Wondering where to start with food?

You can start by thinking about Food as Medicine. That the right kinds of foods can give your body what it needs to not just survive, but thrive.

The pace of life for many has made it harder and harder to eat health on the go.

Additionally, the foods available, like whole, plant foods, animal foods, oils/fats and processed foods, have changed dramatically over the years. Our plant foods are grown differently (GMO's, more pesticides), our meats are raised without the sun and without the grass (given antibiotics, etc.), we were scared off of eating healthy fats/oils and processed foods are made with more and very different ingredients in factories (rancid, hydrogenated seed oils, add chemicals, pesticide sprayed, etc.) than when I was a kid in the 70-80s. Food that are processed have become less nutrient-dense, with lower quality proteins, fats, and carbohydrates added, and are missing many key vitamins and minerals, making them essentially empty calories. We are fed, but not nourished.

A simple, but not always easy place to start is look at what you do eat daily. Make a running list. You get to decide what you eat. We all go shopping 🛒 every week, so begin to switch out processed foods (factory made for farm grown) for whole, plant foods of all kinds and colors. When you buy less processed foods, you can spend that money on whole foods instead. Start with eating more plant foods, ones that are in season and use variety of colors. Eat the Rainbow!

What are plant foods? All the vegetables, seeds, nuts, legumes/beans, fruits, and whole grains. There are so many types and colors to choose. The fiber in plant foods helps to slow down digestion, feed your microbiome in a positive way, absorb toxins, make you feel fuller and depending on what you choose and combine it with, can reduce blood sugar spikes and drops, a big help for all those who have metabolic syndrome, are pre-diabetic and have type 2 diabetes. Eating an orange with fiber is better than drinking a glass of orange juice. Eating an orange with some protein and healthy fat (5-10 almonds or 1/2 C. Greek yogurt) is much better.

Goals:

1) Pick a whole, plant food over the juice, to reduce blood sugar from spiking. And pick ones that will not spike your glucose as much: vegetables, berries, nuts, seeds.

2) If you pick a sweeter (pineapple) or starchy (potatoes/rice/bread) plant food, always add some healthy fat or protein to it.

Interestingly, most Americans only eat 1.4 cups of vegetables a day, less than 1 cup of fruits a day and are filling up with lots of processed foods. If they do eat a vegetable, it's the same 1-3. No variety in type or color. The different colored plant foods gives you many different kinds of nutrients that are hard to replicate in a supplement.

Many are under-nourished, regardless of how they look and their size (fit, thin or overweight). Eating vegetables and some other plant foods, can be an acquired taste due to our love of All things sweet. Many don't prefer them because they are less sweet than fruits, breads and many packaged foods (lots of sugar added). How many of you grew up on canned or boiled vegetables that had no crunch or very little taste, except the salt. Yuck! Or cereals filled with sugars like I did? This makes turning to plant foods a challenge, but YOU CAN DO IT!

Make it Fun as you work through the Goals here, exploring all the amazing taste out there. :)

Goals:

3) Pick 1 plant food every 1-2 weeks and try it 3 times or more.

4) Find or ask a friend for a recipe. Pick recipes with seasonings you know you like to start with and use sea salt, grass fed butter or cold-pressed olive, coconut or avocado oil to cook them in.

5) Eat it before you eat or drink anything sweet or starchy, because it's hard to compete!!

6) Work your way up to 5-7 servings of plant foods a day.

7) Eat a variety of types that are in season

8) Eat the rainbow: try to get 5-7 colors each day

Make it Fun and Enjoy,

by Marci LC D'Andrea

MS, LDN, CNS, NBC-HWC, FMCHC, PompaCare HC