Blogs

The word diet comes from the Greek word DIAITA meaning to direct one’s own life.  The way we lead our daily lives has a great effect upon our health and well-being, and we can all do something to maintain or help restore our health by how and what we eat.  Our digestive system is the primary way in which we take in nourishment to sustain ourselves and is probably the part of our bodies we most abuse.  It is important to be aware of what, how much and when we are eating.

Tips for Healthy Eating

• Eat when you are hungry; until comfortably sufficient – your stomach can hold about two cupped handfuls of food comfortably, and is ready to work when you are hungry.
• Don’t eat when you are not hungry and don’t overeat.  This disrupts the balance within your organ systems, with consequent overall weakness.  Practice moderation in moderation.
• Don’t eat too quickly; this creates excess heat and affects the nerves of the stomach and organs of the digestive system.
• Don’t consume cold food and drink directly from the fridge; this creates a stagnation of nutrients in the body and may lead to digestive problems, lack of energy and headaches.
• Be mindful of the amount of liquid you consume.  In general this is probably too much.  Social drinking of alcohol, tea, coffee, soft drinks, presents our body systems not only with unrequired liquid but also an excess of undesirable stimulants.  However, if you are thirsty or engaged in physical work or sport your body needs far more liquid than normal so drink when you need to.
• Chew your food well before swallowing.  Your mouth is designed to pre-digest food.  The more you prepare it in your mouth, the easier your stomach will digest it and the more nourishment you will obtain from it.
• 3 or 4 regular meals a day is ideal – traditionally breakfast should be the main meal.  In fact the ancient Chinese used to say eat like a king at breakfast, like a price at lunch, and like a pauper the rest of the day.  You are more relaxed and less likely to be stressed in the morning which will help your digestion and give you a good start to the day ahead at a time when your stomach is more energised (between 7 and 9am).  However, it seems our normal routine is the exact opposite of this.  Breakfast consists of toast and coffee taken hurriedly, lunch is slotted into the business day and by the time we come to eat our evening meal our body system is tired and wants to rest and prepare itself for the regeneration period of sleep.  If you eat a large meal in the evening accompanied by excessive volumes of liquid, then go for a walk before retiring to bed.
• Try to eat foods which are in season in our latitude.  Avoid tropical foods in the winter months.  They are ‘cold’ in nature and even though we need a balance, in the colder weather we need energetically warming foods such as root vegetables.  In summer salads made from ‘cooler’ foods such as large leafy or watery fruit and vegetables, should be balanced by cooked meals.
• Contrary to modern popular belief, uncooked food – your body has to work much harder to digest raw food and whether you have digestive problems or not, your body will react more favourably to lightly boiled vegetables.  Salad can still be eaten but in moderation.  If you cook in oil then use olive oil which has been cold pressed.
• Eat as varied a diet as possible, with maximum of four or five different foods in one meal, and try to vary the flavours, energy and organic action.  If you dislike meat make sure you get your protein from other sources such as nuts, beans and legumes.  The primary food in your diet should consist of cooked whole grains such as brown rice, whole wheat, barley, oats, rye, millet, corn and buckwheat.  These represent the building aspect of nutrition and should constitute 40 to 60% (and up to 100% for short periods of time in the colder months) of your daily intake.  The secondary class of food in a balanced diet is vegetables.  They supply important nutrients and represent the eliminative aspect of nutrition and should constitute 30 to 40% of our food.  Meat, nuts, dairy and fruit can be viewed as a third class of food which is more of a supplement to grains, beans and vegetables and makes up no more than 10% of daily intake.  If you are vegetarian it is important that beans, pulses and dairy are included in this category.