The foundation of a balanced and healthy dietA balanced diet means that every meal should include some protein, some complex carbs, a little good fat. This however does not mean a steak, some potatoes and olive oil only!
A healthy plate would include a portion of:
If you are vegan and you are worried that you might not be consuming enough protein click here.
At least one meal a day should include a large portion of leafy greens. If you are on a cancer free diet, trying to lose weight, fighting a particular illness - leafy greens should be incorporated into every meal - e.g. spinach added to your smoothie for breakfast, some lettuce or rocket to go with your lunch; some steamed spinach for dinner. Every meal should be varied as different types of food gives you different vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. (*1)Potatoes are a good carbohydrate and are high in Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), vitamin C and potassium but they have a high glycimic index so raise you blood sugar levels. No good of you are diabetic, fighting cancer or on a weight loss diet. |
Foods that you should incorporate in your diet everyday
Foods you should have around four times a week
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Now let’s look at what you should try to avoid as much as possible
- Processed foods including bread, pasta, biscuits, many breakfast cereals
- Foods with artificial preservatives, colourings and flavourings
- GM foods
- Fruit and vegetables sprayed with pesticides
- White flour and products made with white flour
- Cheap white rice (as it may be bleached)
- Dairy
- Sugar and all products that have it (watch out for all the other names that sugar comes under)
- Sweeteners
- Non organic meats
- Fish that have high levels of mercury
- Bottom feeder sea food such as shell fish
The truth on meat
If you are a meat eater, then you shouldn’t eat it every day. Meat form mammals takes longer to break down and your body has to use up a lot of energy to digest it. Poultry is digested easier.
However most importantly remember that due to the farming methods used today animals are pumped with anti-biotics, which could be one of the reasons why antibiotics are no longer working on many individuals. These farm animals are often injected with hormones to make them grow faster. These hormones can actually cause irritability in people and over consumption can actually cause hormonal and developmental problems. There have been many studies to show that eating too much animal problem can have many negative effects in children’s behaviour and has even been linked with brain tumours in children.
These animals are often fed unnatural bone meal and grains. Animals who have died are often added to the food supply.
Besides all this, animals go through immense suffering and stress. The pain, stress and fear they endure induces hormonal release of the stress hormone cortisol to the muscles which in turn gets into the flesh. When consumed by humans these hormones can cause various negative effects such as impotence, fatigue, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and digestive problems. Let alone the possibility of increasing the chances of cancerous cells found in our bodies becoming active.
Organic meat does not contain growth hormones but it can still contain antibiotics. If the animals are free range as well as organic, then the healthier they are and the less stressed they should be. Unfortunately unless you personally rear the animals yourself or have close contact with these animals then you will never be quite sure how they were reared.
Sugar – a legal poison
Sugar is the route to many health issues such as cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart problems, kidney failure, liver malfunction, acidity, slows down brain functionality and more.
Unfortunately today we find sugar in so many ready-made goods, but this is why you should not buy ready-made or processed foods. Most deserts you buy at cafes and restaurants are also full of sugar. If you can’t resist that cake, then limit your sugar intake at home and start making your own cakes and biscuits using dates, bananas and honey instead of sugar. Stay clear of sweeteners – even those that claim to come from natural sources. Remember though even too much honey is not good for you so use at as a treat as a medicine.
I am not going to go into any more detail about sugar here, but look out for one of my next articles on sugar.
Sugar is the route to many health issues such as cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart problems, kidney failure, liver malfunction, acidity, slows down brain functionality and more.
Unfortunately today we find sugar in so many ready-made goods, but this is why you should not buy ready-made or processed foods. Most deserts you buy at cafes and restaurants are also full of sugar. If you can’t resist that cake, then limit your sugar intake at home and start making your own cakes and biscuits using dates, bananas and honey instead of sugar. Stay clear of sweeteners – even those that claim to come from natural sources. Remember though even too much honey is not good for you so use at as a treat as a medicine.
I am not going to go into any more detail about sugar here, but look out for one of my next articles on sugar.
White flour madness
Wheat contains:
Bran - the multi-layered outer skin of the edible kernel. It contains antioxidants, B vitamins and fibre.
Germ - the embryo which can form a new plant. It contains many B vitamins, some protein, minerals, and healthy fats.
