The Food We Eat
This first appeared in the RMAX Magazine, Volume 5, Issue 6. It is a continuation of the last blog and a further look at health.
Dear Friends – RMAXers,
We’ve been taking a closer look at three factors that contribute to creating health:
1. the food we eat
2. the amount and type of movement we engage in
3. the thoughts we have that are incorporated into our paradigm
Diet books are available in mass quantity at most book stores, TV commercials promote various foods as healthy and then years later as unhealthy (or vice versa), and you can even get a different opinion about what a healthy diet is based upon which doctor or nutritionist you ask. If you are confused about what to eat, you are not alone. I’m not going to debate the validity or invalidity of any single diet, because given the right circumstances almost any diet available can be argued to have some benefit for at least some length of time. Instead, I’m going to share some basic guidelines arrived at after several years of helping clients. First, let’s look at how to eat.
How you eat makes a difference in how your body will digest food. If you are in a mad rush, angry about something a co-worker just did, practically inhaling your food, and worried that by taking time for lunch you will miss your next deadline, your body will be dealing with each of those issues instead of priming itself to digest and assimilate nutrients. If the above is a rare event, you are likely to be OK. However, if you are wondering how I knew your personal eating habits, change might be in order.
To get the most out of your meal, try the following:
1. Take a few deep breaths and exhale deeply before you take your first bite.
2. Eat in a pleasant environment that will allow you to enjoy your surroundings, any company present, and your food.
3.Sit up straight as you eat. Slouching compresses your stomach, decreases your oxygen intake, and causes your muscles to work more than necessary.
4. Chew your food. The very first step in digestion is grinding your food in your mouth and mixing it with saliva. A number to shoot for is 25-35 chews per bite of food. This is probably the hardest thing for me to remember, and from the comments that others make, I am not alone. If it is irritating for you to count each time, try counting a few bites to see where you’re at. If what you are used to is less than 25-35, chew a few bites for 25-35 chews and notice the consistency of the food in your mouth before you swallow. It is the consistency and not the counting that matters.
5. When you are finished eating, take a few minutes to relax. Sit and breathe deeply, take a slow walk for 5-10 minutes, or practice a little Intu-Flow®.
When to eat is just as important as how you eat. Food is fuel, and just as you wouldn’t want to let your car’s gas tank run completely empty before you consider getting more gas, you don’t want your body to run on empty before giving it more fuel. You also don’t want to over-fill the tank so that it’s spilling out all over the place. Therefore, it is often best to eat several small meals each day instead of aiming for 3 larger ones. There are arguments for both versions of timing, but it has been my experience that people generally feel better, eat less, and make better food choices if they are eating more often. Many of them even report sleeping better. If you deal with fatigue, eating small but frequent meals can be especially important.
Another important factor of ‘when’ includes eating within an hour of waking each morning. Your body has just gone through several hours without refueling and it needs new nutrients. Your awareness might have been sleeping, but your body was busy rebuilding and repairing. Eating something healthy first thing in the morning gives you a fresh fuel source and helps to prevent you from being so hungry later that you eat whatever is available. If you are not hungry in the morning, it may be an indication of a health problem, the result of over-consumption the previous night, or it might simply be habit. Try eating something healthy for breakfast for at least two months, and if you’re still not hungry in the mornings, then make an appointment with a health care practitioner to get help determining why.
If you regularly wake between 2 – 4 a.m. and have difficulty going back to sleep, a possible cause is that your blood sugar values are dropping lower than your body prefers. Keeping a small, balanced snack by the bed to take a couple of bites of if you wake during those early hours may help you return to sleep. If this is occurring, you may be experiencing hypoglycemia, diabetic issues, or adrenal dysfunction and it would be wise for you to seek professional help.
Now let’s look at what to eat. Over the years I made various lists to hand out to patients when they asked about what to eat, especially for people who didn’t want to read any of the books I thought had value. These grew and shrank in size as I worked to figure out how best to help people and as I gained more knowledge. Some people would easily make healthy changes with noticeable results, while others struggled. I finally wised up and started having those who asked bring me lists of what they were currently eating while handing out the same lists of what I considered optimal for them to eat. I quickly realized why some took to it and others didn’t. Much to my ego’s dismay, the lists I worked so hard to come up with had nothing to do with people’s ability to begin making healthier food choices. What had made the difference was the amount of distance between what they currently ate and what was considered optimal. If they were close, they made the changes easily and saw the results. If they weren’t, then they would try for a bit but ultimately give up and go back to their previous habits. Rarely someone would succeed at implementing and maintaining a big jump in habit, but that person was the exception.
