Just What Should I Eat?
Well, it’s the beginning of a new year and most of us have made our New Year’s resolutions. For many of us, these include having a healthier, happier and more aesthetic body with lots more energy to enable us to carry out the rest of our resolutions. What we choose to eat is the major area of our health over which we have the most control…So let’s look at the area of food and food allergies.
First of all, the MacMillan Dictionary defines the word food as 1. that which is eaten or otherwise assimilated by an organism to sustain life, provide energy and promote the growth and repair of tissues. The word is derived from Old Engish foda (nourishment). OOPS…There goes about 75% of the American diet!
So, what edible choices actually constitute a food and which foods specifically are correct for your body? Well, beginning with the basics,
there are only two categories of foods: Whole foods and processed foods.
Processed Foods are produced using manufacturing methods that transform raw ingredients into neatly wrapped packages of plastic, cardboard, aluminum foil and tin. They include chemical ingredients, such as monosodium glutamate (MSG), artificial sweeteners, colors and flavors, preservatives, mysterious fillers and hydrogenated oils. All of this is done for the purpose of giving them a long shelf life for the benefit of the retailer and to sell you on the convenience of a quick meal with little or no preparation. They have a long shelf life because they’re dead…There’s nothing in them that’s perishable…The nutrients originally present are gone and replaced with disease causing, lifeless STUFF.
And yes, this is the STUFF upon which “fast food” restaurants prosper.
Whole Foods, on the other hand, are grown in orchards, gardens, greenhouses, dairies and ranches. They are not refined or processed. This means that they are rich in vitamins, minerals, enzymes, fiber, anti-oxidants, protein and phytonutrients that actually feed our cells, provide energy and repair our body parts.
Once you’ve made the upgrade to whole foods, the next echelon is to go Organic so that you’re getting top quality produce that isn’t sprayed with pesticides and herbicides that are toxic to the liver, kidneys and nervous system. Chicken and beef that are organic are allowed to roam free and feed on grasses instead of living in filth and being fed garbage. Organically raised animals are NOT shot full of synthetic estrogen to rapidly fatten them (and us) up, nor are they given antibiotics to neutralize the diseased conditions in which they live. For that same reason, organic butter and cheeses are far superior in health value.
Another major reason to eat organically is that organic foods are not allowed to contain GM (genetically modified) ingredients. GM foods are foodstuffs produced from genetically modified organisms (GMOs). This means that the whole hereditary information of the life form that is encoded in its DNA, be it plant or animal, is altered by scientists using genetic engineering – And that alteration has very detrimental effects on our bodies. So, although these foods look and taste like the cereals, salad dressings and corn on the cob that we’ve always eaten, they are not!
The major genetically engineered crops today are Soy, Canola, Corn and Cotton. Most vegetable oils and margarines used in restaurants and processed foods in the U.S. are made from Soy, Corn, Canola or Cottonseed. At this time, Non-GM oils include olive, sunflower, safflower, almond and most other oils available.
Aspartame, the diet sweetener, is just one example of a genetically engineered product. For more understanding of GM foods and a much more complete list of what they are, plus tips on eating non-GMO in restaurants, see Jeffrey Smith’s website: www.seedsofdeception.com
Just know that for each type of food there is usually a non-GMO brand that’s available. These are mostly found in health food stores, but they also can be found in other markets if you look for them. It’s worth taking the time to read the labels and find the non-GMO foods.
One final note on diet has to include the fact that foods eaten raw, such as salads, sushi or any other food that you could enjoy raw contains the enzymes needed by the body for proper digestion. The second choice to raw is steaming foods to help preserve their enzyme content.
Having a general knowledge of foods to choose from, now the question becomes, “Could any of the unpleasant symptoms that I sometimes experience like bloating, headaches, fatigue, weight gain, mental fogginess, sleeplessness, etc. be caused by eating foods that are wrong for my body?” The answer to this question is a resounding yes! There is a broad spectrum of reasons why individuals can’t tolerate certain foods, even specific foods in the healthy category. Sometimes the cause and effect phenomenon is immediate and you know within minutes to hours that having eaten such ‘n’ such made you sick! But more often than not, the effects of problem foods are cumulative and take months to be toxic to the system; therefore, it’s almost impossible to trace them down. For this reason, I strongly recommend being tested by a nutritionist to find these food allergies and either be tested for the exact enzymes that your body needs to neutralize them or eliminate them while the body is being de-sensitized to them. You’ll be very pleased by the results…Bon Appetit!
Judith Cutler has been a nutritionist in the L.A. area for 20 years and a natural products developer. She is the founder of BioTech Solutions.
Biotheta@yahoo.com (818) 249-4122 Realsolutionremedies.com
Thank you!