Endosperm - the largest portion of the kernel which provides energy to the young plant so it can send roots down for water and nutrients, and send sprouts up for sunlight’s photosynthesising power. It contains starchy carbohydrates, proteins and small amounts of vitamins and minerals.
Refined grains are milled to take out the bran and germ of the wheat kernel, leaving only the endosperm. Carotenoid pigments in fresh milled flour give it a yellowish hue that fades naturally over time, leaving unbleached flour with an off-white or very pale yellow colour. Most manufacturers whiten flour with chlorine or peroxide to speed up that process and to give it a bright white appearance.
The milling process to create white flour removes practically all the nutrients - B vitamins, vitamin E, magnesium, fatty acids, calcium, phosphorous, fibre and iron, which are often then added to animal feed. Some manufacturers add these nutrients back in but you are still having a product that is far removed from its natural state.
Even brown flour is not good news
Unless you buy organic brown flour the chances of you buying an unhealthy product are very high. The seeds are often treated with a fungicide because wheat is easily susceptible to getting a fungus. In fact years ago many farmers suffered due to this. The growing wheat is then sprayed with hormones such as cycocel to increase production. Pesticides are then sprayed to protect the crops form insects. Once harvested the grain is stored and sprayed with insecticide once more. Then the milling process begins which with today’s machines causes more and then even further damage if white flour is made.
Wheat contains:
Bran - the multi-layered outer skin of the edible kernel. It contains antioxidants, B vitamins and fibre.
Germ - the embryo which can form a new plant. It contains many B vitamins, some protein, minerals, and healthy fats.
Endosperm - the largest portion of the kernel which provides energy to the young plant so it can send roots down for water and nutrients, and send sprouts up for sunlight’s photosynthesising power. It contains starchy carbohydrates, proteins and small amounts of vitamins and minerals.
Refined grains are milled to take out the bran and germ of the wheat kernel, leaving only the endosperm. Carotenoid pigments in fresh milled flour give it a yellowish hue that fades naturally over time, leaving unbleached flour with an off-white or very pale yellow colour. Most manufacturers whiten flour with chlorine or peroxide to speed up that process and to give it a bright white appearance.
The milling process to create white flour removes practically all the nutrients - B vitamins, vitamin E, magnesium, fatty acids, calcium, phosphorous, fibre and iron, which are often then added to animal feed. Some manufacturers add these nutrients back in but you are still having a product that is far removed from its natural state.
Even brown flour is not good news
Unless you buy organic brown flour the chances of you buying an unhealthy product are very high. The seeds are often treated with a fungicide because wheat is easily susceptible to getting a fungus. In fact years ago many farmers suffered due to this. The growing wheat is then sprayed with hormones such as cycocel to increase production. Pesticides are then sprayed to protect the crops form insects. Once harvested the grain is stored and sprayed with insecticide once more. Then the milling process begins which with today’s machines causes more and then even further damage if white flour is made.
Doubts about Dairy
So here is something to think about, if you have not done so already: humans are the only member of the animal kingdom that consumes milk as adults and the only one that consumes milk from another animal. The biological purpose of cow’s or goat’s milk is to feed a growing calf or kid, not a human. The babies of the hunter gatherers did not consume milk, this began when humans started farming the land and rearing animals.
Claims that milk is required for healthy bones because of its calcium content have little proof. In fact countries with lowest rates of dairy consumption have the lowest rates of osteoporosis. Broccoli and dark leafy greens are far healthier sources of calcium and they won’t add on the extra kilos as dairy does. Dairy is fattening. Cut dairy out of your diet and you lose weight. Unfortunately you can find dairy in many processed goods (which are already likely not to be good for you - they are processed!). Most commercial chocolate bars are made with milk, besides being loaded with sugar and a whole bunch of other ingredients your body does not like, and unfortunately vegan chocolate seems to be on the expensive side. Making your own chocolate treats from raw cacao is the best solution.
Another interesting fact is that around 75 percent of the world's population is genetically unable to digest dairy properly. That should be enough to tell us that we are not meant to have it.
Studies now show that dairy can actually feed cancer because it increases the body's level of insulin-like growth factor, a known cancer promoter. Dairy has been linked with prostate cancer in several studies. Other studies that have tried to connect dairy with other types of cancer have been inconclusive but research shows that vegans have a far less cancer rate.
