Nutrition

"He that takes medicine and neglects diet, wastes the skill of the physician." - Chinese Proverb

"Don't dig your grave with your own knife and fork." - English Proverb

"Our food should be our medicine and our medicine should be our food." - Hippocrates

"Today, more than 95% of all chronic disease is caused by food choice, toxic food ingredients, nutritional deficiencies and lack of physical exercise." - Mike Adams, author, investigative journalist, educator

"Those who think they have no time for healthy eating, will sooner or later have to find time for illness." - Edward Stanley

NUTRITION is so important that your life actually depends on it. Functional medicine treats you with your food, that’s how they heal you. If you eat the right foods there is no need to be healed, you are already there!

Below are some highlights from my up and coming book, The Healthy Blood Diet, that you can focus on to start making essential changes with your foods, all of which have long lasting impressions on your health that are known to prevent and heal diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic fatigue, arthritis, aches and pains, mental fog, poor memory, and the list goes on.

Please feel free to read more here.

Here are 4 things to focus on that will drastically improve your health in countless ways.

• Primary nutrition
• Proper food combining
• Inflammation fighters
• Super alkalizers

PRIMARY NUTRITION
Now it is time to talk about what nutrition really is. What is your definition of nutrition? If you look it up chances are the definition will be something about food and eating it. There are two descriptions of nutrition that make sense to me and have changed the way I look at what I eat and most importantly how I act. The first is from The Integrative Nutrition Institute of New York, which talks about nutrition coming from two places; food and life. More specifically they break it down into;

Their philosophy is that if we fill up on primary nutrition, our cravings and need for food, or secondary nutrition, will diminish to more natural urges.
My other favorite definition of nutrition comes from Dr. Gabriel Cousins who explains that nutrition can be thought of as; all types of energy available to us. Dr. Cousins states in his book “Spiritual Nutrition and The Rainbow Diet”, “…nutrition is what we absorb into our overall body, mind, and spirit from the different density levels that have precipitated from our cosmic force.” And he adds that these density levels, or energy sources, are;

• Cosmic energy, universal consciousness, God, etc.
• Sunlight (least dense energy)
• Oxygen
• Sexual energy
• Earths geomagnetic fields
• Food (most dense energy)

Here is my summary of the two definitions of nutrition;

The main issue people face with food and energy comes from focusing on food to fulfill a lack of energy. This lack of energy or hunger for fulfillment is however usually stemming from inadequate energy from the primary nutrition components, which leads us to fill up on secondary nutrition, food!

    Three keys to losing weight and being healthy are;

• Making sure our primary nutrition is taken care of
• Education about eating right
• Commitment and discipline towards eating to live, not living to eat.

Goal #1 = Increase Primary Nutrition!
Write down three things from each energy source (primary and secondary) that you want to work on. Use the examples listed here to get an idea of where you need the most work. Have fun with this, it can have long lasting effects which encourage new and healthy habits for the future.

PROPER FOOD COMBINING
In one end and out the other; simple as that, right? We wish. What happens along this twenty to twenty five feet of windy, folded up tube (GI tract), is key to our health. Its function determines our metabolism, energy, immune function, and general well being. In fact, our nutrition and GI health are the basis of functional medicine and the king of disease prevention and control. 
             
Indigestion is so common in today’s society that it is practically considered normal. People spend over two billion dollars each year on antacids! And sadly this is their main treatment strategy. I don’t know about you, but I would rather treat the cause of my indigestion naturally than suppress and push symptoms deeper into the body with drugs.
                Correctly combining foods is the secret to proper digestion and metabolism. It is not a secret to our ancestors, but it is to most of us in the new age world of convenience and abundance. 
                Without complete digestion however, the nutrients in even the most wholesome food cannot be fully extracted and assimilated by the body. Incomplete digestion and inefficient metabolism are some of the main causes of fat and cholesterol accumulation in the body.
                Unfortunately, food combining is not a well known practice in the western culture, although many cultures, and of course animals, practice these habits instinctively. The information here is to educate you with some answers of why you may have indigestion, bloating, and other types of digestion problems.  
                Please do not get caught up in being the perfect food combiner, it can be very tough and confusing. But with a little practice and awareness you can save yourself a lot of discomfort, get the most out of your food, lose weight if you need to, and most importantly stop flooding the blood with waste bi-products from all the food that is spoiling in your gut from being combined wrong.
                Here are just the guidelines of food combining without the detailed explanations of why and or the science behind it. If your curiosity is enough to do more research on the subject, then you will find plenty online and in books, and I highly recommend doing your own research so you can become even more educated on the topic.
 
Why Food Combining Works and is ESSENTIAL for your health;

- It is a scientific fact that in order to initiate efficient digestion of any concentrated animal protein, the stomach must secrete pepsin. But it is also a fact that pepsin can function only in a highly acidic medium, which needs to be maintained for several hours to complete digestion of the proteins.
- An equally well recognized truth of science is that when you chew a piece of bread or potato or any other carbohydrate/starch, ptyalin and other alkaline juices are immediately secreted into the food by the saliva in the mouth. When swallowed, the alkalized starches require an alkaline medium in the stomach in order to complete digestion.
- So, in a nut shell, proteins need an acidic environment to be digested and starches need one that is alkaline. Unfortunately these two sets of juices have opposing effects and neutralize each other once in the stomach together. Now is where it gets messy, if you mix a protein and a starch in the same meal, neither of them will digest very well and you will have clumps of “stuff” that give off a lot of harmful bi-products and gases. Certain foods will actually rot in your gut and you will notice their bi-products as stinky gas, bloating, and more.
- On top of those two major NO NO’S, there are more combinations that you will find on the following pages to stay away from and to focus on.