Since that time I have altered my list to a very small one, and I realized that while what to eat is important, it is equally if not more important to help people figure out how to transition from their current to a more optimal diet. Perfection is not necessary; consistently building better habits is what counts. Studies indicate that it is only necessary to stick to healthy eating 80-90% of the time in order to see results, and the experiences of my clients also reflect this.
Now if you are ready for my list of what to eat, here it is:
· Whole foods (Not the store, but actual, whole foods)
· High quality water
I told you that the list had become quite small. Once a person gets the hang of eating whole foods, then considering how to rearrange his diet so that it best fits his unique needs is worthwhile. Until a person can get the hang of eating whole foods and being consistent with it, he will have difficulty sticking to any of the other more fine-tuned (and often restrictive) diets.
Because the audience reading this column is diverse, I’ve put together a fairly simple step by step plan that can make transitioning easier. If you have already mastered one or more of the steps, progress to the next one. By taking the steps in order you are likely to see the most benefits and be able to integrate the changes into your life as habits. This is not a race! With the exception of the first step, which will last for one week, the rest of the steps may take you 1-2 months to become comfortable with. If they are taking longer, you may be procrastinating because you think the next step too difficult. If it has been two months, try the next step for at least one week and then decide if you need to go back. If possible, though, keep moving forward through the steps at least every couple of months. Some people will be able to get the hang of a step within a few weeks. If you are that type of person that’s fine, but remember, this is not a race and you don’t get bonus points for pushing yourself too quickly. This is also a good time to remind you that I am not your doctor and that you should always consult your health care team before beginning this or any other lifestyle change that might affect your health.
For ease, I’ll use the following definitions and guidelines:
1. A healthy and nutritious diet is one that contains whole foods and high quality water. Consuming only these things 80-90% of the time is adequate for results in most people.
2. For the purposes of establishing a baseline, eating every 4 hours is optimal…alternate meal, snack, meal, snack to meet that guideline.
3. Each meal and snack should have some of each: high quality protein, complex carbohydrates, and good quality fat.
With those things in mind:
- Step 1: Log what you are eating and drinking for a week to become aware of your actual consumption.
- Step 2: Keep logging everything you eat and drink. Eat breakfast within an hour of waking and make it an ideal meal.
- Step 3: Bump up water intake to somewhere between 2-4 liters.
- Step 4: Start working on eating every 4 hours by having balanced whole food snacks or converting current snacks to balanced whole food snacks.
- Step 5: Start switching from highly processed to lightly or unprocessed foods.
- Step 6: Make any highly processed foods the last thing eaten at the end of a healthy meal, and only eat them then.
- Step 7: If they aren’t already part of your diet, add vegetables and fruits (fresh or frozen to avoid extra ingredients) in a 3:1 ratio.
- Step 8: Start dropping highly processed foods until you eat them at 0-15% of your meals.
- Step 9: Maintain. By this point in the transitioning process, most people will be eating healthy foods that are well timed to meet their energy needs. Many people will no longer be craving sweets, nor eating them with great frequency. Sweets will be minimized to once every month or two, mostly because you simply don’t want them any longer. Therefore, step 9 is to maintain all of the good habits that you have now created.
Once you have maintained these habits for at least 6 months, and if you want to experiment with other diets which might be better suited specifically for you, a baseline has been established for you to compare to. Some of those diets include the Schwarzbein Principle Diet, the Metabolic Typing Diet, the Healthy for Life Diet, the Rosedale Diet, the Paleo Diet, the Atkins Diet, the Macrobiotic Diet, The Sugar Addicts Diet, and the list goes on. Please keep in mind that with any diet you might decide to explore you should still always feel at least as good, if not better, than you do with the current diet you are eating. If you do not feel better with the new diet, switch back and find balance again before trying a different one.
If you have the permission of your healthcare team and you try the above steps but are unable to stick with them, consult with your doctor again and consider reading Kathleen DesMaisons, Your Last Diet. There may be a health condition that is making it difficult for you to stick with the basic guidelines, or you may have special metabolic needs.
Until next time, may your actions today create a healthier you tomorrow.
Best regards,
Dr. Kathryn Woodall, DC, CST
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This column does not form a doctor patient relationship with Dr. Woodall or any guest commentator. You should always seek the guidance of your health care professional(s) prior to implementing changes that might impact your health.
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