Resolving to Eat Better is Easier With Solid Advice About Real Food

Did you make a New Year’s resolution to eat better? If so, are you trying the same old things you’ve done in the past, or the latest thing, with varying degrees of success? Have you already fallen off the wagon? If so, don’t beat yourself up, and don’t stick your head in the sand … consider eating real food. It will bring you peace. I have so much peace in my life since I discovered real food, in fact the book Real Food by Nina Planck.

I grew up with female role models who made new year’s resolutions to lose weight on restrictive diets, and when that didn’t pan out, there was often the intention to start a diet “on Monday.” I followed suit for years, distrusting food and distrusting myself with food – white knucking it to avoid “bad” foods, and then ending up gorging myself on it (often in secret). Life is too short for that. Food should be enjoyed, and real food is so enjoyable and nourishing.

Take a deep breath, and rejoice in the fact that real food feeds your body, mind and soul. When you eat real food, you have energy, think clearly, breathe more deeply and cope with life better – and you won’t want to swing through the McDonald’s drive-thru. Another wonderful resource for information about traditional, whole food is the Weston A. Price Foundation.

Here’s  the Weston A. Price Foundation’s list of dietary guidelines:

1. Eat whole, natural foods.
2. Eat only foods that will spoil, but eat them before they do.
3. Eat naturally-raised meat including fish, seafood, poultry, beef, lamb, game, organ meats and eggs.
4. Eat whole, naturally-produced milk products from pasture-fed cows, preferably raw and/or fermented, such as whole yogurt, cultured butter, whole cheeses and fresh and sour cream.
5. Use only traditional fats and oils including butter and other animal fats, extra virgin olive oil, expeller expressed sesame and flax oil and the tropical oils—coconut and palm.
6. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, preferably organic, in salads and soups, or lightly steamed.
7. Use whole grains and nuts that have been prepared by soaking, sprouting or sour leavening to neutralize phytic acid and other anti-nutrients.
8. Include enzyme-enhanced lacto-fermented vegetables, fruits, beverages and condiments in your diet on a regular basis.
9. Prepare homemade meat stocks from the bones of chicken, beef, lamb or fish and use liberally in soups and sauces.
10. Use herb teas and coffee substitutes in moderation.
11. Use filtered water for cooking and drinking.
12. Use unrefined Celtic sea salt and a variety of herbs and spices for food interest and appetite stimulation.
13. Make your own salad dressing using raw vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and expeller expressed flax oil.
14. Use natural sweeteners in moderation, such as raw honey, maple syrup, dehydrated cane sugar juice and stevia powder.
15. Use only unpasteurized wine or beer in strict moderation with meals.
16. Cook only in stainless steel, cast iron, glass or good quality enamel.
17. Use only natural supplements.
18. Get plenty of sleep, exercise and natural light.
19. Think positive thoughts and minimize stress.
20. Practice forgiveness.

Just eat real food. And be well.

Obesity May Be Becoming the New Norm

A recent Harris/HealthDay poll found that 30 percent of overweight people think they are normal size. Is this wishful thinking or are we just putting our heads in the sand?

Obesity and a sedentary lifestyle are the biggest threat to the health of our population. I think the vast majority of people are aware of this, but they’re either not willing to do anything about it, or they’ve tried various solutions through the years with no lasting success.

For me, depending on my frame of mind, I was either ignoring my obesity problem or optimistically trying another diet. I went on my first diet at age 10, the Air Force Diet, a popular low-carb diet in the seventies; I ate a lot of hotdogs. Then I fasted a few times until I almost passed out. In the early ’80s it was Judy Mazell’s Beverly Hills Diet; mangoes and papayas still remind me of that diet. Next was the Cambridge Liquid Diet in my late high school years. My friend’s Dad made her get on it to maintain her at 118 pounds; he actually made her weigh in front of him. Then there was Slim Fast. By then, I was in college and weighed 182 pounds; I had dieted off and on for half of my short life.

After college in the early ’90s I got into the cycle of going to diet centers for help. I bought a lifetime membership to Jenny Craig and dutifully ate their food-like substances. I lost weight very quickly, eating only 1000 calories per day. I was “perfect,” and I basked in the glory when I was able to proclaim to the counselors that I was “good.” At 132 pounds, I was two pounds away from my goal weight. Week after week, I would go to the Center, buy more boxed food, and I just could not lose those last two pounds. I was frustrated and sad, and the counselors kept telling me to try harder. If only someone (me?) had told me that I should celebrate how far I’d come, and not worry about another couple of pounds. Instead, I quickly gained all the weight back and then some.

For the next fifteen years, I would be in and out of Jenny Craig, on and off diets, until the past few years when I gave up on even trying to diet. My self-esteem was low, my energy was low, and the comfort of eating McDonald’s all by myself in my car was just too alluring. I was drawn to it, obsessed with it, soothed by it, addicted to it … and poisoned by it. It has been more than three months since my last visit to McDonald’s, and I have lost 26 pounds. I feel calm and strong and completely free of the pull of the Golden Arches. How did I do it? I did the AdvoCare 24-day challenge, with the support of Camp Gladiator, and then I began eating Real Food as described by Nina Planck. The challenge got me off sugar and fast food, and got me accustomed to eating lots of fruits and vegetables. Nina’s book is guiding me for how to eat for the rest of my life. I was afraid that eating well meant limiting your choices; on the contrary, a whole new world of great food has opened up to me.

