Dietary & lifestyle practices for health

The greatest wealth is health.

~ Virgil

1. Eat a colourful assortment of seasonal vegetables and berries daily. Use EWG Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen  for guidance on what to buy organic.

   
   

   Garnish plant-based foods with the highest-quality animal foods. The more sustainably raised and grown, the more nutritious and the more satisfying.

2. Choose food that is herbicide and pesticide-free, hormone and antibiotic-free, minimally processed with no added colours, artificial flavours, lab-made sweeteners, bad fats (highly processed seed and vegetable oils and fatty cuts of conventionally raised animals) or ingredients grandma would not recognize as food.

3. Consume most of your food earlier in the day, when you have the most digestive power.

   
   

   Try to eat all food and caloric beverages within an 8-10-hour window, allowing a 14-16-hour fast between dinner and breakfast. A prolonged fast triggers the body to go into self-cleaning mode. Occasionally, a longer fast is warranted, but one has to build up to it.

4. The gut needs a break between meals. Every time we eat, we cause some irritation. The digestive tract heals rapidly, but we have to give it a pause between meals.

   
   

   Eat nothing for three hours before bed. For adults, current science on autophagy (self-eating) discourages snacking.

5. Add some healthy fats. Eat fish one to two times per week, preferably wild or organically farmed - salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines and herring. Consider adding an omega-3 supplement when not eating fish, but check with your doctor.

   
   

   Avocado, olive oil, butter from naturally raised grass-fed cows or ghee, coconut oil, nuts and seeds, and whole eggs from chickens raised outdoors are great choices.

6. Buy only organic grains. Soaking, souring and sprouting enhance nutrient availability.

   
   

   Glyphosate, the active ingredient in RoundUp, is a cause of autoimmune and other degenerative disease conditions.  

   
   

   If eating bread, choose loaves made with organic flour and sourdough-leavened (reduces the spike in blood sugar and breaks down gluten for better assimilation). Organic sourdough bread contains Lactobacillus reuteri, which may help prevent some cancers.

7. Pomegranate and cranberries (or their juices) may help increase Akkermansia muciniphila, an immune-supportive probiotic.

8. Eat only at the table and chew your food well. Multi-tasking means we are in fight-or-flight, not rest-and-digest mode. We cannot break down and absorb nutrients if distracted while eating.

9. Hydrate while minimizing sweetened beverages. Water, green tea, and herbal teas are best.

   
   

   Drink half your body weight (measured in pounds) in ounces of water. Add apple cider vinegar (ACV), chlorophyll, cucumber, watermelon, grated ginger, lime or lemon to increase nutritional value and add flavour.

   
   

   If adding acidity (ACV, lime or lemon) please do not allow it to linger on teeth. Sip through a straw or drink quickly. Avoid all pop and other soft drinks.

10. When possible, get some safe sun exposure. Ten to fifteen minutes of sunscreen-free sun exposure daily helps increase vitamin D levels.

    
    

    The sun not only provides vitamin D, but infrared light also helps the body detoxify and can be a source of fuel. For prolonged sun exposure, check out the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG's) Skin Deep for safe sunscreen.

    
    

    Supplement vitamin D as needed in the winter, but consider adding K2 to ensure the absorbed calcium ends up in teeth and bones, not soft tissue. Have vitamin D levels tested. Please check with a trusted health care provider for proper dosing.

11. Sleep well. Honour light/dark cycles. Turn off overhead lights and abstain from using the computer, smartphone, iPads and watching television after nine at night. Exposure to unnatural light interferes with melatonin production. Melatonin not only facilitates healing sleep but is also a powerful natural antioxidant.

12. Avoid alcohol consumption.

13. If possible, go into a dry or infrared sauna for half an hour twice a week.

14. Embrace discomfort. Do something hard every day to show yourself that you are capable of doing hard things.

15. Move throughout the day. Getting up from a sitting position every half hour throughout the day for an exercise snack may be more beneficial than an hour at the gym followed by prolonged sitting.

16. Reframe stress. Every challenge creates an opportunity for growth and transformation. Watch Kelly McGonigal’s TED Talk or read her book The Upside of Stress.

17. Guided meditations help reprogram the operating system that we run on autopilot. Our operating system was installed in the first seven years of our lives, when we were in a hypnotic state and learned how to react based on the reactions of our primary caregivers. Try this free guided healing meditation.