Another point to consider is that dairy farms are not nice places. Cows go through hell just to satisfy human consumption. Moreover the dairy industry promotes veal. Young male calves are torn away from their mothers while they are still suckling and often kept in tiny pens where they can hardly move so they don’t build muscle. So hence the name tender milk fed veal!
You may argue that cheese tastes good and you cannot live without it. The reason is simple. Milk contains a hormone called casein which when consumed causes a release of casomorphins, a natural form of morphine, which attaches to receptors in the brain, and causes severe addictions to dairy products. This makes a person feel relaxed and happy but casomorphins cause such an addictive response that they can be compared to heroine in terms of their strength to cause food addictions and mood disorders.
The only dairy that actually has some benefits is yoghurt and Kefir because they contain naturally occurring probiotics that are needed to feed prebiotics, found in fibrous vegetables, for example. However olives,pickles, tempeh, miso and microalgaes like chlorella and spirulina are good probiotics also.
So here is something to think about, if you have not done so already: humans are the only member of the animal kingdom that consumes milk as adults and the only one that consumes milk from another animal. The biological purpose of cow’s or goat’s milk is to feed a growing calf or kid, not a human. The babies of the hunter gatherers did not consume milk, this began when humans started farming the land and rearing animals.
Claims that milk is required for healthy bones because of its calcium content have little proof. In fact countries with lowest rates of dairy consumption have the lowest rates of osteoporosis. Broccoli and dark leafy greens are far healthier sources of calcium and they won’t add on the extra kilos as dairy does. Dairy is fattening. Cut dairy out of your diet and you lose weight. Unfortunately you can find dairy in many processed goods (which are already likely not to be good for you - they are processed!). Most commercial chocolate bars are made with milk, besides being loaded with sugar and a whole bunch of other ingredients your body does not like, and unfortunately vegan chocolate seems to be on the expensive side. Making your own chocolate treats from raw cacao is the best solution.
Another interesting fact is that around 75 percent of the world's population is genetically unable to digest dairy properly. That should be enough to tell us that we are not meant to have it.
Studies now show that dairy can actually feed cancer because it increases the body's level of insulin-like growth factor, a known cancer promoter. Dairy has been linked with prostate cancer in several studies. Other studies that have tried to connect dairy with other types of cancer have been inconclusive but research shows that vegans have a far less cancer rate.
Another point to consider is that dairy farms are not nice places. Cows go through hell just to satisfy human consumption. Moreover the dairy industry promotes veal. Young male calves are torn away from their mothers while they are still suckling and often kept in tiny pens where they can hardly move so they don’t build muscle. So hence the name tender milk fed veal!
You may argue that cheese tastes good and you cannot live without it. The reason is simple. Milk contains a hormone called casein which when consumed causes a release of casomorphins, a natural form of morphine, which attaches to receptors in the brain, and causes severe addictions to dairy products. This makes a person feel relaxed and happy but casomorphins cause such an addictive response that they can be compared to heroine in terms of their strength to cause food addictions and mood disorders.
The only dairy that actually has some benefits is yoghurt and Kefir because they contain naturally occurring probiotics that are needed to feed prebiotics, found in fibrous vegetables, for example. However olives,pickles, tempeh, miso and microalgaes like chlorella and spirulina are good probiotics also.
Resources and further reading
http://www.upc-online.org/010517cluckyou.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/07/science/when-pigs-stress-out.html
http://www.wholevegan.com/meat.html
http://www.cancertutor.com/faq_meat/
https://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/condition/brain-cancer
http://www.scn.org/~bk269/fear.html
http://www.steadyhealth.com/articles/hormones-in-animals-and-meat-quality
http://www.livestrong.com/article/549873-risks-of-unbleached-flour/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/dairy-free-dairy-6-reason_b_558876.html
http://authoritynutrition.com/is-dairy-bad-or-good/
http://www.pcrm.org/health/cancer-resources/ask/ask-the-expert-dairy-products
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/natural-health/casein-dairy-protein-and-your-health/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/dairy-free-dairy-6-reason_b_558876.html
http://authoritynutrition.com/is-dairy-bad-or-good/
http://www.pcrm.org/health/cancer-resources/ask/ask-the-expert-dairy-products
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/natural-health/casein-dairy-protein-and-your-health/
http://www.nutritionmd.org/nutrition_tips/nutrition_tips_understand_foods/dairy.html
http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthy-kitchen-11/dairy-truths