Nutrition

Basics of nutrition and healthy eating

By Liz Lipski, PhD, CCN, author of Digestive Wellness

Confused about what to eat? You are not alone! Today more than ever before, you really need to understand more about food and nutrition. Some people feel best if they eat a low-carbohydrate diet, while others feel best on a high fiber, high complex carbohydrate diet. Some people find they feel best on the Zone diet, while others feel best on the Blood Type Diet, a vegan diet, or a macrobiotic diet. Still others have food allergies. So, the first rule of good nutrition is to pay attention to your own body and how you feel. This concept is called “biochemical individuality.” Just as each of us have a different face and body type, each of us also have unique biochemical needs which are represented by the foods and supplements that help us reach optimum nutrition and make us feel best. Your nutritionist or nutritionally oriented health professional can help you sort out the healthy diet that will work best for you.

Second, Americans for the most part eat really poorly. By government statistics we eat 18% of our calories each day as sugar, 18% as saturated fats, 17% in processed foods, and adults consume 3–10% of our calories each day in alcoholic beverages. When you add these up, we eat over half of our foods each day as high-calorie, low nutrient density foods, leaving only about 40% of our diet for healthy foods. So is it any wonder that over time we fall apart? The vast majority of the changes in our food supply have been made since World War II, and in most cases marketing outpaces science. We transport foods differently. We grow foods from hybrid seeds in nutrient-depleted soils. We apply more pesticides and fungicides. We have microwave ovens and irradiated foods. We have frozen foods and more and more processed foods. Our food is different, and it is only just dawning on us that we cannot change our food supply chain so dramatically without far-reaching changes in our bodies. So, what can we do to improve our health and nutrition?

Rules for healthy eating

First, clear out all the foods you don’t want to eat: clean out your cabinets, refrigerator and freezer. Toss out any foods that contain hydrogenated vegetable oil, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, or vegetable shortening. These restructured “trans” fats are #1 on my hit list! Industry uses them because they are cheap, have a long shelf life, and give a buttery texture to foods. While this enables manufacturers to produce products that meet their needs, they do not meet yours. They’ve also been associated with atherosclerosis, some types of cancer, and all inflammatory illnesses, including arthritis, eczema, irritable bowel syndrome, and many more. These fats play at least as large a role in heart disease as do saturated fats. You’ll find them in scores of crackers, cookies, and other packaged foods.

While you’re at it, now get rid of the high-sugar foods, highly processed foods including white flour products, and food that contains a lot of food additives including artificial colors and flavors, and preservatives. Each year the average American consumes 135 pounds of sugar and 14 pounds of food additives. Sugar tastes good, but is considered empty calories because it depletes us of nutrients like chromium and B-complex vitamins, which are necessary for its metabolism but missing from sugar itself. It also displaces more nutritious food. White flour has only about 30% of the nutrients of whole wheat flour. And while food additives have been tested singly, no one really knows what effects they have on us or our offspring, in combination and in the long term. In these categories, less is better. This doesn’t mean that you should replace your sugary foods with products containing sugar substitutes, as these products carry their own health risks. For more information, please read our article about the use of sugar substitutes.

Eat 90% of your food to nourish your body and 10% just for fun. This is a major improvement over half for fun and half for health, and it allows for the occasional chocolate chip cookie, glass of wine, or serving of steak. Your eating doesn’t have to be perfect — just look for progress!

Choosing healthy foods

The life in foods gives us life. Whenever possible, eat local foods in season. They usually have the highest nutrient content and the greatest enzyme activity. Eat foods that will spoil. This insures that the food still has life in it! Food is fuel and food gives us energy. Because we really are what we eat, if we eat foods that have little enzyme activity, they don’t “spark” our body to work correctly. Enzymes are to our body what spark plugs are to the engine of our car. Without those sparks, the car just won’t run right. Processed foods are devitalized of these “sparks,” but fresh, healthy foods provide us with the energy we need.

Eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day! Eat at least 5 servings, preferably up to 9 or 12 servings, of fruits and vegetables each day. Fresh fruits and vegetables are loaded with enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and important phytonutrients such as carotenoids and bioflavonoids that protect us from cancer, heart disease, and most other chronic degenerative illnesses. Fruits and vegetables also provide us with fiber. Each month we discover more about the marvels of produce and how important they are for good nutrition.

Choose organically grown foods whenever possible. The average American eats a pound of herbicides and pesticides each year. Organically grown foods generally have higher levels of nutrients because organic farmers pay more attention to their animals’ health and to their soils. Bob Smith, from Doctor’s Data, has released a study which analyzed organic versus commercially grown apples, pears, potatoes, wheat and wheat berries. He found that the mineral levels in organically grown food were twice as high, on average, as commercially grown foods. Animals raised without artificial hormones and antibiotics can’t pass them along to us! Research is more strongly linking them with reproductive cancers and endocrine disorders each year.

Increase high-fiber foods — if you can tolerate them. Americans on average eat only 12 grams of fiber each day, but the National Cancer Institute recommends consuming 20–30 grams of fiber daily — the same amount Americans ate in 1850. Richest sources are whole grains (brown rice, whole wheat, bulgur, millet, buckwheat, rye, barley, spelt, oats, quinoa), legumes, vegetables, and fruits. Fiber protects our colon health, and reduces our risk of colon and breast cancers.

Eat adequate protein for your body type. We find protein in virtually all food. Protein is the main building block of our body — the matrix of bone, substance of muscle, our immune system, and many of our hormones — so good nutrition requires it. But make sure your protein sources are healthy foods, too. You can find excellent protein in fish, poultry, lean meats, legumes, low-fat dairy products, and eggs. Fruits, vegetables, and grains also have excellent protein but in smaller ratios. Nuts and seeds also provide protein that is loaded with nutrients beneficial to the circulatory system.

Eat high quality fats. The fats found in fish (salmon, mackerel, tuna, and sardines), nuts, seeds, and grains provide nutrients called essential fatty acids. Even though Americans eat a lot of fat, many of us are deficient in these protective oils. Make sure to get some every day. A common misconception is that a healthy diet eliminates or severely restricts fat consumption, but this is not the case. To learn more about the role of fat in a healthy diet, please read our article, The truth about cholesterol and fat.

Finally, drink pure water. Find out about your water quality. Use a filtering system of some type to remove chlorine and toxic substances.

These rules will help you improve your nutrition and develop healthy eating habits no matter which basic diet works best for you. Remember that you are responsible for nourishing yourself — and that you are worth it. Make your transition one step at a time, and you will find that you can change the way you feel simply by choosing better quality, healthy foods.

 

What else can you do to improve your nutrition? Click here to learn about Nutritional Supplements.

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References & further reading on nutritional basics

 

Last Modified Date: 04/20/2011
Principal Author: Liz Lipski, PhD, CCN