Eating Well

I have been asked a few times to help people understand how to eat well. Here are some general rules for healthy eating:

The best thing to know is that variety is best. This allows our body to get the variety it needs to thrive and gives it a chance to send us clear messages about what works best for it.

Eat as close to nature as you can (that means avoid processed food from factories, things with lots of artificial ingredients, things imported from far away, or lots of chemicals and preservatives), most of the poisons in our diet are man-made or things our ancestors never ate.

Growing children need the best food because what they eat determines who they will become, at least physically, and a lot more mentally than we realize.

A general rule is: if it grows in the current time of year it is energetically better for your body (like eating more roots and squash in the winter, more leaves and fruits in the summer), than imported foods.

Organic is better but much more important for some foods: leaves, flowers and things you eat the skin on are the most important, meat and fatty foods tend to accumulate chemicals. If you can choose, choose organic; if you can't, try to minimize the amount of chemicals you do eat by washing, peeling or paring, cutting off the fat and not eating organ meats.

Eat things with lots of color, that is what antioxidants look like, colorful. (when you take vitamins your urine turns colorful... vitamins are very bright)

Don't eat too much meat, our ancestors had to work very hard to hunt and we are lazy... if you are very active then more meat is ok but if you aren't then less is better. Eat meat that is raised locally if you can and has freedom. Caged animals are stressed out and will stress your body with toxins.

Fish is the best meat but still not too much. Tuna and other top predators, are a problem because they tends to have higher levels of mercury and other toxins. Cold water fish that are lower on the food chain are the best (my favorite is herring or sardines: small fish with lots of good fats and not so much mercury, and not too expensive). This is especially important for kids, both avoiding the mercury and eating a lot of fish... for kids fish is one of the best foods there is, it helps their brains and bodies develop.

Nuts and seeds are, much like fish, a good source of essential fatty acids. Essential means we need them so they are an essential part of our diet. Choose the source carefully because fats tend to concentrate toxins, organic is important for fatty foods.

Don't eat too much sugar or starchy foods, lots of calories without much nutrients, but like the first point: variety is good.

Cook things more in the winter and less in the summer, use warming spices in the winter and less spices in the summer. Simple is better, our body digests things differently and a lot of variety isn't so good in the same meal. Eat more in the fall and winter and fast or eat lighter in the spring and summer. You are part of nature and a reflection of her rhythms, work with those rhythms, not against them.

Listen to your body, it is wise. If you crave salty or sour or beets or meat, it is probably telling you something. If you crave alcohol or sugar or foods that you eat a lot of, that may be a different story: sometimes cravings can indicate a bad relationship to a particular food (back to the "variety is good").

These are good general rules but, of course, everyone is unique and can greatly benefit from a more detailed and in-depth look at what they eat.

See also: Modern Mis-fortune by Dr. Hart