Nutrition for Dummies, part one

It always kills me to visit patients who have diseases that 99% of the time could have been prevented. Then I ask them what they ate yesterday and it's no wonder they have type 2 diabetes, or heart disease, or kidney failure, etc. These diseases are not a part of the natural aging process. They are a result of poor habits over an extended period of time. Your body is a miraculous gift from God and should be treated as such. Just as smoking or drinking alcohol affects us in a harmful way, so does:

1)Excessive consumption of calories
2)Over consumption of saturated/animal fat
3)Inadequate intake of nutrient-dense foods, causing vitamin and mineral deficiencies
4)Sedentary lifestyle

Longevity studies show that even if you are maintaining a normal weight, over consuming calories leads to a quickened metabolism, which actually speeds the aging process. You may look at yourself and say, "I'm a normal weight, so I will continue eating the way I have been eating." You may be a normal weight, but I bet your body would appreciate a diet tune-up. What follows is four habits of highly healthy people. Kudos to you if you have already adopted any or all of these habits.

#1. Highly healthy people eat their vegetables, and lots of them. You may have heard dietitians say before, "you should fill half your dinner plate with vegetables, 1/4 with a starch, and 1/4 with a high protein food." That is a good place to start. If you are a total non-vegetable eater, start by filling half your plate with vegetables. This could include a main-dish salad like the ones I have posted, or steamed green beans, or broccoli, cauliflower, or zucchini to name a few. Those are some of my favorites. I eat sweet potatoes (no sugar added) probably 4-5 times a week when I can afford it. Rather than thinking, "what should I have for dinner... I should have pasta with meat sauce," think, "I should have (insert vegetable) with some (insert whole grain) and a little (insert high protein food) and for dessert I'll have (insert your favorite fruit)!!!"

#2. Highly healthy people choose plant fat instead of animal fat. And by fat I mean foods with a high concentration of fat. It is really best to avoid straight-up fat. Instead go to the original source, like nuts, seeds, and avocados. But when you do use straight fat, use a plant oil, not butter or lard. Many people have asked me, "butter or margarine?" I say neither. But if you insist on using one, use tub margarine. Because it is softer, it has less partially hydrogenated fatty acids. But margarine, even stick margarine, is "better" than butter. When choosing animal products, please choose the low fat ones. If you drink milk, try try try to work your way to skim milk. That animal fat just does you no good; in fact, it does you a terrible disservice by increasing your risk of several chronic diseases. If you eat cheese, use the lowest fat you can, like mozzarella instead of cheddar. And don't eat too much of it. Okay...that's enough about fat. For now.

#3. Highly healthy people avoid super processed/convenience foods, and eat more whole foods. The thing with super processed foods is that they have refined them down to a fiber, vitamin, and mineral-devoid unit, and then built them back up in a way that is just not as good for you as the real thing. A good place to start is your grains. Purchase brown rice, whole wheat pasta, whole grain couscous, and quinoa instead of white rice, white pasta, etc. Don't even get me started with Little Debbie!!! They are a waste of calories. Please don't eat those types of things. I don't care how hungry you are. Find some fruit, or vegetables, or nuts, or anything but not those packaged convenience snacks, chips, cookies, bleh.

#4. Highly healthy people "get up offa that thang." Get some physical activity whenever possible. Something is always better than nothing. Start small, get bigger. Then if you are overweight you will start big and get smaller. Lol. For example, I started running at the gym on the treadmill four days a week, and doing a step aerobics class the other two days (resting Sunday.) I started with a three mile slow run. Now I am running 5 miles four days a week. If you have a hard time running, walking is great too! If you don't get any activity, start with one or two days a week. Don't be so hard pressed to get the closest parking spot. Think of climbing stairs as a great opportunity to challenge yourself. It always helps to find a friend with whom you can exercise. My friend is my MP3 player (until it went blank yesterday...grrr). Now I have no friend. But really, have someone, or something to keep you going. Often setting goals helps with exercise. For me, if I do cardio, resistance, and stretching daily, along with eating a specific diet pattern, I download a new song from itunes. Before I know it I have a great CD that I can dance to or put on my MP3 for running.

Okay this concludes Part One of Nutrition for Dummies. None of you are really dummies, but maybe there is something here that will help you, or get you thinking about how you can take better care of yourself. Eat well, do good workouts, and keep in touch. ;-)