Nutrition
Eating With Your Eyes Wide Shut!
By Sherry Hopkins, midwife
So as an “earthy” and “frugal” mother of 6 I have always loved gardening and making healthy meals to feed my family. I attributed my family's good health to the fact that I homeschooled, used herbal supplements, and didn’t vaccinate. So why has my family been so sick the last 4 years! Yes, I said 4! At first I blamed stress, then I blamed putting my kids into a public charter school, and finally I realized the “blame” fell on me. I have not been cooking for my family since I have gone to work outside of the home. I guess frozen lasagnas for dinner every week aren’t building up our immune systems. Go figure. I now have a renewed testimony of how very important the things that go into our bodies are. In fact Cathy Daub said, “Everything taken in through the five senses is our food.”
1.) Listen to your inner voice: the one that tells you when you’re full, you’re hungry, you’re thirsty, and even the cravings, good and bad. Your body is smart. It doesn’t crave things that are bad for it, but your experiences might. So replace those bad eating habits or “memories” with good ones.
2.) Thank God, Mother Earth, Buddha, or any higher being for what is given. Don’t fool yourself. Gratitude is physical. Eat meals with family and friends.
3.) Eat small meals throughout the day. I’m always shocked when I see someone leave a 7-11 with a super big gulp of some sugary carbonated drink that should be consumed throughout the month (maybe even year) but I know it will be finished within the hour! I don’t teach “eating in awareness” as a weight loss idea but as being nice to your body by keeping bits of fuel coming in while being nice to your digestive system.
4.) Eat food in its rawest form. Is that even a word?! Just keep things simple. And no, I’m not saying to eat a raw diet. If you want to eat a carrot, eat a carrot. No need to fry and serve with butter. Ok, maybe sometimes.
5.) Eat with your heart. Don’t buy into raw, organic, vegan, vegetarian, awareness, high protein, no carb, non-fat diets. Listen to your heart. What’s wrong with comfort foods in moderation? Ok, maybe that mayonnaise sauce could be replaced with some nummy balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Use all five senses when shopping for your food and preparing meals.
6.) Avoid processed and refined food. Read the ingredients. You should be able to pronounce all the ingredients. And no, “high fructose corn syrup” is still not a healthy choice because the commercial says so or because corn is in the title.
7.) Drink more water! (Herbal teas count!)
8.) Change one bad eating habit or “memory” at a time. Don’t get overwhelmed. I have included Lalitha’s 10 Essentials. What a perfect place to start!
10 Essential Foods
Lalitha Thomas in her book Ten Essential Foods offers a specific list of 10 foods that she recommends for optimum nutrition and health. She says that while other foods may be equally nutritious, her choice of these ten foods is based on her twenty years of experience and apprenticeship to master healers and her extensive study in the use of food and herbs.
What are the ten essential foods?
1. Almonds—a complete protein furnishing all essential amino acids.
2. Broccoli—great chlorophyll content and high concentrations of potent disease-preventing phytochemicals.
3. Brown rice—energy-producing, complex carbohydrate with plenty of B vitamins.
4. Carrots—a major source of disease-preventing beta carotene.
5. Dulse—a rare vegetable source of vitamin B12.
6. Figs—more calcium than milk with wonderful mineral concentrations.
7. Flax Oil—a special oil containing essential fatty acids, especially the Omega 3 group.
8. Grapefruit—a citrus full of vitamin C and bioflavonoids.
9. Spinach—generous chlorophyll content, important in rejuvenating the health of the blood.
10. Sprouts—power houses of nutrients and life force.
Lalitha Thomas recommends these 10 foods since she feels that together they supply the essential amino acids for complete protein, all trace minerals and major minerals, essential fatty acids, vitamins, complex carbohydrates, and enzymes.
SOURCE: 10 Essential Foods by Lalitha Thomas, 1997. Hohm Press, Prescott, AZ - ISBN#0-934252-74-2
AWorldofWisom.com: Awesome recipes and how do you cook cous cous and other foreign objects?
BountifulBaskets.org: Local group. You can get food baskets, either conventional or organic, for a very low price. Not to mention you can meet others that are trying to make improvements to their diets and will be able to exchange ideas and recipes.
HerballyGrounded.com: Wonderful local made herbal supplements and more. Worth the visit and the money!
LasVegasFarmersMarket.com: I used to go to the Henderson market once every week with the kids. We would take $25 and buy what we could and it was interesting that we would eat everything we bought, as opposed to the gargantuan Costco shopping runs.
LivingHealthyinLasVegas.com: Here are some individuals who have worked hard to make the most out of living in Las Vegas!
RealMilk.com: I’m a huge fan of all things raw (although I don’t buy into eating just raw). Mealtime is an amazing experience when food tastes the way nature intended. Nourishing Traditions and Real Food are a couple of great books worth reading on the subject.
SFMarkets.com: My favorite grocery store.
TraderJoes.com: My second favorite grocery store.
WestonAPrice.org: A wealth of information. I must give credit to my good friend, Nicole, as she led me to it.
WholeFoodsMarket.com: My husband calls this “whole paycheck”. But hey, I must admit I can be found there shopping from time to time.
