Have you heard of the Chinese saying “Sickness comes in through the mouth”? Put this together with Hippocrates’ famous “Let thy food be thy medicine”, and we realize that there is a deeper connection between our food and our health.

These beautiful organic apples are from Zenxin Organic Produce

The good news is that healthful eating is not at all difficult. The most common reasons given by people who are unable to make healthy changes are - 1) lack of knowledge and 2) lack of time. Besides acquiring the necessary information on what and how to eat, having the right mind-set is as important. Many times, it is more difficult to UNLEARN something than to learn something!

1) Know the foods which are bad for you.
Even if you are not able to eliminate all these right away, knowing them is a good start. Make an effort to read and find out more, from as many different sources as possible. To begin with, be aware of the 3 harmful whites - white sugar, white flour and white table salt. White sugar and white flour are refined products. White sugar is nutrient-void and causes insulin spikes in blood sugar while white flour is stripped bare of nutritional benefits!

Other obvious harms include tobacco, alcohol, intoxicants etc. Avoid these and you avoid the extra burden of detoxifying them.

2) Do your own grocery shopping! And spend more than 70% of your time at the fresh produce sections.
Fresh and living foods are displayed usually at the front sections. These are the most important foods to well-being, and should form the majority of anyone’s diet. If something has a long shelf life, it probably has alot of additives/preservatives, and we don’t want these in our body. Something which does not rot months after months cannot be that good for us!

So start by familiarizing with the “living” sections of a supermarket, and you are on your way to a “living” body.

3) Hunt down organic health food stores in your neighborhood.
Unless we can afford to eat at organic/wholesome restaurants everyday, healthy eating hinges largely on preparing our own food. The good news is that it does NOT have to be time-consuming. It takes some creativity and heart, but anyone can eat healthily just with an extra hour a day!

4) Learn to make a Smoothie!
This is probably the most important, and coincidentally the easiest way to a healthy diet. Green smoothies made with clean, unpolluted greens are one of the best foods for mankind. It is easy to make, packs in enough calories (by choosing fruits with higher sugar content) and can easily occupy 1 or 2 meals in a person’s diet.

5) Drink To Superb health.
No person who is chronically dehydrated can enjoy superior health. Water is such an integral part of life, that it is impossible to do without. There are different recommendations from different experts and health professionals on the daily amount to drink, but the general rule-of-thumb is a minimum of 8 glasses a day - if you live in Singapore. Aim for 8 big glasses (which is about 4 litres), and drink more if you work out and perspire heavily.

Water is needed for almost every bio-chemical process in our body - drinking sufficient water helps us to eliminate toxins, release fat and ensure that nutrients and oxygen are transported to our cells effectively.

6) The less you heat, the better!
At 47 degrees Celsius, enzymes start to deteriorate, and they start to perish when temperatures go up further. At 100 degrees, enzymes are completely gone, and so are most of the vitamins and minerals. At above 100 degrees, DNA changes in the food occur and results in toxins which are unrecognizable by our body (remember how doctors and professionals always advise to boil or steam our food?). So when we eat deep fried or microwaved (which by the way is the worst form of cooking!), we ingest cancer-causing carcinogens.

7) Read labels.
When you buy something which comes in a packet, always know what you are buying. Read the label and find out how it was made, where did it come from, what was it originally, what was taken out and what is added in? Keep away from those heavily processed and altered foods because these are lower in nutrients and probably not as good for you as you thought. As a rule-of-thumb, opt for the minimally and least altered/processed foods.

Every person starts from a different level, and there can be no “one-fit-all” instructions for everyone. But it does not matter where you are now; what matters is that you are aware of how food can affect us on all biological, emotional and metaphysical levels. What matters even more is that you take action right away to practice mindful eating.

Whatever you are eating now, implement these 7 steps into your diet regiment, and you will enjoy great improvements in your diet right away!

(C)Copyright, 2009
Linda Loo

Tags: low fat recipes, raw & living foods, raw food diet, vegan weight loss