Food For Thought

If you are eating well you shouldn't feel tired.

Salt tends to over-stimulate the adrenal glands, whereas sugar tends to over-stimulate the pancreas.

If you are experiencing headaches, cold sweats, or get cold just after eating, your body is giving strong signals that you are out of whack. 


Coffee stimulates the endocrine/nervous system as a whole. It can over-stimulate our nervous system. If you are experiencing sharp spikes of energy with subsequent 'crashes' you may want to look at caffeine as a culprit. Carbohydrates can be another hidden simulator with a similar spike and crash pattern.

Using stimulants to kick an under-nourished body is rather like beating a tired horse. If your body is not looking or acting the way you would like, be prepared to make the necessary changes.

Food should energize through nutrition, not stimulation

I remember reading an article about a young man who traveled across the United States for employment and used only hot sauce to keep him awake, rather than coffee.  He arrived in New York State feeling alert and energized.

Being out of the spiral of stimulating foods means that I can trust my body to nudge me towards what it really needs. 

There are certain foods that just make me feel better. My body loves carrots, spinach, dandelion, kale and beets. These are my own personal super foods. I crave them. Sometimes I want meat. I tend to use the 24 hour delay button here and see if I can make my body happy by supplementing protein and Floradix iron or having a meal with beets. If that does not satisfy, then a meat meal it is.

Foods I would avoid:

Junk foods/Prefab foods/Franken-foods, refined foods, Sugar/Salt laden foods, Canned foods/Frozen Foods, Toxic Fats/Deep Fried Foods, De-vitalized foods, Moldy foods such as mushrooms, peanuts and pistachios, simple carbohydrates and Carbonated drinks.

Eating Lower on the Food Chain

The higher up on the food-chain that we consume, the more accumulated toxins the food contains. 

Eating lower on the food chain not only means cleaner food, but can also mean less expensive food. 

(Diet for a Small Planet)

Another name for diet is ‘food style’. One ‘food style’, known as ‘food combining’ which is outlined in the
The Fit for Life Diet. ( advises eating proteins and carbohydrates at separate meals.  This really takes the stress off the whole digestive engine).  

The Blood Type Diet is a wonderfully researched thesis that focuses on the genetic/antibody link to foods.  For example, Type O is typically the meat eating, hunter/gatherer, whereas Type A is Agrarian.  Type A’s usually do well with a vegetarian diet.

We are hardwired for Feast and Famine.  You can’t fool the body.  If you have a ‘starvation and boom and bust’ kind of eating style, your body will prepare for famine and conserve every calorie.  Deprivation just doesn't work to control weight. Maintaining a personalized food style works.

The wise choice is to eat foods that are lower in calories and higher in nutrition.  Usually people eat food that is nutritionally empty, laden with calories, and too much of it.

When high activity makes physical demands on one’s body, repair with quality protein and eat just enough carbohydrates to maintain a good energy level.  The best choice is complex carbohydrates such as unrefined whole grains, which allow a slower glucose release into the bloodstream.

It isn’t just what we eat, but when we eat.  The Body Type Diet looks at the dominant glandular tendencies and food choices that over-work specific endocrine glands.  For example, I notice that if I eat too much too late in the day, I am unusually hungry all the next day.  If I eat a heavy breakfast, I am unusually hungry all day long. It doesn’t work for me.

When your systems are working well, and your food style is in balance with your life, still be prepared to make ongoing changes.  We are constantly changing too, and our food choices need to reflect our real needs on a personal and physical level day to day.

My favorite diet is The Dolly Parton Diet. The reality is that your first taste of anything is an explosion of sensation in your mouth.  The second taste is good, but by the third spoonful, you can no longer taste what you are eating. A teaspoon of anything isn't too much, calorie wise, but why eat volume when you can no longer taste your food?

Staying Healthy with the Seasons

Changes in the seasons create big changes in the body.  Extremes in temperature and humidity can really stress the body’s coping mechanisms, not only in detoxification but endocrine balance as well.

This is the wisdom behind eating watermelon and cucumbers, raw foods, fruits and salads that cool us in the heat of the summer.  In the winter we are attracted to soups, stews, foods that are oven baked.  All of this tends to create more warming for the body.

With this in mind, we can maximize our personal ‘house-cleansing’ of primary elimination systems at these peak times of year.  In the spring, the body is focused on cleansing the liver system, which includes the blood and intestines. In the fall, the body is focused on flushing the kidneys and the whole genito-urinary system and cleaning the blood. 

A simple way of looking at this is that in the spring the wood element is highlighted – hot and juicy (liver), and full of growth and expansion. In the fall the water element is highlighted – cold and damp (kidneys), and 

the body is conserving and contracting.  The foods we eat every day make a tremendous change in how effective these peak times are maximized.  The quote “Let food be your medicine” is certainly true.

What is your personal super-food?

I have been approached by so many people over the years, each selling a plethora of products guaranteed to ‘cure whatever ails ya’.  How could one product be good for everyone? For example, Chamomile herb is in the same family as ragweed.  Needless to say, it doesn't affect us all in the same way. 

Fortunately, by using bio-feedback testing, such as specialized kinesiology, it is easy to assess what your personal needs are and what specific nutrients meets this need in the most body-friendly way.

 

The following is a list of nutrients that in my experience have been on many people’s ‘top picks’ of super-foods.  Don’t assume that you need to supplement all of them.

ü  Green Food Blends (Vegge Green) - These blends nourish, as well as detoxify & alkalize the body.

