You Are What You Eat Ate

 

The body has an incredible ability to heal itself. When the body has the right nutrients, regular movement through exercise, a great mindset, and full function of the nervous system, it has a recipe for long lasting health.

So what does that mean? It means most diseases won’t just happen to you. You have the ability to determine the direction of your health. So, lets talk about the right nutrients. When you feed your body the right building blocks you give it the best chance to experience full potential. It only makes to sense that if we feed our body processed junk (simple carbs, sugars, vegetable oils) then that is what will makes up our cells. After all, we’ve all heard the saying, “You are what you eat” – which is true – BUT what most people fail to realize is that we are also what we eat ate.

Just like humans, cows and chicken thrive when they exist on the diet that they are naturally meant to eat. I can assure you that diet is NOT genetically modified corn and soy. When we consume meat from unhealthy animals – how do you think our bodies react? This is why grass-fed beef contains between 2 and 5 times more omega-3s than grain-fed beef, Grass-fed beef also contains significantly more of the antioxidants vitamin E, glutathione, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase than grain-fed beef. These antioxidants play an important role in protecting our cells from oxidation. That’s not all, grass-fed beef also contains higher levels of zinc, iron, phosphorus, sodium, and potassium. When it comes to eggs – eggs from pastured hens are more nutritious than the conventional eggs you might find at the supermarket. They are higher in Vitamin A, E and Omega-3s. They are also lower in Cholesterol and Saturated Fat.

The same hold true for produce. When you look at vegetables, what is the soil like? If the plants aren’t getting enough minerals – then you aren’t either. For example, organic crops have significantly higher antioxidant levels when compared to conventional crops.

So what can you do? Choose free-range/pastured animal products whenever possible. Choose the cheaper cuts of the best quality meat you can afford and slow cook them (the fats and skin of pastured animals are also full of great nutrients). If you can’t afford free range/grass fed meats, choose leaner cuts of non-pastured animals and discard the fat (like us, animals store their toxins in the fat layer) and use the best quality fats you can to cook them (organic coconut oil, grassfed butter, ghee). Look for wild-caught fish where possible, again the farmed varieties are fed an unnatural diet of  soy, corn and grain pellets.

How to Eat Clean

eat clean

It is a shame that modern medicine has largely ignored one of the best weapons against disease- nutrition. At True Health Family Chiropractic, we hope to guide patients to regain control of their health outside of our office by eating well and by eating clean, health promoting foods.

The first step is to actively remove all of the unhealthy food choices in your house so you have room to fit all of the good things you are going to buy. To successfully improve the quality of what you eat, remember we often eat what’s convenient, and if you buy it and keep it in the house, you’ll eat it – so don’t buy it in the first place. The following are some basic ground rules to follow when eating clean.

Eating Clean Checklist:

  • Eat more organic and/or local fruits and vegetables, and remember the fresher the food, the more potent the nutrients
  • Drink more pure filtered water (Divide your weight by 2, aim to drink that number in ounces)
  • Eat hormone and antibiotic free meats and dairy (Choose products where animals live as close to their natural state as possible -free-range, cage-free, grass-fed, raw milk etc.)
  • Eat foods that have not been genetically modified (Click here for a non-GMO shopping guide)
  • Eat more alkaline foods (lots of vegetables)
  • Lower your intake of inflammatory/mucus producing foods (dairy, sugar, wheat)
  • Eat more raw foods that contain powerful enzymes and phytonutrients (try juicing)
  • Eat more fresh whole foods and less processed man made foods
  • Eat or supplement anti-inflammatory foods (Omega-3 fatty acids, fish oil, flax seed)
  • Increase the amount of good bacteria in your GI tract by eating foods high in fiber and supplementing with probiotics
  • Eliminate soft drinks, sugary drinks, and artificially sweetened drinks loaded with neurotoxins
  • Eat a handful of raw nuts/seeds everyday
  • Limit caffeine intake to one cup of coffee/day, instead aim to drink up to 3 cups of green tea

AND For a detailed grocery list of nutrient dense, fresh, whole (or in some cases minimally processed) foods which promote optimal health, click here.