This is not a comprehensive list of all the rules of good nutrition, but it is a very good foundational place to start. If you want to successfully change your nutrition habits and have it stick, perhaps try incorporating one new rule per week. That's only 6 weeks to a new you!!
1. Eat a healthy breakfast. This is also the number one rule to help one lose weight. Why? Because your body requires fuel to operate optimally. If you choose not to eat breakfast, you choose to stall your metabolism. Eating breakfast jump starts your metabolism (fat burning capabilities) for the day.
2. Eat six times a day. Why? Because your body can only digest and assimilate so much at one time. To get the full advantage of the food you eat, you need to eat more frequent smaller meals. It is true that "we are what we eat" but it is equally true, if not more so, that "we are what we assimilate". AND, please do not follow the popular train of thought that you should not eat in the evening. It is perfectly OK, and also necessary to keep your body in fully metabolic state, to eat in the evening, but not closer than an hour before bed, if possible.
3. Eat God's fast food and stay away from fast and/or convenience foods (canned, frozen, bagged, packaged or "instant" foods). Eat plenty of raw fruits and raw and lightly steamed (so they are still a little crunchy) vegetables every day. Easy to clean, easy to pack and easy to eat! Try adding a few nuts or seeds and you have a wonderful snack perfect for work or school.
4. Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day; more if you are physically active. Your body is about 60 - 70% water so it requires water to function properly. Once you start drinking more water you will notice you can think better, you are not as hungry, your joints are not as sore, you have more energy, you feel better overall. If you are not in the habit of drinking water, once you start you will notice that you are thirsty more often. This is a good sign! I have a confession to make; I am not a big fan of plain water. I drink plain water because it is good for me (and my fiance insists!), but I do drink a lot of herbal tea during the day. Not caffeinated tea, just herbal tea.
5. Variety is the spice of life! There is not one particular food that provides everything your body needs but every good food provides something your body needs. It is the combination of all those individual foods and their particular bodily benefits that we are seeking to incorporate into our daily/weekly diet. It is unrealistic to think we can or will incorporate every good food into our diet in one day but we can layer the benefits of the good foods we eat throughout the week by eating a variety throughout the week.
6. Fight the white; Go to town with brown! You will need to stay away from, as much as possible, white sugar, white flour and hard animal fats (except butter). These foods have been labeled "robbers" because they don't contain enough vitamins and minerals for their own digestion.
Written by Angela Sladen, RSNA, CNC
Hi, my name is Angela Sladen and I am a fitness/nutrition/health fanatic! I've studied all three for over 26 years now and am still learning! I am asked over and over again, "What are your secrets to great health?", so I decided to start http://www.totalhealthmethod.com as a way to share what I've learned, lived and love! Be sure to check back on a weekly basis as I am adding a minimum of three new articles every week.
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