Healthy Eating Tips

Here are some healthy eating tips which will help you reduce the amount of processed foods you eat and increase your intake of whole, traditional foods. Choosing foods which are rich in nutrients and low in additives and chemicals will help you feel better and build a strong, healthy body.

The trick to implementing these healthy eating tips and making permanent changes in your eating habits is "slow and steady". Make a small change each week, enjoy whatever food you eat, and little by little, those choices and changes will add up to a healthier diet in the long run. Besides, the human body is pretty adaptable, and it can take a little junk food every once in a while as long as healthy foods are chosen for the majority of meals.

1. First and foremost, take control of your food supply and what you choose to eat. Otherwise, you are at the mercy of the commercial food companies and their profit driven agendas. For instance, research local sources for organic, grass fed meat and buy it whenever possible.

2. Take up vegetable gardening. Grow your own vegetables in the summer, then cook and freeze them so they are available to you in the winter. We grow squash, peppers, eggplant and tomatoes in the summer. I make salsa, squash casseroles, and other dishes and freeze them. These are great in the middle of January when the vegetables in the grocery store are outrageously expensive.

3. If you can't grow your own produce, look for organic produce grown near your location. Shop at Farmer's Markets or join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) plan. Check my resources page for websites that offer information about local products.

4. At the grocery store, choose whole, organic foods and avoid processed foods as much as possible. Most of the processed foods are found on the aisles that run down the middle of the store. This would include food that has been boxed, bagged or canned foods. Even most frozen foods are processed in some way. The fresh dairy case and produce departments are usually on the outside aisles. The meat case is a mixed bag.. some grocery stores do offer organic, grass fed beef (Laura's brand and Colemans are the two I've seen). But it's cheaper to buy grass fed beef in bulk. (See tip on grassfed beef below).

5. For health reasons, it's extremely important to avoid sugary junk food. Not only are these products too high in refined carbs, they also contain a ton of weird chemicals. I've got a page which analyzes the nasty stuff just one junk food product contains. Others are even worse for you, especially if you eat them frequently.

6. Let go of your fear of eating saturated fats, especially butter. They are beneficial to your health in many ways. Saturated fats supply cell membrane integrity, are needed for the absorption of calcium and other minerals, and they are essential for metabolizing fatty acids like EPA and DHA, which are incredibly beneficial to heart function and mood.

   Saturated fats are anti-viral and anti-microbial. They support the immune system, protect the liver and contribute to strong bones. Saturated fats are the preferred food for the heart and brain, and as such should be on any list of healthy foods.

   Consider this: before 1900, Americans ate mostly saturated fat from animal sources. Death from heart disease was rare. The first case wasn't reported until 1912.

   In the early 1900s, vegetable-based margarine, hydrogenated shortening and corn oil were introduced, and people began switching to these for various reasons. As the consumption of butter and other saturated animal fats fell, the rates of heart disease went up.

7. Avoid refined polyunsaturated vegetable oils, hydrogenated vegetable fats, and margarine. The processes used to create these products rely on toxic chemicals and high heat, which results in the introduction of trans fat and an oxidized, unstable product. Oxidized oils introduce large amounts of free radicals into your body, which results in an increase in inflammation. Inflammation has been linked to all sorts of disease processes. And most refined vegetable oils are made from genetically engineered organisms, which are implicated in a wide range of health issues. This would include refined soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil, sunflower oil and the like.

8. Make a special effort to avoid oils that are rancid, and any fat that has been hydrogenated. Hydrogenated fats contain trans fatty acids, which are strongly associated with increasing risks of cancer and heart disease.

9. Use traditional vegetable oils instead: cold pressed, organic virgin olive oil, cold pressed sesame oil, small amounts of cold pressed flaxseed oil, and clean tropical oils: virgin coconut oil, and organic palm kernel oil.

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10. Make sure your overall diet contains nearly equal amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids can be found in a variety of foods including meat, walnuts, cod liver oil and fatty fish like salmon and halibut. Omega-6 fatty acids are found in poultry, whole grains, nuts and seeds. The modern diet contains much more Omega-6 oils because of the increased consumption of vegetable oils over animals fats. This imbalance toward Omega-6 has been implicated in raising rates of heart disease because of the inflammatory effects of vegetable oils.

11. Consume a mixture of fats. Sources of fat should include real, unprocessed foods like grass fed meat, free range fowl, organic eggs, butter, nuts, natural oils and saturated tropical fats like coconut oil. If you've been following a low fat diet, ease into this change. Take a few weeks to gradually add more fat to your diet. To feel good, and to keep my blood sugar and insulin levels stable and normal, I shoot for a 70% fat, 20% protein and 10% carbohydrate calorie distribution in my diet.

