that heart disease, diabetes, and obesity can be reversed by dietary changes.
Eliminating dead lifeless foods is an important step in our forward progress.
Avoiding foods that are calorie laden and devoid of nutrition becomes easier as we plan ahead to fill our shopping carts with better choices. For starters, make the daily goal of 5 fruits and vegetables per day. Think "color" when choosing fresh foods. Generally speaking the darker the color the richer the nutrient content. Also, think "variety", it is important to eat a rainbow of fresh color in our diet. Fruits and vegetables are nutrient rich foods. They are excellent sources of live enzymes, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, such as, flavanoids and carotenoids. These substances are well-documented protectants, against cancer, inflammation and other degenerative diseases. We hear a lot about the importance of anti-oxidants in aging well. Antioxidants counter the effects of oxygen in our bodies. Yes, I said oxygen- though it is vital to life there are side effects to its workings. When oxygen is used by our bodies its by-products are harmful substances called "free radicals". The primary sources of free radical production in our bodies are, breathing in oxygen and the process of converting oxygen into usable energy or ATP.
Consider what happens to a slice of apple or a bowl of guacamole sitting on your counter. It turns brown due to the effects of oxygen. A squeeze of a lemon, an anti-oxidant, can greatly reduce the speed of this process. Free radicals can actually attack our cell membranes, as well as, directly bind to and break DNA chains damaging our DNA and DNA repair processes. Our DNA is our genes or "blueprints", which dictate our bodies’ protein production for the making of all our tissues and organs. Anti-oxidants neutralize the free radicals produced in our body processes, as well as those that enter our bodies from external sources and render them harmless. We have anti-oxidants within our bodies that we produce which are called endogenous. There are hundreds of endogenous anti-oxidants but the most well known include lipoic acid, glutathione and CoQ10. We have a need to consume anti-oxidants, which cannot be made by our bodies called exogenous. There are four main exogenous anti-oxidants, which are, vitamins A, C, E and selenium. These can be easily remembered with the mnemonic “ACES.” It is important to note that while everyone needs to consume exogenous anti-oxidants there is a greater demand required by individuals who engage in prolonged strenuous exercise due to an increased free radical production resulting from breathing and energy production. Dr. Lester Packer, PH.D, a renowned expert in the field of anti-oxidants feels that we should supplement both exogenous and endogenous anti-oxidants because their production in the body declines with age.5
It is important to consider choosing organic foods whenever possible. They are more nutritionally concentrated but also absent of chemicals used in their growth and processing. These pesticide and additive free foods are especially important for children, beginning in utero, whose cells are reproducing at a more rapid rate and, due to their smaller body sizes, are more susceptible to the harmful effects of exposure to these toxins. A produce guide was created by a non-profit group called the Environmental Working Group (EWG). This guide ranks the top 12 pesticide laden fruits and vegetables on a list called the Dirty Dozen.6 It also gives the best 12 non-organic choices. A down-loadable guide for your wallet can be found at www.foodnews.org. The twelve worst are: peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, grapes (imported), pears, spinach, and potatoes. The non-organic produce found to be lowest in pesticides include: onions, avocados, sweet corn (frozen), pineapple, mango, sweet peas (frozen), asparagus, kiwi, bananas, cabbage, broccoli, and eggplant. Remember that washing produce will not eliminate pesticides, which are actually in the fruit and not just on the exterior surface. Adding fruits and vegetables is not the only change we need to make in our diets.
Having a good diet is definitely premeditated. I think that it is impossible to follow a good diet consistently unless I decide ahead of time what I am going to eat. This may mean a day or a week at a time. The important thing is that I am prepared and this preparation is definitely a path to success. Eat Live Food at Each Meal-You Won't Regret It!
References:
1. "Prevention and Early Detection." American Cancer Society. 02 Oct. 2006. American Cancer Society. 1 Jan. 2008
2. United States. U.S. Department of Agriculture. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005. 2005
3. Mateljan, George. The World's Healthiest Foods. 1st ed. Seattle: George Mateljan Foundation, 2006. 82.
4. Campbell, Phd., T. Colin, and Thomas M. Campbell, Ii. The China Study. 1st ed. Dallas: BenBella Books, Inc., 2006. 3.
5. Packer, Phd., Lester, and Carol Colman. The Antioxidant Miracle. 1st ed. Vol. 1. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1999. 9.
6. Murray, Melonie. "The 'Dirty Dozen' of Produce." The Environmental Working Group. 9 June 2007. 20 Sept. 2007
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