If you are obese or overweight, you can break free from that prison. Do you have to do a strict challenge before you start eating according to the Real Food principles? No; it just happened to be my journey. You must understand though how sugar, refined grains and chemical-laden industrial food-like substances are affecting your brain. They are keeping you imprisoned. Get Nina Planck’s book, and start eating real food. One good thing that I did learn from Jenny Craig (way back when) was to shop the walls of the grocery store; you’ll find all the food you need there. Along the walls, you’ll find the produce, fish, meat and dairy.

Whether you’re gorging food with abandon or white-knuckling it to stay away from “bad” foods, you have a problem. Once you get the sugar and chemicals out of your system, and eat real food, you will realize the blessings of a clear mind and a healthy body. I feel better today than I’ve felt in more than 17 years; I wish the same for you. Obesity does not have to be the “new norm” for you. Eat well, move for fun and be well.

Think soy products are healthy? Think again.

I’ve eaten some soy products on purpose (edamame and a brief flirtation with soy milk), but I’m sure the vast majority of my past soy consumption was hidden (in chocolate … to just about everything processed). After reading about some of the dangers of soy in Nina Planck’s Real Food, I cleaned out my cupboards of all products with vegetable oil, including my former favorite salad dressing that contained soybean oil.

Acording to Kaayla T. Daniel, Ph.D., hundreds of epidemiological, clinical and laboratory studies link soy to: 

• Malnutrition
• Digestive distress
• Thyroid dysfunction
• Cognitive decline
• Reproductive disorders
• Infertility
• Birth defects
• Immune system breakdown
• Heart disease
• Cancer

“Second generation soy foods are manufactured using high heat and pressure, chemical solvents, acids and alkalis, extruders and other harsh tools that are very likely to contain or produce toxic or carcinogenic residues.”
— Kaayla T Daniel, author of The Whole Soy Story

Soy protein is a big staple of the vegan and vegetarian diet, in tofu and powder form just to name a couple of popular items. Interestingly, even some vegans are recognizing the dangers are soy, and bill themselves as soy-free.

Listen to the piece below for an audio interview with Sally Fallon about why soy is toxic.

What about Asians who eat soy, and seem to be healthier than we are? The soy they eat is fermented soy, as in soy sauce, which is not the toxic chemically-altered kind that’s in our American industrial food; they also eat smaller quantities of soy overall. Small quantities of the fermented products of soy sauce, miso and tempeh are fine for healthy people, especially if they have been slowly fermented over time, to maximize the reduction of toxins in soy.

For further information, check out this Soy Alert from the Weston A. Price Foundation. Be well!

27 March 2012 Update: Check out Food Renegade for more research on dangers of soy http://www.foodrenegade.com/dangers-of-soy/

Julia Ross says, “Junk moods come from junk foods.”

You’ve probably heard that nutrition plays an important role in how we feel, but have you taken it to heart? If you feel crummy, I’d guess that your diet probably includes:

1. Junk food (fast food, sugar, white flour, vegetable oil, processed food), or
2. Foods you think are healthy, but are not (low fat meats like skinless chicken breast, or worse … no meat, soy products, grains)

Watch this five-minute video from the CheeseSlave’s online cooking class on how plenty of protein and good fats can help you be well:

Give your brain the nutrients it needs, and you will feel well and be well. The nutrients your brain needs are the same that your whole body needs for optimal functioning. I was addicted to white flour and sugar for years. I have recently ditched junk food, and I feel better than I have in more than a decade! And I’m not being “good” or exercising an iron will, I am eating real, beautiful, delicious food that just happens to be exactly what my brain and body need. I really feel like a new person, and I hope the information I share will help you too.

To learn about real food, read Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck.

For more information about how food affects your mood, check out The Mood Cure (by Julia Ross).

Raw milk!

Until five weeks ago raw milk had never passed my lips, nor had it ever crossed my mind. Thanks to Nina Planck’s book Real Food: What to Eat and Why, it’s now a regular part of my daily diet, and I can’t imagine life without it. Raw milk is creamy, sweet, fresh, fat and an honest-to-goodness real whole food.

Besides the great taste, there are many nutritional benefits to drinking raw milk, including vitamins and more available calcium that are damaged if pasteurized. Milk is a whole food, complete with protein, fat and carbohydrates. What about people who say they are lactose intolerant? They can drink raw milk because it contains the lactase enzyme that’s necessary to digest the lactose (lactase is killed when pasteurized). Here’s Real Food author Nina Planck on dairy and eggs. Here’s Sally Fallon on real raw milk.

In some states it’s actually illegal to buy and sell raw milk. Really. You can buy cigarettes and all kinds of toxic substances masquerading as food, but not wholesome raw milk. That’s not the case in Texas; you just have to buy it from the farm. The weekly 40-mile round-trip trek to the Lucky Layla Farm Store at  Lavon Farms in Plano, where they sell milk from pastured champion Guernsey and Jersey cows, is a small price to pay.

Want to learn more about raw milk, including where you can get it? Visit A Campaign for Real Milk, a project of the Weston A. Price Foundation.