    The Weston Price Foundation notes that "the total fat content of traditional diet plans varies from 30% to 80% with only 4% of calories come from polyunsaturated oils naturally occurring in grains, pulses, nuts, fish, animal fats and vegetables. The balance of fat calories is in the form of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids."

12. Save time by cooking your work week meals on the weekend. Make deviled eggs, grill several pounds of meat, slow cook some beef stew or chili, and roast a couple of chickens. These will make tasty leftovers which are easy to fix during the week. If you don't have time on the weekend either, spend an evening doing prep work: chop some veggies, brown some hamburger, and have the basics ready for quick evening meals.

13. Choose fresh over commercially frozen food. In order to freeze vegetables, they have to be blanched first. This blanching destroys some of the nutrients. Fresh vegetables are more nutritious. Steaming them is best way to retain the nutrition during cooking.

14. Avoid canned food for the same reason. The canning process destroys many of the nutrients in fresh foods.

    One more note: Avoid the microwave as much as possible when preparing whole foods. Use steam or sauteing to cook foods instead. Microwaves destroy many of the nutrients present in fresh food; steaming destroys the least amount.

15. Accept that you won’t always be able to eat well. I know I can’t always choose the healthiest foods, as so much of what is offered in the grocery store and in restaurants has been compromised in some way.

    However, any efforts you make will improve your health. And the changes can be minor. For example, if you want cookies, choose to make your own with organic butter and organic dried cane juice instead of processed white sugar. If you love chips, buy the ones that list only potatoes, sunflower oil and salt on the ingredient list. Avoid the chips with ingredient lists a mile long, or better yet, make your own potato chips from fresh potatoes fried in organic coconut oil with some rosemary.

16. Try not to worry too much about what you eat. How you feel emotionally about the food you eat has a big effect on whether you absorb and digest it well. Studies have shown that when people feel guilt while eating, they don’t absorb the nutrients in the food as well.

17. Buy your meat in bulk from sources which raise cattle naturally on grass. It’s cheaper to buy a whole steer, which is about 400 pounds of meat cut and wrapped. Here in Wyoming, a grass fed steer will run $4-$5 a pound. A whole steer will yield about 80 pounds of ground meat, and the rest should be cut into steaks and roasts. This meat is much cheaper than organic steaks and roasts in the health food or grocery store. If you don’t have room to freeze that quantity, see if a health conscious friend will split the steer with you.

18. The animal products (beef, lamb, game, organ meats, poultry and eggs) that you consume should come from pasture-fed animals. Buying locally is one way to make sure you are getting naturally raised, grass fed products. If these are unavailable, try to buy organic products at the store.

19. Raise your own chickens for eggs and meat, or buy eggs and poultry products from farms where the birds have been allowed to range freely. You can see the difference in the egg yolks of our free range, healthy chickens in comparison to store bought eggs. Free range eggs have much higher levels of beta carotene and omega-3 fatty acids, which makes the yolks bright orange instead of yellow.

20. If you have your own chickens or other poultry, give them all of your kitchen scraps and excess garden produce. They love vegetable peelings, meat and other leftovers, as long as the food isn't moldy. Remember that you will eventually consume the eggs and meat that your chickens provide, so think about what you feed them.

21. Find and join an organic food buying club in your area. United Naturals food club is a company that supports food buying clubs. Search Google to see if United Naturals delivers in your area. If you can't find a club in your area, consider starting one!

22. Choose full-fat milk products from pasture-fed cows, preferably raw and/or fermented, such as raw milk, whole yogurt, kefir, cultured butter, whole raw cheeses and fresh and sour cream. (Imported cheeses that say "milk" or "fresh milk" on the label are raw).

23. Find a local source for clean, raw milk, cream and cheese from grass fed dairy cattle. Raw milk and cream from grass fed cows is one of nature's finest health supporting foods. If you don't have access to clean, raw milk, at least buy organic milk from grass fed cows. Both Organic Valley and Natural by Nature brand organic milk is from cows which have access to grass.

24. Avoid commercial milk from cows injected with rBGH. Some commercial milk comes from factory farmed cows treated with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) to boost milk production. The hormone works, but it also shortens the cow's life by half and increases the incidence of disease by 40%, including infections of the udder. rBGH has been implicated in a increased risk of human breast cancer. I don't know of any studies done, but there are many anecdotal reports of very young girls having breast pain and premature periods associated with drinking commercial milk tainted with rBGH. Fortunately, many grocery store chains have pledged not to sell milk from cows injected with rBGH. You can get a list of non-rBGH brands of milk on page 4 of this shopping guide.

