About a year ago, while still in school, I was enrolled in a Holistic Nutrition class. What an amazing class! It was taught by a Naturopathic Doctor, Dr. Mahdi Brown. The class covered really, just about every aspect of nutrition, from an overview of food/diet, to what your body needs, how it processes food and nutrients. It was a very comprehensive overview of nutrition from an holistic perspective.
One of the concepts Dr. Mahdi brought to the class was, "food as medicine." Eating deliberately with knowledge of the food and eating it with intention, and how it can provide powerful results and result in good health and balance in the body. Quality of food is essensial, yet if you can't afford organic it doesn't mean you can't eat healthy. You do the best you can with what you have. However - food that comes out of a box, generally is not usually good for you and packed with chemical preservatives.
There are many health benefits of eating healthy, and a healthy diet can vary greatly from person to person. Some go gluten free, removing the wheat and other grain products from the diet and some remove all processed sugars. Then there's a vegetarian diet, and that can take many different forms from just no meat, to a strict vegan, to a completely raw diet. The raw diet can be very healing, but can be a lifestyle not suited to all. People eating a raw diet eat fruit and vegetable based foods that have not been prepared at more than 116 degrees F. They use food dehydrators a lot and it takes planning and preparation in advance, but it can be a very healing diet.
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My wife and I are setting out to change our diet and lifestyle to a gluten free diet. It's amazing, but gluten is in just about everything so we'll have to really put effort into learning about this lifestyle. Basically, all bakery products have gluten - it's in your standard flour. It's also used as a filler in most processed foods, or as a friend of mine says (who's a chef), to me it's not an ingredient - it's a process I use to bind the food together.
The good news is that more and more, in most places, gluten free foods are available. Also, fresh fruit and vegetables are still gluten free. Rice, potatoes, sweet potato, quinoa, and more are great for making hot dishes. Some of the stores carry really good gluten free bread. We noticed while in Target recently they carried several gluten free pastas and red sauce, at comparable prices to standard.
What are some of the benefits of eating a gluten free diet? It's essential for people who suffer from Celiacs Disease and beneficial for people with other gastrointestinal issues. Also, it can provide relief for people who suffer from chronic pain and fatigue. It's typically provides relief from fibromyalgia pain. Basically, it's just good for the body.
So it's going to be an interesting journey. It'll be a whole new lifestyle and a good one. More to come on this one.
Take care All and have a great week.
Tom
Tom,
ReplyDeleteA great book: "Eat To Live", by Dr. Joel Fuhrman...
My wife, Mary and I read it, soon after the passing of her sister, Nancy. She wanted to change the way she, ate, and lose a little weight. Since I do most the cooking, I became the vegan chef. I'm down to 160 pounds, feel great, and have cured some medical (colon) problems, that a lot of seniors deal with. Mary has been practicing Yoga for about 5 years, and is doing well with her weight control. We try to stay away from "Factory Food"...except when we go out to restaurants.
We basically turned the food pyramid upside down, made green leafy vegetables our "main" dish.