By Carlyn Montes De Oca
Modern Alchemy
Oh No! Now What Can’t I Eat?
When patients call me for nutritional consultations I can sometimes feel that they are bracing themselves to hear the bad news – which of their favorite foods they no longer can eat.
Well yes, chances are there are going to be some changes, like dropping some of the poisons that come masked as fast food, table salt or refined sugar. These are the foods that taste good now and that you can become addicted to over time until one day you realize that these foods may have something to do with why you are always tired and have high blood pressure, or why you’ve gained thirty pounds, or are have pain in your hands due to arthritis, or any of a number of unhealthy and undesirable scenarios that come with the chronic degenerative disease package.
What’s Your Toxin of Choice?
Yes, it’s hard to give up what we love eating. My toxin of choice had always been sugar until a lab test came back showing my glucose levels were way too high. I had been through a difficult divorce the year before and had been literally drowning my heart in pint after pint of Ben and Jerry’s. The sugar solution never cured my heart-ache, how could it? The joy of it only lasted a few minutes then left me carrying an extra ten pounds, which made me cry even more.
The weight took me a while to let go of and it wasn’t a fun process to rid myself of the sugar addiction. Now there are easier ways instead of going cold turkey and I do offer these solutions to my patient’s with pre-diabetes, imbalanced blood glucose issues, metabolic syndrome or excess weight. What was fun and pivotal for me during this “toxin removal phase of life” was looking at myself in the mirror after I lost not the original ten, but twenty-five pounds, and how much better I felt after a month of putting whole, organic and nutritious food into my body.
So if you want to begin to eat more nutritiously, lose a few pounds, and start eating to live rather than eating towards an early or painful demise, don’t focus on what you can’t eat, focus instead on what you can. Think of your nutrition as an adventure instead of a chore, a passage of new discovery instead of with dismay, think of what you will win, instead of what will be lost.
Regardless of your age, when you eat the foods that your body was physiologically designed to eat, you can begin to feel…..
- More energy and vitality
- Greater strength and endurance
- Fewer aches and pains
- More physical and emotional balance
Life is meant to be lived. We can live a more rewarding, richer and fuller life when we give our bodies the appropriate fuel for health and longevity. I love living life feeling this way and I think you will too.
Foods to Add to Your Day for Optimal Fuel & Vitality
- Raw Fruits and vegetables: 9-12 servings is the latest consensus from the powers that be. Eat more vegetables than fruit and add a variety of colors to your plate.
- Nuts, seed, legumes, beans: great protein sources and loaded with essential fatty acids – a lack of these good fats is one of the primary reasons we come down w/degenerative illnesses and cancers in our life time according to the Mayo Clinic.
- Water, water, water: if you never water your garden, how do you expect anything to grow? Your body is approximately 75% water. How is the water going to get inside of your body unless you drink it? 1/2 your body weight in ounces is about the amount you need on a daily basis. If you are drinking caffeinated drinks, they you are depleting you even more because of the dehydration they cause.
- Whole, sprouted, organic grains: only one serving at a time – 1/2 cup of cooked. If you have issues with blood glucose imbalance you may want to cut down to one serving per day or none at all, or choose grains with a lower glycemic load.
- High Quality Vitamins and Minerals: if your head is spinning from the dozens that are sold in the grocery store you aren’t alone. It’s confusing to know what to take and what to choose from but having said this, it is vital that you take vitamins and minerals for optimum health. If you do not you run the risk of illness and degenerative disease. If you would like some guidance, I offer a free 15 minute consultation at 415.306.1853. Just mention this blog.
Most people find that they are not able to eat this way 24/7. No problem. Eat this way 80% of the time and you will be golden. You will also find that if you start filling up on foods that ARE optimal fuel for your body, you won’t have a lot of space left for the other foods that rob you of nutrition, eventually make you sick and often come in boxes, packages, cans and plastic wrap.
Having said this, we live in the modern world and I don’t believe that all packaged food is the enemy. Be an aware, conscious and informed consumer.
Oh and one more thing…..If you are interested in a good read, please check out “My Name is Mahataa” written by the esteemed, Dr. Kathy Sankey. It is a beautifully written book from a truly remarkable healer, fellow Acupuncturist and good friend.
To your optimal health and longevity always,
Carlyn
