Good health today can only be achieved through simple everyday disciplines that over time include regular cleansing, nutrient rich foods, adequate clean water, quality rest & sleep, sufficient exercise and processed food avoidance.
Nutritional Fundamentals
Most people know they need good nutrition, but don’t know how … to them it is confusing, so I offer them just a few basic guidelines when getting started:
- Keep it slow and simple, take small steps and practice each step until it’s a habit that runs automatically. Adding a new but small step every 2 weeks or so will keep you moving toward your goal.
- Choose to eat foods that come without barcodes which are typically found on the perimeter of your local grocery store (avoid the centre isles at the supermarket and you'll save time, money & your health)
- Eat at the speed of your brain’s ability, it takes about 20 minutes for food to register so I guess mother was right when she said, chew your food slowly!
- Enjoy some favorite foods and treats … but only after your body is nutritionally fulfilled, and then only in moderation.
These probably make sense to you, yet many people do not know or do not apply them … it seems we have lost a lot of common (food) sense. Some of the simple nutritional principles I like to begin with my clients include:
- Eat 80% dense nutritional whole foods and 20% fun foods
- As natural as you can – organics as much as possible
- Vary selections for natural color, taste, texture, interest
- Fruits and Veggies (min. 10) - increase alkaline foods & antioxidants
- Food combining: fruits between meals & no proteins with starches
- Focus on what you can eat - not what you cannot
- Have no guilt when eating the fun food, but make sure it’s spaced through the week, not all on the same day
The reason I advocate 80-20% is because in the 1980s, every time I got well, among other things I worked with food.
It really is difficult to eat perfectly every day for most people
I ate perfectly and did not “cheat”, I was a “saint” … at one point I even managed 9 straight months of the perfect diet and I did feel and look great but when I was feeling great, I allowed the less good foods to return again.
I would feel fine for a while, but slowly the symptoms would reappear so I would get back to nutritional “perfection”. This cycle continued over 10 yrs.
I remember thinking I must be really bad because I could not keep it up. I was beating myself up until one day; I was thinking how we humans try to do everything to perfection when it dawned on me ... a leaf is perfect in nature, but it is not perfectly symmetric.
This Is How I Relate People To Their Food Choices
If the leaf is perfect being asymmetric, why am I trying to make myself crazy adopting the “perfect” diet? Perhaps Paretto’s 80-20 rule might fit here:
- we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time
- 80% of the office work is done by 20% of the people
- Companies recognize that 80% of their revenues come from 20% of their best customers
I’m sure you can name your own but the point is … we should be able to eat perfectly well 80% of the time, and still be healthy! From that day forward, I have been successfully eating over 80% of the right foods and having “fun” with the rest (without guilt).
Positive And Lasting Change Takes Time
Improvements and change can’t happen overnight so increasing gradually to 80% is essential by concentrating on what should be eaten, not what should be avoided … the attraction of “bad-foods” is dramatically diminished.
In the beginning, a few people might need to be closer to perfect until their body systems are strengthened and re-balanced but this always depends on how serious their health issues are.
I have found that it is when we go over the 20% line, people start getting into trouble with their health and the body tells us by way of its symptoms like fatigue, constipation, headaches, pain, restless sleep and so on.
This is how I coach people on their food selections:
- They are in full control and can choose their foods
- They can have treats but must respect the 80% nutritional rule to meet their health goals
“In the end, it is not what we do once in a while that really affects us, it is what we do every day … and how we do anything is how we do everything!”
A Wellness Coach Can Help You "Turbo Charge" Your Health
Poll: How natural is your diet (the food you eat and fluids you drink)?
Diane McLaren www.HealthyYouNaturally.com
Tags: Coachcoaching Wellnesshealth Lifepersonal Success
