Basic Nutrition: Tips to Eating Well

Your body needs fuel just like your car does and it works to the level of what’s put in. If you put junk, it just isn’t going to work well. Period. Yeah, you may be young and healthy now but sooner or later it catches up with you. Basic nutrition is easy to understand and follow. Here are some very easy guidelines.

Basic nutrition for Losing Weight, Saving Money, Eating Healthy

I used to say that we could afford to eat junk food OR afford to eat well, not both. Junk food is expensive. The easiest way to save money, stay at a good weight and eat healthful food is to buy and eat foods that focus on protein, veg and fruits.

The most important meal of the day is breakfast. You have heard it and heard it, but that’s just because it’s true. Skipping breakfast is bad for your body, your emotional health and for your mental performance as well. Be sure there is enough protein in breakfast- like 20 grams. Try to split your daily calories so breakfast gets its fair number. If you eat a lot of carbs at breakfast, you will crave them all day so keep them minimal and healthy (oatmeal rather than white toast).

Don’t miss breakfast especially if you want to lose weight. The longer your body goes without food, the more it goes into starvation mode- meaning every calorie gets stored to protect the body. Plus, if you go too long without eating, you will want to eat more than you need without much concern about the quality of the calories.

If you want to lose weight, I have found that just omitting white food- flour, sugar, potatoes, rice, etc. – will drop the pounds faster than anything – while keeping you healthy. I don’t always follow this because I love bakery products, but I know it to be true.

The Superheroes

Protein

The basic building block of your diet needs to be protein. Besides being necessary to build muscle and fuel our bodies on a long term basis, regular protein intake keeps blood sugar more even. Not everyone is AS sensitive to blood sugar variations as people in my family are, but that could just be because they aren’t paying attention. We all have blood sugar highs (energy and excitability), and lows (sadness, lethargy, irritability). It’s so obvious in my family that if someone gets cranky, we tell them to go eat protein.

Protein doesn’t have to be red meat. In fact, it’s a good idea to limit the amount of red meat in your diet. Other sources of protein include poultry, eggs, fish, nuts and dairy products. Certain foods combined also provide complete protein, like milk and rice.

According to the Harvard Health blog, “Current guidelines for adults of any age recommend 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. To find out how much you need, multiply your weight in pounds by 0.36. Or use an online protein calculator. So, a 160-pound person would need 160 x 0.36 = 58 grams of protein a day.”

My doctor, a leading alternative health doctor, told me to get 60 grams a day, and I weighed 120 pounds at the time. Either way, thinking 20 a meal or adding a snack of nuts (1/2 cup almonds =10 grams of protein) to get to the 60 grams, or to supplement it if you are over 160 pounds is a good rule of thumb.

A serving of protein in meat is usually about the size of a deck of cards, so the 12 or 16 oz steak is more than one meal!

I grill most meat in the toaster oven. It’s far more nutritious than frying or boiling and easier than any other method of cooking. Experiment with herbs for seasoning (rather than salt or flavored salts).

Vegies

Fall in love with vegies, and the more colorful they are the better. Colors in vegetables are the result of nutrients, so the more color the more nutrients. Spinach is more nutritious than Romaine lettuce which is more nutritious than head lettuce.

Try vegies you haven’t tried before. Just because you may not have liked them as a child doesn’t mean you won’t as your grow older. Your palate changes as you grow up. Give them another chance. (Keep this in mind when or if you are a parent- many children will not like broccoli, spinach or cauliflower, so don’t force them to eat it.)

Organic often taste better and are sometimes healthier, but of course they can be more money. I was amazed at the taste of organic tomatoes. Experiment. The more you pay attention to the natural flavors of food, the less you will want to mask them with sauces and other high calorie/fat accompaniments.

Steaming is the best method for cooking vegies and the microwave is a dream for this. Put the vegies in a microwavable dish, add a little water, cover with a microwavable plate and nuke on high til done. (Time depends on how much veg you are starting with and the kind it is).

The ‘Use in Moderation’ guys

Fruits

You may be surprised that I put fruits under ‘Use with Moderation’. Part of any basic nutrition includes fruit, but not all fruits are created equal. The issue here is sugar. I suggest eating fruit daily, but avoiding or limiting those which are high in sugar, especially if you have weight or health issues. High sugar fruits include things like lychees, mango, cherries, grapes, figs. Ones that are less dense but we tend to eat larger quantities of, like watermelon, can also overdo the sugar intake. Best choices are blueberries, strawberries, cranberries and raspberries.

Dairy

I almost forgot to include dairy- shame on me. Now, I know many people can overdo this or neglect it altogether, but dairy can be a great source of protein and I just read that low fat dairy is great for improving mood. We love cheese, but cheese can be high in fat, so do watch that. IT becomes easy to put cheese on everything. Ask yourself if it needs it- really. Again, dairy products are great but use in moderation and try for organic.

Grains

There is probably more controversy over grains than any other food stuff. The problem is that, as a society, we eat way more than we need. You can go without grains and be perfectly healthy (if you are eating cruciferous vegetables to clean out the colon). Just like anything else, there are better and less good choices. Also, we have a habit of adding things to our grains (like sugar and fat) that make them less healthy. Oatmeal is a good place to start with grains. In a later post I will add a recipe for our oatmeal that is actually very nutritious.

If you eat (or want) grains, think about how you are eating them. Can you do without the salt on the tortilla chips (corn is not a veg, but a grain)? IF you want to lose weight, cutting back here is the best way to start.

Fats

Even if you want to lose weight, fat is important to the body too. It helps tell the body you have had enough to eat, which is why people are so often hungry when on a diet. But more important, it is essential to provide the building blocks for hormones, which we need to be healthy. Fats can come from healthy sources like nuts, olives, olive oil, avocados, even butter (in moderation).

The ‘Avoid and Omit’ Guys

Salt

As good as restaurant and prepared food may taste, it’s loaded with salt, which will eventually give you high blood pressure (and bloating). And trust me, that is NO fun- and dangerous. Young people are getting high blood pressure younger and younger because of the amount of food they are eating that was not prepared from scratch without loads of salt.

It does take a little while to get used to the taste of food without salt in it, but you enjoy it more by adding a little salt after the food is cooked and you can really taste it then. Don’t add salt in the cooking of anything. Start by using unsalted butter and unsalted canned vegies (or better-cooking from raw), and really watch the sodium on prepared and frozen foods. They can be absurdly high. I got high blood pressure from eating too many “healthy” low calorie frozen meals that were loaded with salt. It was the primary source of salt I was consuming.

Sugar

Yeah, I know. Believe me. But it is the devil and we all know it. Sugar is responsible for so much more than diabetes. Moderate your intake. Try doing without it altogether, then when you have a little, it will be wonderful. Stop binge eating anything, but especially fat and sugar laden snacks, cookies and cakes. Remind yourself that you only deserve good, high-quality food and that includes only the best desserts. Hold out for high quality sweets, occasionally. Then enjoy.

You are in charge of what you eat

Love yourself enough to care what goes inside. That will determine how you feel, how much energy your have, and what you look like. If you are not feeling your best, try changing what you eat. Sometimes that’s all it takes.