Nutrition

Proper Nutrition is the basis for optimum health and well-being. Holistic nutrition is the modern natural approach to developing a healthy balanced diet while taking into account the person as whole. Holistic nutrition is considered to be part of holistic health.

 

Holistic health is an approach to treating a person’s well-being by taking into consideration all aspects of life. A long term course of action includes emotional and spiritual health along with the physical body. Modern medicine focuses on treating a symptom rather than the root cause. If a person is experiencing a symptom or chronic condition, the problem has most likely been developing for some time. The goal of holistic nutrition is to facilitate a health recovery plan as well as build a strong foundation for long term optimum health.

 

• Educating yourself on basic nutritional terms

• Incorporating natural and organic foods

• Overcoming obstacles in practicing holistic nutrition

• Creating simple holistic menus

• Developing a customized holistic diet

• Addressing the role of natural holistic supplements

 

Food not only provides the energy needed to function in our daily lives but constantly supplies the nutrients which are required to build and regenerate body tissue, bone, muscle, fat and blood. The nutrients in food are also necessary to produce substances for the chemical processes that take place in our bodies millions of times a day.

 

You cannot isolate an individual “vitamin” from it’s natural source since it is a process and not a substance. So to truly take your vitamins one needs to consume the whole complex of substances that make up vitamin activity. This can only come from natural materials.  

 

To truly supplement your health nutrients need to come from food because food contains all the substances needed to drive biological activity since food was alive and is a very complex biological material that itself has already gone through the essential activities  of birth, growth and reproduction. 

 

  Whole food vitamins are obtained by taking a vitamin-rich plant, removing the water and the fiber in a cold vacuum process, free of chemicals, and then packaging for stability. The entire vitamin complex in this way can be captured intact, retaining its “functional and nutritional integrity.   Upon ingestion, the body is not required to draw on its own reserves in order to complete any missing elements from the vitamin complex. - (DeCava, Judith– The Real Truth About Vitamins and Antioxidants 1996 p.23.)

 

Healthy Food Tips:

 

1. Eat a lot of CHOLESTEROL

 Cholesterol is the precursor to your stress hormones and sex hormones. It is necessary for proper nerve and brain development and needed to make synapses in the brain that allow for memory and learning.

 

2. Eat FERMENTED foods

 Preservation of vegetables and fruits by the process of lacto-fermentation has numerous advantages beyond those of simple preservation. The proliferation of lactobacilli in fermented vegetables enhances their digestibility and increases vitamin levels. These beneficial organisms produce numerous helpful enzymes as well as antibiotic and anticarcinogenic substances. Their main by-product, lactic acid, not only keeps vegetables and fruits in a state of perfect preservation but also promotes the growth of healthy flora throughout the intestine.

 

3. Prepare homemade MEAT STOCKS

 Stock contains minerals in a form the body can absorb easily—not just calcium but also magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and trace minerals. It contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons–stuff like chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain. When broth is cooled, it congeals due to the presence of gelatin. Gelatin is useful in the treatment of a long list of diseases including peptic ulcers, tuberculosis, diabetes, muscle diseases, infectious diseases, jaundice, and cancer. Babies had fewer digestive problems when gelatin was added to their milk.

 

4. Avoid all ARTIFICIAL sweeteners

 Aspartame has been implicated in increased incidence of brain tumors. Aspartames breakdown products are known toxins and carcinogens. Sucralose has been minimally tested on humans and may suppress the immune system.

 

5. Cut back on all forms of SUGARS and avoid excess FRUCTOSE

 Chronic elevated sugar levels results in chronic elevated insulin levels which increase one’s risk for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and a host of other degenerative diseases.

 Fructose is converted to stored fat (triglycerides) more readily than any other type of sugar. Fructose interferes with copper metabolism, which is needed for collagen and connective tissue. Excess fructose contributes to non-alcoholic fatty liver.

 

6. Eat more FATS

 Saturated fats (aka animal fats) enhance the immune system, protects the liver from toxins, reduces cardiovascular risk (raises HDL), & improves bone density.

 Coconut oil is antimicrobial and can kill many different bacteria, viruses, and fungi including staph, strep, most influenza viruses, and the yeast candida albicans.

 

7. Eat more ANIMAL protein than vegetable protein

 Meat protein is more nutrient dense than vegetable protein of which the nutrients are more easily utilized.

 

8. Avoid most SOY products

 Soy contains many anti-nutrients, which interfere with protein digestion and interfere with the body’s ability to absorb key minerals such as calcium, magnesium, zinc, and iron. Soy also interferes with the thyroid’s ability to work properly.

 

9. Avoid INDUSTRIAL vegetable oils at all costs

 Most vegetable oils (omega 6 fatty acids) are damaged or rancid upon purchase, contributing to oxidative damage or the production of free radicals. Vegetable oils are the precursors to inflammatory prostaglandins. Frequent consumption of these oils lead to constant low level inflammation.

 

10. Cut back on GLUTENS

 The gluten grains - wheat, rye, barley – are in evolutionary terms, new to the human diet. These grains especially, contain many anti-nutrients like soy, which are best eaten minimally by people.

 

11. Eat beef, lamb, poultry and eggs from pasture-fed animals. 

 

12. Eat wild fish (not farm raised) from unpolluted waters.

 

13. Eat full-fat milk products from pasture-fed cows which include milk, kefir, whole yogurt, cultured butter, whole raw cheeses and fresh and sour cream.

 

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