Basic Nutrition for Health is something we all need to understand the importance of.
Ask yourself, what role does nutrition play in the quality of your life?
How do you make sure you are getting adequate nutrition?
You’ve all heard how we are in danger of becoming a “fast food” society where people choose to eat from packages in front of the tv or on the go, in the car, at their desks etc. It seems that eating natural food is low down on the priority list for many as they race around day to day. For these people, eating is a mindless act of “this tastes good” and then “I’m full”.
I like to believe there is a movement taking place because of all the information available to us now, where more and more people are becoming aware of the importance of nutrition and taking action to eat food closer to it’s natural state. This has given rise to the “paleo” & “clean eating” diets.
Smart people eat food in it’s natural state because smart people know this is how you get adequate nutrition – nature provides all the protein, fats and carbs you need to live a healthy lifestyle.
Humans are very good at storing fat.
An example I learnt while studying nutrition is that our bodies only need 1tsp sugar in circulation at any given time. Anything excess to this is stored as fat. You end up wearing anything in excess of 1tsp of sugar on your body as fat. Those energy drinks? 8-13 tsp of sugar. That can of coke? 9-13tsp of sugar. That’s far more sugar than your body wants or needs, so it has a bit of a stress then stores it as fat.
“A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips”.
Our bodies work very hard to keep us alive. Your body is made of trillions of cells. The long and short of it is, every cell in your body requires adequate nutrition – vitamins and minerals – to function effectively. When you eat shit that is made in a factory with smoke pouring out the chimney then wrapped in plastic, your body is put under unnatural stress plus your cells turn to shit. “You are what you eat”. Think of your cells as happy or sad faces always at work to keep your body alive, cells with adequate nutrition to work with are happy faces and cells with shit to work with are sad faces.
🙂 🙂 🙂
😦 😦 😦
Sad faces scream out to your brain for more food – for nutrition – so you are never really satisfied and you are left searching the cupboards/staring into the fridge for more food.
Happy faces are satisfied. They work away effectively and keep your body alive and thriving. Plant based foods are the closest thing we have to a fountain of youth.
We’ve all heard that it is beneficial to keep blood sugar levels stable by eating six small, clean meals per day. But what does this look like?
Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. Make 38/40 meals in the week clean, natural meals and save your “cheats” for a wine on a Friday or ice cream with the kids, fish n chips on date night etc. That’s how you make it a lifestyle thing.
Keep your natural food simple – if it was grown in the ground or had legs and was walking on earth – that is where you should get your energy from!
I am a Dr Libby fan and own her Real Food cookbook. She says something to the effect of, all the nutrients we need are in the soil but we cannot eat the soil therefore we need to eat the plants which obtain their nutrients from the soil.
I think of it as we are natural energy and therefore need to eat natural energy for our bodies to work efficiently.
Smoothies – plants like fruit and veges, chia seeds, nuts etc.
Plants – go crazy and eat veges for breakfast! My fave brekkie is kumara chips with avocado and bacon.
Plants – fruits with chia seeds and rolled oats (add protein powder is desired)
Meat – yes, bacon. Yes, good quality sausage (although watch the sodium)?, chicken and veg, yes you can have dinner for breakfast and breakfast for dinner when eating clean, natural meals so go hard on your dinner left overs!
Plant based – have you tried buckwheat flour? It is not a wheat, it is actually related to the rhubarb and contains loads of protein.
Almond meal, oat flour or buckwheat flour pancakes with real maple syrup/honey and fruit.
I hope these breakfast examples give you an idea of natural eating.
*snacks, lunch and dinner to follow*
Rest and digest.
This is what a smart person does.
As humans, our bodies have evolved to be in either “flight or fight” or “rest and digest” mode. Our super tough ancestors would be out hunting (flight or fight) and so our systems worked for us by pumping blood to our extremities (arms and legs) so that we could run, jump and generally be action heros.
Once we had finished the hunt and were sitting around the fireplace eating our win, we would be in “rest and digest” aka the “parasympathetic state” and our blood was being pumped to our digestive systems so we could optimize the nutritional value of food.
Now we still go into these states. So the smart thing to do is to make it work for us. When we eat, we should do so in a relaxes, rested state where we concentrate solely on enjoying our meal and enjoying the company of those around us.
What does this look like?
Breakfast – your smoothie is blended/your paleo banana bread is sliced with home made nut butter spread on (I call this monkey nut breakfast) and you are sitting down with your kids/husband/flatmates having a laugh about how grumpy so and so is when they wake up. Also, put aside 10min to make love to your coffee.
Lunch – away from your desk, sitting outdoors or by the window, breathing deeply and calmly, watching the day go by. Be connected to your surroundings. Is it sunny? Is it rainy? Perhaps reflect on how lucky you are to have that delicious leftover pork roast/chickpea feta salad for your lunch today and how happy it makes you feel that you are working with your body to rest and digest.
Dinner – around the table, listening to your loved ones about their lives.
Snacks – can’t get away from the desk? Use your breath to create a feeling of calm before you eat that homemade chocolate bliss ball/fruit and almonds.
I hope this has been helpful as a way to change the way you look at food/meals.
My partner and I have changed our lifestyle and from April 2014 – Jan 2015 he has lost 11kg! He said he lost it “without trying” (because I do the cooking haha).
“When you eat right and exercise, the weight takes care of itself”.
I myself have lost 28kg and gone from 36% body fat to 22%.
Our 11 month old will grow up with natural food as the norm. I am so content knowing that we are doing the right thing for our son.
Did I mention that I know eat MORE than ever?
New parents with beach bodies! Our weight is just one less thing we have to worry about. We enjoyed a drink this day, because we have the wiggle room to be able to live a lifestyle where we can have a drink but still be healthy 🙂 🙂 🙂