ü  Minerals: Make sure these are ‘body friendly’

        

Calcium

            Magnesium

            Iron

            Iodine

            Multi Mineral

ü  Antioxidants:

            Co-enzyme Q 10

            Network Antioxidants (Phytoberry)

            Lutein

            Grapeseed Extract

            Lycopene

ü  Digestive Enzymes

ü  Digestive Tonics

ü  Essential Fatty Acids

ü  Vitamin C (Ester C)

ü  Vitamin B & B Complex

Manufacturing quality is always important. Choose top quality companies.  Be tested and make sure that the brand you are using is really performing for you, and that you are getting the optimal amounts. 

What I mean by that, is some people are taking too much at once whereas taking less over a long 
period of time would help make profound gains in well'being. I have to say again, that if you are not 
putting top quality in, you are not going to experience the change your hoping for. Worse yet, what you are using may by toxic, or a elimination burden to your body.

Spend a little more and get a lot more results.

The Brain of the Gut

What do I mean by ‘The Brain of the Gut’?   

Our brain/spinal/nervous systems and our digestive systems started out as the same embryonic tissue.  

This rod of tissue at some point divided in two.  One half developed into the brain, spine and nervous system.  The other half become a hollow tube and became our digestive system.  

There are more nerves surrounding the stomach than any other organ in the body.  Often we teach ourselves to ignore our 'gut' reactions.  Even a dog knows not to eat while fatigued, upset or under stress.  Humans will even go so far as to condition themselves to eat specifically when they are upset.  Many people can't discern when they are hungry or differentiate between hunger and thirst.

It takes the first 8 years of our life to create an engine of digestion.  Some people do not achieve this development for many reasons.  Unrelenting stress, socially, nutritionally, or ecologically can have a detrimental effect on the growth and strength of our digestion system for the rest of our lives unless effort and attention is taken to heal this system.  

Elaine Gottscall's work as been helpful for many to reclaim digestive balance.  Fermented foods such as yogurt, keifer, sauerkraut and sourdough can educate our digestive tract to handle dairy foods, vegetables and grains.

Digestive Enzyme supplementation can really make an improvement if one often feels comatose, bloated or gassy after eating.  Often it is not only a matter of what one eats but whether there are enough plant enzymes to ‘catalyze the fire’, turning food into energy on a cellular level.  For some people, there is a need to ‘prime the pump’ and get the digestive secretions going.  Digestive tonics such as Agrimony Combo, Cheladonium Plex or bitters like artichoke or dandelion can really aid in creating a more efficient digestion and assimilation of nutrients.

 

Food supplements are just that; they expand the body’s ‘nutritional pool’.  Supplements will not make up for habitual ongoing poor food choices. When I recommend nutritional supplements I want to find the big performers first. What nutrition specifically increases a person’s energy and vitality by 20% or more?  The form and source of these supplements may be a big concern for those who have a suffering/struggling  digestive engine.

Working through digestive issues requires patience and care. The digestive system is such a sensitive system which we impact with every aspect of our lives.  I recommend Specialized Kinesiology food testing, as much to see what foods do work well in the system.  Sensitive testing methods will help people to make personalized choices. It gives us a chance to know what foods to avoid as well. For example some people have trouble digesting gluten or the starch/protein combinations that are present in most grains and beans.

Amaranth, teff and quinoa have been used by many people as staples to replace other grains in the diet.  These are all gluten free and easy to digest.   Generally, rice is another good choice. 

I have never cooked with teff, but  Phoo-d knows how.  Miss Phoo-d has been an adventurous and committed Foodite blogger.  I have enjoyed following her for the last year or so.  She has made some extreme adjustments to her diet for health reasons  and (lucky us!) shares her food knowledge and experiences with us.

 How to work with Quinoa

Find (1Cup) of the largest, whitest Quinoa you can find (organic Bolivian)

Quinoa has a resin on the outside which will be bitter is you don’t rinse like mad

Put the one cup of grain in a large measuring cup add cool water.

Whisk vigorously and drain carefully

Repeat this rinse at least 5 times and cover with clean water to the 4 cup mark

Soak for at least 2 to 8 hours on counter. If you are not ready to cook it right away you can put grain and water and all in the fridge.  What you are looking for is that the quinoa grain will almost triple in size

Before cooking drain carefully and rinse and whisk the Quinoa another 5 times.

Transfer to a good rice pot and add (1 cup) of water

Bring to a full boil and stir well. 

Put lid on and turn heat to lowest setting

Time for 15 minutes then take pot off heat and let rest for another 5 minutes.  You want an el dente grain. Don’t overcook!

Take off the lid right away and fluff with a fork.

For a side grain, serve as is.  As a salad grain, let it cool.

Quinoa Tabouli

Soak ¼ Cup Sunflower seeds and ¼ Cup pumpkin seeds in filtered water for 1 hour (I use a mason jar)

Mix basic white wine vinaigrette, in a medium salad bowl,

½ Cup light tasting oil, I like Koroneiki Olive Oil

¼ Cup white wine vinegar

Herbamere/Sea Salt

1 Cup cherry tomatoes halved

1 Cup Cucumber diced

½ Cup Green onions chopped

1 Cup Red pepper diced

1 Cup Parsley chopped

Rinse and strain the seeds and add to vegetables

Mix well to coat with dressing.

Add quinoa and toss gently to mix

Quinoa has a very delicate flavor and can be overpowered by strong herbs or strong flavoured oils, so keep flavours light 

Cover and marinate in fridge for 1 hour or so. 

Food and health are so profoundly connected.  Our food styles are very unique and personal to us.  Diet choices are always evolving as we evolve.  I think that awareness (intuition and knowledge) is the key. 

Enjoy the bounty and keep well_

Nelda