 
Digestion plays a key role in maintaining the body’s energy levels, immunity, sex drive, mental acuity, and is absolutely essential to our well being. Because most food cannot be broken down in its natural state and need to be converted into easily absorbable micro particles, our delivery mechanisms (how we eat, cook and store foods) are the secret to optimum health. Some of the more common disorders from poor delivery mechanisms are arthritis, asthma, allergies, chronic fatigue, aches and pains, poor memory and disorganized thoughts.

The Basic Rules of Proper Food Combining:
*all of the following are essential for good health and nutrient absorption, but if you can only follow 5 rules, choose the first 5*

1. Do NOT eat protein foods and carbohydrate foods at the same meals . Protein foods require an acid medium for digestion while carbs/starches require the opposite.
2. Eat fruits alone on an empty stomach and wait 20–30 min before eating again; sour fruits can be eaten with proteins, as can other fruits depending on the amount of fruit and the person.
3. Have desserts and sugars by themselves as a whole meal, not after a meal
4. No cold water or liquids with meals, use 4oz warm tea or water,  kombucha or apple cider vinegar  as liquids to aid digestion, otherwise no liquid fifteen min before or until 60 min after meal.
5. Eat high fats and proteins at separate meals, or keep the fats to a very small amount. Some foods, especially nuts, are over 50% fat and require hours for digestion, and they slow all other digestion
6. Eat but one kind of protein food at a meal.
7. Eat proteins and acid foods at separate meals. The acids of acid foods inhibit the secretion of the digestive acids required for protein digestion. Undigested protein putrefies in bacterial decomposition and produces some potent poisons. A good exception is lemon juice, as it turns alkaline once in the body.
8. Milk; “drink it alone or leave it alone”
9. Eat sugars by themselves, unless you enjoy fermentation in your stomach
10. Dried Peas, Beans, and Soybeans; combine only with veggies.
11. Protein Fats: Avocado, olives, seeds and nuts (except peanuts and chestnuts, which are starches); Combine With: Non-starchy and ocean vegetables and sour fruits.
12. Fats and Oils Choose organic, unrefined and extra-virgin oils like flax seed, pumpkin seed, olive or coconut oils; Combine With: Vegetables, grains and protein. Avoid large amounts of fat with protein.
13. Avocados are best with salads and okay with sub-acid fruits or starches
14. Tomatoes are best with green & non-starchy veggies & protein FOOD GROUPS
15.Eat acids and starches at separate meals. Acids neutralize the alkaline medium required for starch digestion and the result is fermentation and indigestion.

INFLAMMATION FIGHTERS
The best way to keep inflammation down and your blood healthy is to be in balance with the foods that cause inflammation. Here we will focus only on the foods to eat that clear the blood of inflammation and actually heal the blood cells and the fluid around them.

Antioxidants and omega-3 fats are the main regulators of inflammation.

Eat at least TWO of each of them every day, and even more on days that you eat a lot of inflammatory foods.

Following are some of the best Inflammation Fighters as long as you don’t fry or overcook them.

Please note there are many more foods, these just have the most per serving.

Below are most of the foods that will INCREASE INFLAMMATION in the blood and are the ones you want to LIMIT.
Here is where your food can truly become medicine. Inflammation builds up in us from our food, chemicals, etc. and turns into free radicals that terrorize each blood cell and make them unable to fight disease and lead to early signs of aging.
While we cannot completely eliminate inflammatory foods from our nutrition plans, we can definitely eliminate and limit some of the unhealthiest, as well as fight them with antioxidant-rich foods.  The worst offenders are foods that are high in saturated and trans fats. Other offenders are foods that are naturally sweet and actually turn into sugar when we eat them.  These foods are;

Food allergies can also cause inflammation.  Some of the culprits include the gluten in wheat products and casein in dairy products.
These 10 allergy foods make up over 90% of all food allergies. Stay away from them for at least a month and then reintroduce them on at time to test for sensitivities.

 Stick and tub margarines are both high in trans and saturated fats. Stick and tub shortening ranks in the same category.

 Additionally, caffeine in coffee and tea increases inflammation in your body.
Red Meats are a major cause of inflammation in the body.  Limit these unless they are beneficial for your blood type.

You also want to consider that some “nightshade” vegetables can cause inflammation. These include;

SUPER ALKALIZERS
These meals really are super, and everyone should have at least two go-to foods like these. They are your ultimate health enhancers and can be used to combat highly acidic meals and balance the blood.

Since disease cannot live in an alkaline environment, and thrives in acidic ones, your health is determined by this factor.
These meals are alkaline by nature and are ideal for balancing highly acidic meals.

• Raw veggies (except for eggplant, asparagus, olive green pickled, Jerusalem artichoke, and more) and salads with natural, unprocessed alkaline dressings
• Green Vibrance or other natural green powder mixtures – find at health food stores or online
• Organic Greens Plus food bar or other raw, natural and organic food bars – find at health food stores or online
• Fresh Veggie Juice – if you are serious about your health, then there is absolutely NO REASON to not buy a juicer and start juicing your own fresh drinks right now. Here are some of my favorites;

-       Handful spinach or lettuce, ½ lemon, 1 piece celery, 1 sprig parsley, cucumber sliver, ½ apple, 4 carrots (optional chard and kale leaf)
-       Handful spinach or lettuce, ½ lemon, 1 piece celery, ¼ of a beet, ½ apple, 3 carrots
-       ½ pear, apple, cucumber and lemon

Below is a good habit/chart to follow that we encourage in our book and to our clients.
I Balance Blood Acidity by…