Digestive Wellness: Strengthen the Immune System and Prevent Disease Through Healthy Digestion, Fourth Edition (57 page)

Leftovers

Piece of chicken

Smoothie

Fresh vegetable juice or green drink

Trail mix

Salsa with veggies and chips

A few sushi rolls

Stuffed grape leaves

4. Eat When You Are Hungry and Stop When You Are Satisfied

From the time babies are born, they let us know when they’re hungry; they drink as much formula or breast milk as they want, and then they stop sucking when they’re satisfied. As they begin eating solid foods and thereon through childhood, children know when they are hungry or full, but then we start encouraging them to just eat a little bit more or to taste something because “it’s yummy,” or we treat them with cookies or ice cream to reward them for eating their meals. So we learn to eat when we aren’t hungry.

Emotional overeating is one of the reasons for obesity in this country. We regularly turn to food when we want love and support. Don’t eat if you aren’t hungry, but
also don’t wait until you are overhungry because that’s when we lose control and eat the sweetest, fastest foods in sight.

5. Relax While Eating

Many times we don’t even stop what we’re doing long enough to sit down when we eat. Remember that eating is a time for rejuvenation of body and spirit and a time to connect with yourself and with those you are eating with. One way I’ve found to encourage peace of mind during meals is to say grace. It puts me in touch with the bounty of our earth, directs my attention to the people I am with and to my gratitude for their presence in my life, helps me thank the people who produced the food, and reminds me that we all depend on each other and community. Family meals are important. Turn the television off and have a family dinner almost every night.

6. Eat Local Foods in Season

Local produce is the freshest and has the highest level of nutrients. Ask your super-market’s produce manager and neighborhood restaurants to purchase locally grown products whenever possible. Put farm stands, community support agriculture (CSA) markets, and farmer’s markets into your food-shopping routine. This has the added benefits of supporting the local economy and helping the environment by cutting food-transportation costs and consumption of fossil fuels. Act locally; think globally!

Knowing your farmers, fisheries, and what’s available locally helps the food supply become more transparent. The food quality, freshness, and enzymes are most abundant in local foods eaten in season. Eating foods in season also reduces the amount of pesticide and herbicide we consume.

7. Choose Organically Grown Foods Whenever Possible

Organic foods generally have higher nutrient levels because farmers who use organic methods add more nutrients to the soil, knowing that healthy plants can better fend off pests and that the nutrients end up in the crops. Organic plants create higher levels of antioxidants and protective polyphenols. A study from Doctor’s Data reported that mineral levels in organically grown apples, pears, potatoes, wheat, and wheat berries were twice as high as in their commercially grown counterparts. Italian researchers found that levels of polyphenols, which are active antioxidant nutrients, were about a third higher in organic peaches and about three times higher in organic pears. Another recent study found that wild berries had twice the antioxidant level as commercially grown berries. As consumer awareness of such benefits increases, organically grown foods are becoming more plentiful and are now stocked in many supermarkets.

Eating organically produced foods is your
only
way to avoid the genetically engineered ingredients that are found in about 80 percent of packaged foods.

Organic food production also protects soils and water, treats animals more humanely, and helps prevent antibiotic resistance. Conventionally (nonorganically) raised animals are routinely given growth-promoting antibiotics and hormones, and animal production accounts for an estimated 70 percent, or 25 million pounds, of the antibiotics used annually in the United States. When we eat nonorganic dairy, poultry, eggs, and meats, we ingest small amounts of these drugs. Antibiotics in animal feed also create the perfect environment for bacteria to develop resistance; as stronger and newer antibiotics are developed, some bacteria survive by adaptation, and these strains can then pass to humans in our food and through contact with farm animals. Conventional animal production thereby lessens the effectiveness of drugs that we so rely on.

8. Eat as Many Fruits and Vegetables as Possible

The available research on the positive benefits of eating fruits and vegetables is overwhelming. They are chock-full of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytochemicals (plant-produced substances) that protect us from heart disease, cancer, degenerative diseases, and other common health problems. We know this, yet only about 23 percent of us eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. And what’s known is that more is even better. Shoot for 8 to 10 and make most of them vegetables!

9. Eat High-Quality Protein and High-EPA/DHA Seafood, Organically and Sustainably Produced

If you choose to eat animal protein, such as poultry, beef, lamb, pork bison, goat, dairy products, eggs, and/or seafood, try to make sure that it is of the best quality possible.

Poultry and meat animals are raised mostly in concentrated agricultural feeding operations (CAFOs) where they receive food that isn’t natural for them, and they are raised in conditions that are not conducive to their nature or optimal health. On the other hand, pasture-raised meat animals and poultry that run around on grass and soil have a healthier nutrient content. Environmentally, CAFOs are a disaster. Most water pollution is runoff from animal farming. The antibiotics given to farmed animals go into our rivers, streams, fields, crops, and bodies. The hormones they receive affect us after we eat their meat. Countries that switch from a grain-based to a meat-based economy become poorer, have more hunger and starvation, and strip their land of its natural resources.

When purchasing red meat, look for labels that tell you it has been grass fed or grass finished. If you are eating poultry, look for organic poultry. We are what we eat eats. So, if I buy the “natural” poultry in the market probably that chicken was
fed genetically engineered corn and soy products. The only way I can ensure that I am not taking in genetically engineered products is by purchasing organic meats and dairy products. Some of the best products can be purchased at your local farmer’s markets or directly from the producer directly at the farm.