25. Read labels at the grocery store to avoid buying fake food. Check for high fructose corn syrup, additives, preservatives and the other chemicals. You'd be surprised at what some "healthy" foods have in them. The American Heart Association endorses processed, sugary, chemical laden foods like chocolate milk, sugared breakfast cereals and processed meats, so you can't trust that little Heart check symbol.

26. Judge all foods by the ingredients within. If you buy boxed or canned food, look at the nutrition facts on the label. Choose those made with the least amount of chemicals and the most natural ingredients. Remember, the goal is to get your artificial chemical intake as low as possible.

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27. Eat plenty of wild caught fish and shellfish from unpolluted waters, especially high fat fish like wild caught salmon. (Avoid farm raised if at all possible.) Increasing your intake of Omega 3 fatty acids protects your heart, and wild salmon have higher levels of Omega 3 fatty acids than farm raised salmon. Farm raised fish and shrimp are fed diets of genetically engineered grain products, foods which are not normal and increase the omega-6 fatty acids in the final product.

28. I don't recommend eating whole grains, but if you like bread, buy organic grain and grind your own flour for bread making. Grinders can be had for around $400. Or find a local source of fresh ground grain or fresh baked organic bread (I like the sprouted bread from Foods for Life).

    Ideally, the grain should be soaked in an acid medium before grinding.

    Why soaking? The Weston Price foundation recommends that the grain be soaked to neutralize the phytic acids. Phytic acid is found within the hulls of nuts, seeds, and grains, and when consumed, it chelates or neutralizes important minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron, niacin, and zinc in the body. In this way, phytic acid acts as an anti-nutrient. Soaking nuts, seeds and grain in an acid medium, such as yogurt or dairy whey (lactic acid fermentation), and sprouting them neutralizes the phytic acids. You can learn more about preparing grains here.

29. Avoid soft drinks, both diet and regular. The high fructose corn syrup in regular soda takes a serious toll on your liver, and drives up your triglycerides. Regular sugar, or glucose is metabolized in every cell in the body but fructose can only be metabolized in the liver. The livers of test animals fed large amounts of fructose develop fatty deposits and cirrhosis, similar to problems that develop in the livers of alcoholics.

    High fructose corn syrup contains a good deal of "free" or unbound fructose. Research indicates that this free fructose interferes with the heart’s use of key minerals like magnesium, copper and chromium. Among other consequences, HFCS has been implicated in the creation of blood clots. It has been found to inhibit the action of white blood cells so that they are unable to defend the body against harmful foreign invaders.

    Side Note: Agave nectar, which is supposed to be a healthy, low glycemic sweetener is about 90% fructose, so I believe it's worse than HFCS, and puts a strain on your liver in large amounts, just as HFCS does.

    Diet sodas are straight chemical concoctions. The artificial sweeteners (Aspartame and Splenda) in diet sodas are associated with nerve damage, muscle pain and other scary side effects. These sweeteners are the ultimate processed, unnatural foods and have no place in a natural, healthy food plan.

30. If you like the carbonation of soda, try drinking flavored carbonated water. Just make sure the ingredient list says only carbonated water, and natural flavors. Some of grocery store brands add artificial sweeteners and other chemicals.

    I like the Canada Dry Sparkling Seltzer Water, or La Croix seltzer waters and I use a natural sweetener called stevia to sweeten it. It tastes better than regular soda. I use SweetLeaf brand liquid stevia, because the powdered stevias usually have some form of sugar added. I get to have the fizzy drink I like without all the chemicals.

31. If you smoke, stop. There's no point in eating well if you continue smoking. Read up about the unhealthy habit of smoking here.

32. Cut back on processed meats such as hot dogs. They usually contain cereal fillers such as soy protein or flour, and are high in chemical preservatives and colorants.

33. Avoid soy products. Almost 90% of the soybean crop in the US is genetically engineered, and hundreds of studies link soy consumption to all sorts of health issues. The phytates in soybeans are extremely resistant to neutralization, and have been linked to malnutrition and growth problems, especially when soya is added to infant formulas. (Read Kaayla Daniel's The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America's Favorite Health Food for more information about the dangers of soy.)

34. Some lists of healthy eating tips don't mention health supplements. However, I recommend supplements because the foods produced by industrial agriculture are much lower in vitamins and minerals today. Try to find natural, food-based supplements.

35. Cook in stainless steel, cast iron, glass, stoneware, or good quality enamel. Cooking acidic foods in aluminum will result in a metallic taste in the food, and could result in heavy metal poisoning, which affects the kidneys. In addition, teflon should not be heated to more than 500 degrees as it emits toxic gases at higher temps.

I hope these healthy eating tips are helpful to you. Check back periodically as I will add more as I think of them.

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