nutrition
Nutrition
Why have chronic health conditions become so prevalent among Americans?
Many of our children are suffering from asthma, allergies, obesity, fatty liver, and so-called ADHD. Even cancer, arthritis, and diabetes are seen in our children like never before. If you're over 40 and haven't experienced any of these, you are in the minority.
This wasn't true a hundred years ago, but why?
The answer is toxicity and deficiency.
A hundred years ago food was organic. The air was cleaner. People spent more time outdoors and were more active. There weren't so many toxic products. And it was before Big Pharma delegitimized natural healthcare.
Besides a toxic diet and a sedentary lifestyle producing a toxic body, the lack of proper nutrients and inactivity hinders the body from building healthy cells.
This is your body we're talking about. It's the only one you will have all the days of your life. You need to have a clean body with a sharp mind. You need strong bones and muscles. You need properly functioning organs. You need a strong immune system.
These things cannot be achieved by eating fast food, or processed and packaged foods. Fresh foods are the best. Food that is frozen while it's fresh is good. Most frozen foods you can buy is frozen shortly after harvesting, so it loses very little of it's vitamin and mineral content.
If you eat meat I suggest eating organic grass fed beef or wild caught fish. Sometimes farmed fish can be living in very crowded tanks and need to be given antibiotics because of bacteria. Antibiotics can survive the cooking process, then you will be eating the antibiotics, which harms your gut microbiome by killing the good bacteria that are essential for good health.
Organic grass fed beef is significantly nutritionally superior. They don't have added hormones for faster growth or the antibiotics they give them because of infection from eating a poor unnatural diet and living in cramped quarters. Grass is their natural diet. They get more exercise, they are happier in open spaces, and are all around healthier. Therefore, their meat is much better for you. And in my opinion, it tastes better.
In a nutshell, you need a variety of whole, organic foods.
Fruits and vegetables come in a variety of colors; white, yellow, orange, red, green, blue, purple, brown, black. Try incorporating all of the colors as much as you can. Most whole foods have several nutrients, but each of the colors carry more of certain nutrients than others, and you need them all.
Examples are, dark green leafy vegetables like kale and spinach tend to be higher in iron and protein. Red fruits and vegetables are higher in vitamins A and C.
Seeds, nuts, and grains are exceptionally nutritious.
Seeds are packed with protein, fiber, and good fats. Most seeds need to be shelled or ground because the digestive system cannot break down the outer husk. Usually you can buy them that way.
I always put hemp, chia, and flax seeds in my smoothies. Other good ones are pomegranate, sesame, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds.
Nuts also have healthy fats that protect the heart and joints. My favorite is almonds. I put them in my smoothies.
Some of the other most nutritious nuts are pecans, hazelnuts, and walnuts.
Whole grains are more nutritious than refined ones. They contain nutrients such as fiber and vitamin E. They help lower cholesterol and they provide a slow release of energy.
Some very good grains are oats, quinoa, barley, and brown rice. These grains can be prepared in a variety of ways so they are easy to fit into your diet.
One easy and tasty way to get tons of nutrition all at once is to make a smoothie. To get the most nutrition include fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Of course, you'll need a blender.
Here is an example of what I put in mine:
water - at least 2 cups
avocado - half to a whole one
blueberries - 1 handful
strawberries - 2 to 3
banana - 1
kale - 1/4 to 1/3 cup frozen
spinach - 1/4 to 1/3 cup frozen
almonds - 12 - 15
shelled hemp seeds - 3 tablespoons
milled flax seeds - 2 tablespoons
chia seeds - 2 tablespoons
melted coconut oil - 1 to 2 tablespoons
stevia - sweeten to taste (doesn't take much)
This will make a quart or so, and it's filling. This is a typical smoothie for me. Often, I'll add cacao because I'm a chocolate lover. Sometime I add beets or beet powder. Sometimes I add moringa, collagen, or mushroom powder.
Sometimes I also add 1/8 or so of a teaspoon of vanilla or almond extract for additional flavor. I may even add a few tablespoons of heavy whipping cream to give the smoothie a creamier taste, especially when I add cacao. Mmmmm, smooth and chocolatey.
Smoothies like this add a powerful nutritional punch. Your body will love it because you're giving it so much to work with for healing and regenerating. You will be getting antioxidants, omega 3's, fiber, protein, and lots of vitamins and minerals.
Try having one of these a few times a week or even everyday. If you find that this is too much for you, you can cut the portions of the ingredients down, or you can save half of it for the next day.
Once the fruits and vegetables have been blended they start losing their vitamin content because vitamins are organic and break down. So, try not to save your smoothie for more than a day. They do not lose their mineral content, though, because minerals are not living so they hold their molecular structure, even when food is cooked at high heat.
Just a few more things I want to say before closing out this section on nutrition. If you eat little to no animal products you will need to supplement your vitamin B12. B12 is essential for many functions in the body.
Vitamin D3 is so important and many Americans are deficient of it. The best source is sun exposure to the skin.
In America a fair skinned person will get plenty of the vitamin from being in the sun for 10 minutes or so if most of their skin is exposed. Living closer to the equator would require less exposure.
The darker the skin, the more exposure is needed. The closer people live to the equator, the less they are deficient in vitamin D.
Vitamin D helps to regulate calcium and phosphate, keeping bones, teeth, and muscles healthy, including the heart. Vitamin D is essential for a strong immune system.
It is believed that the flu is much more common in the fall and winter because we get less sun exposure, therefore, we have less vitamin D. One study suggests that high levels of vitamin D may protect against COVID-19. Eighty percent of COVID patients were found to be deficient in vitamin D.
If you don't get adequate sunshine it may be a good idea to take vitamin D3 supplements.
Another essential nutrient that so many people are deficient is magnesium. Magnesium performs over 600 functions in the body. If you are too low in magnesium your body may struggle in many areas.
Magnesium keeps your bones strong. It makes blood vessels and the colon more pliable. If you don't have good bowel movements everyday, taking magnesium may help.
Low magnesium can cause twitches and muscle cramps, mental health disorders, fatigue, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, asthma, nerve problems, and many other health issues.
Some studies suggest that 75% of Americans are deficient in magnesium. A simple blood test may not be the best way to test for magnesium levels in your body because the blood will take magnesium from other places when you are low.
There are other more accurate ways of testing for magnesium deficiency such as testing the cells themselves, but chances are you are low unless you deliberately make sure you are not low. You may want to find a good magnesium supplement.
This wraps it up for the nutrition section. Just know that to get adequate nutrition these days with so much of our soil depleted of its minerals, we need to be deliberate with our nutritional intake.