Friday, May 21, 2021

The Four Pillars of Good Health

 

Of the four pillars of good health, diet, exercise, sleep, and social connection, diet is probably the most studied and the most understood. Diet or what we eat, can seem simple, right? Most of us know we need to eat things like fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, nuts and dairy. The tricky part is that everyone does not do well on the same diet and many of us need to, often through trial and error, figure out what is best for us.

Some people do well on a high meat diet, others as a vegetarian. Certain foods can enhance one person’s wellbeing but be detrimental to someone else. How do you determine what is good for you? Let’s start with some general rules around food and then you can tweak the specifics independently.

Rules for a Healthy Diet

1)    Drink lots of purified water. Skip bottled water, it has leached plastic, and skip tap water it has numerous unhealthy chemicals.  

2)    Buy local and organic. Fruits and veggies should be chemical free and grown locally if possible. Locally grown produce has the right vitamin content for people living in that particular region.

3)    If you can’t get organic follow the Clean Fifteen and the Dirty Dozen. Easily found online these are yearly lists of the best and worst foods to buy non-organic.  

4)    Free range and grass fed when it comes to meat and dairy. Especially with beef, look for 100% grass fed. Corn fed beef turns the meat into a form of carbohydrate and acts very differently in your body from naturally grass fed meat.

5)    Have variety in your diet. If all you eat is chicken and broccoli, they may be healthy in and of themselves, but they will not provide enough range of vitamins and minerals to obtain good health. Incorporate lots of variety in what you eat.

6)    Read the labels and skip packaged food if you can. A general rule of thumb is, if a packaged food has more than five ingredients, pass on it. After that you are getting mostly unwanted chemicals.

7)    Love and bless your food. Remember the movie Like Water for Chocolate? There actually is scientific evidence that the attitude you hold towards food affects your digestion and absorption. Eat mindfully and express gratitude for your food.

If you start working on these areas, you will see your health improve. Diet is foundational because we literally can’t live without food. Try one or all of the above and start to create a healthy structure around food.