This is a simple summary of some of the best nutritional advice we’ve ever come across!
If you’ve been reading the last four blog posts, you’ve seen how we’ve talked about building a good foundation for a holistically integrated lifestyle in a way that’s easy and fun.
We wrote about the basic priorities: air, water, cleansing, and movement. Now in this post we’re going to share some perspectives on food in general and fundamental nutrition in a way that’s in alignment with our wellness theme at True Food.
The first thing that could be said is that we’re grateful for the abundance of food choices available to us. And this complexity can sometimes create challenges though. So we prefer to keep things as simple as possible, because it makes things easier, and more enjoyable.
There’s a lot of confusion in the conflicting nutritional advice we hear from all corners of the internet or bookstore. Fads seem to come and go. What was considered healthy a decade ago is now something bad to avoid. And what was considered unhealthy a decade ago is now upheld as the best thing ever.
There’s something to be said for intuition though, and we find that intuitive eating is a pretty balanced way to go. We believe that our bodies have an innate wisdom that will guide us in the direction that best suits our needs in each season of our life. All we have to do is listen, and then make the right choices based on what our guts are telling us.
Before we talk about specific foods that we think are stellar for a wellness diet, we want to mention something important that’s related to food, but speaks to our psychology.
We all make poor choices from time to time, and it’s a part of life to honor those struggles. But let’s not beat ourselves up whenever we choose to indulge in something we tell ourselves is unhealthy. Let’s notice our thoughts about it and forgive ourselves if we need to. Because the vibration of guilt has a negative effect on the food we ingest and our digestion of it. So might as well enjoy it in the moment and call it a cheat day. And hey, you’ll be on top of your game all week until the next cheat day!
Here’s a good starting point for a food blog exploration: eat real foods, mostly plants, not too much, and move more.
It’s simple, non-dogmatic, and something most people could agree on and take action on.
Real food means Whole Foods that are grown in the Earth, instead of synthesized food-like products that are manufactured in warehouses. The benefit of this seems pretty common sense to us, and we trust it does to you too (because we know the readers in our community are smart cookies!).
Mostly plants means that it seems to be true that most people’s bodies do well with plant based diets that have a smaller percentage of meat in their diets. Plants have good fiber, aid in digestion, are rich in variety, and are a clean source of vitamins and minerals.
Not too much means: listen to your body for when enough is enough, resist any urge to overeat, and try to eat only as much as is reasonable at each meal. Our bodies know when we’ve reached our capacity, so remember to practice moderation.
Move more was the subject of the previous blog post which you can read here. But basically that means: it’s probably not wise to eat a lot and sit around, so just remember to make the time throughout each day to move at least a little bit.
Hyper consumption plus a sedentary lifestyle can lead to some pretty negative places. So eat real foods, mostly plants, not too much, and move more.
We mentioned meat just above, so here’s a few words about that. Leaving the ethical conversation aside, we believe that eating meat is natural and good. Of course the quality needs to be high and we try to keep it locally sourced and processed. We would say, try to avoid the big companies that exploit animals, and vote for the small scale farmers that have higher standards of animal stewardship with you money.
Dietary fat has a lot of mixed messaging in the mainstream. Mostly it gets a bad rap. But there are fats that heal, and there are fats that heal. In fact, there’s a book with that title that we recommend you read. Check it out.
Not all fats are created equally. There are bad fats like the trans stuff that the big chain companies use to deep fry. It clogs and dirties our bodies. Then there’s good fats from avocados, coconuts, seeds, and other sources that beneficially lubricate our cells and tissues. Even meat in general often has good fats that do our bodies well.
We gotta mention greens. If you’re green on the inside, you’re clean on the inside. Having salads regularly is just a good dietary habit. There’s also green juices, which can be just oh so refreshing! One secret to getting more greens in a quick and easy way is chlorophyll. That’s a concentrated liquid extract from plants that you can drop into water and drink down. It purifies the bloodstream and oxygenates the cells.
Greens can be like a gateway to superfoods. The health benefits of superfoods are way too much to talk about in this blog post. But you can read all about them here. In short, superfoods are really delicious and easy to add into our diets. And that’s an important point to make, is that, what if we focus on adding in more good things, instead of trying to get rid of bad things?
Spirulina is a dark green superfood rich in chlorophyll. Mix it into a green smoothie. Blended beverages are a modern day miracle in how they can deliver an abundance of nutrition in a compact form. There’s a lot of other superfood mixes that we can add into our morning smoothie that will give the rest of our day a boost of good vibes!
We can look to ancient systems from all over the world for guidance in health. One of them is from the Chinese Daoist tonic herbal system. They developed a sophisticated approach to combining herbs into powders and teas that we can take in for immune support and overall wellbeing.
Many of these remedies can be found in your local health food store. In the most basic sense though, just think of drinking teas as getting some herbal assistance for the immune system. It’s really quite a profound thing: extracting vitamins and minerals from plants into water, and absorbing these benefits into our bloodstream. Especially if the quality of water we’re drinking is good. Read this blog here for more about water.
Another great way to connect more closely with a natural diet is to forage for wild food. The quality is always superior to store bought stuff. We can buy some wild foods in some stores, but getting out into the natural environment is the best way to engage on a deeper level with the nutrition that fuels our bodies.
Mushroom hunting is a common way for many people to get started with this. Your local habitat probably provides some safe opportunities for this. Greens are also an abundant source of wild foraging. Consider starting with dandelions, because they might just be growing in your backyard. Berries are a brilliant food to forage and can surprisingly be found on any hike near you.
So to summarize, we believe that:
There’s an abundance of healthy food options available to us, we just need to notice them and take action.
Forgiving ourselves for decisions that aren’t in alignment with our higher selves is an important part of a holistically integrated lifestyle.
Intuitive eating is an intelligent way to go about deciding what’s good for us.
Eat real foods, mostly plants, not too much, and move more.
Eating meat is natural and good, when it’s from local and ethical sources.
Some sources of fat are an excellent source of fuel that can actually heal us, contrary to what the diet dictocrats try to convince us of.
It seems to be common sense that getting more greens into our diets is a really good thing.
Superfoods are par excellence when it comes to concentrating nutrition in an easily digestible form that also tastes amazing.
Herbal medicine is never to be underrated in our approach to wellness, especially with regards to adaptogenic herbs from the wiser of the ancient systems.
Foraging for wild foods is a great way to connect more closely with a natural diet, and it’s an easy and safe way to engage on a deeper level with the nutrition that fuels our bodies.
This post is intended to be a general overview of the most important parts of healthy food habits. These are our perspectives and we hope they serve you well on your path.
Reach out if you have any questions or if you’d like to share your experiences with us. As always, we’re here for you, and wish you and your loved ones all the best as well!
Contributed by David Whipple
David Whipple is a health strategist and digital nomad. He’s been experiencing lifestyle improvements for 20 years and loves to share his learning process. He also offers creative services on his website.