Week One Continue writing in your daily food diary as described above. Journal Exercise: My Eating Habits Answer the following questions, writing about each one for at least
20 minutes. Write on whatever days work best for you, but be sure to
answer all four questions by the end of the week. Starting today, make a firm commitment to eat at least five servings of vegetables a day (one serving ranges from 1/2 to 1 cup). Vegetables offer vitamins and minerals that not only help you stay healthy but also fight ailments like cancer and heart disease. Many are high in insoluble fiber as well, aiding digestion. Try to buy fresh, organic vegetables. If you can't buy fresh, use frozen and canned ones; just make sure there are no preservatives and no added salt, sugar, or sauces. Be adventurous and health conscious with your choices. Instead of button mushrooms, try shiitake, maitake, or oyster mushrooms. Stay away from iceberg lettuce; it has little nutritional value. Instead try arugula, dandelion greens, or romaine. Mash some sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes. Steam an artichoke and eat the leaf ends and the heart. Wednesday Drink more water Our bodies need water for numerous functions, like to metabolize food and remove waste, so drink four to six 8-ounce glasses a day. You can substitute fruit juices, herbal teas, and seltzer water, but make sure that none of them contain added sugar, and be aware that juice is often high in calories. If you drink soda, quit. Most sodas contain excessive amounts of sugar or artificial sweeteners, potassium, and additives. Start by replacing one can of soda with one glass of water (or one of the specified substitutes), and continue until you have completely eliminated soda from your diet. Friday Cut back on sugar. When we say cut back on sugar, we don't mean the natural sugars found in whole foods like fruits, vegetables, and grains. We mean added sugar, which goes by hundreds of different names, two of the most common being white table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup. And remember, natural sweeteners like honey and maple syrup also count as added sugar. You should limit your intake of added sugar to no more than 10 teaspoons daily. Ideally, you should aim for 5 teaspoons--but we realize that may be very difficult. The potential health problems related to excessive sugar intake are numerous; some of the more common include obesity, which can lead to type 2 diabetes, and a compromised immune system (for more information, see "Sweet Conspiracy" in the January/ February 2001 issue). Keep track of your added sugar intake by reading labels, jotting down numbers in your diary, and putting daily totals on your calendar. When you eat a packaged food or drink a juice or soda, look for Total Carbs on the Nutrition Facts label; under this heading you should find sugars listed in grams. That's the number to track. Although it's not an exact representation of added sugars, it's close. To convert to teaspoons, divide the grams by 4.2 (for example, 12 g is about 2.8 teaspoons). Of course, you may eat foods or drink beverages that don't have labels but do have added sugar. You won't be able to include these, but make a note of them in your food diary. |
You should also eliminate artificial sweeteners completely--even if you are diabetic.Most holistic doctors would agree that artificial sweeteners are more unhealthy than sugar. The herb stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) is a better, more natural sugar substitute. Week Two Continue writing in your daily food diary, eating vegetables, drinking water, and limiting added sugar. Journal Exercise: Why I Eat Answer the following questions, writing about each one for at least 20 minutes. Write on whatever days work best for you, but be sure to answer both of these questions by the end of the week. Take a look at your food diary. Do you see any eating patterns emerging--for
example, do you eat too much of one type of food and not enough of
another? Make a note of these patterns and describe any significance
they may have. Monday Eat more fruits and whole grains. Eat at least three servings of fruit a day (1 piece or 1/2 to 1 cup equals about one serving) and four to five servings of whole grains (1/2 to 1 cup equals about a serving). Fruits and whole grains offer the same health benefits as vegetables. Some, like citrus fruits and oats, are high in soluble fiber and can help lower cholesterol. Whenever possible, buy organic. Canned and frozen fruits can be used as long as there are no added ingredients (watch out for sweeteners). Try some fruits that you don't normally eat, like the tropical fruits guava, kiwi, mangoes, and papayas. Nutrient-packed avocados are another good choice. Avocados have a bad reputation because of their high fat content, but the fat is mostly the good monounsaturated kind. Berries of all types--blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries--are nutritious and delicious. (Berries tend to retain a lot of pesticides, so either buy organic or wash them thoroughly.) Try making smoothies with frozen berries when these fruits are out
of season. Wednesday Cut back on processed foods, additives, and preservatives. The manufacturing process depletes foods of their natural vitamins, minerals, and fats, which deprives your body of nutrients, and it often adds synthetic substances, which can strain your detoxification system. Although it is difficult to avoid processed foods entirely, you should try to limit yourself to eating one serving daily. White flour is one of the most processed foods we eat. It plays havoc with many people's blood sugar levels, quickly raising and then dropping them, which stresses the body and leads to fatigue and other health problems. Make it a goal to avoid white flour. You can do so by reading labels. Wheat flour is the same as white flour, so don't be fooled. This doesn't mean you can't ever eat a bagel again; consider whole-grain bagels, like those made with spelt. Many additives and preservatives have proven carcinogenic, so avoid
them whenever possible. Read the ingredient labels and don't buy products
with long lists of scientific-looking names, which are typically preservatives
and additives. |
Week Three Continue writing in your daily food diary; eating vegetables, fruits, and grains; drinking water; and limiting added sugar, processed foods, and preservatives. Journal Exercise: My Roadblocks Answer the following questions, writing about each one for at least 20 minutes. Write on whatever days work best for you, but be sure to answer both questions by the end of the week. Check all food labels for high sugar content. Monday Eat more healthy fats You need to eat fat to be healthy. What matters most is the type of fat you eat. Omega-3 fatty acids and monounsaturated fats are the most healthy. Omega-3s can reduce your risk of heart disease and high blood pressure, protect against cancer, and help your brain perform optimally. To get them, eat more fish like salmon and trout, two to three servings (one serving equals 3 ounces) a week. (The Food and Drug Administration, FDA, advises pregnant and nursing women and young children not to eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish because they may have high levels of methyl mercury.) If you're a vegetarian, add flaxseed oil or ground flaxseeds to your diet (they taste good on salads or oatmeal), 1 to 2 tablespoons at least three times a week. Monounsaturated fat can help lower cholesterol. Nuts and seeds are wonderful sources of these fats and are also rich in protein and fiber. Some more nutritious choices include almonds, Brazil nuts, and walnuts, and pumpkin, sunflower, and sesame seeds (one serving equals 1 to 3 tablespoons). Olive oil is also a great source of monounsaturated fats. Still, fat contains a lot of calories, so you shouldn't gorge on it: 20 to 30 percent of daily calories from fat is plenty, and no more than 10 percent of these calories should come from saturated fat. For a 2,000 calorie diet, that's roughly 400 to 600 calories from fat, no more than 200 of which should be saturated (1 g of fat equals 9 calories, so your total grams for the day would be between 45 and 67). To give you a few examples: 3 to 5 tablespoons of olive oil roughly equals an entire day's worth of fat; a whole avocado is about 2/3 of a day's worth of fat. For saturated fat, you can eat about 3 tablespoons of butter a day (which in total fat would equal about 2/3 of a day's worth of fat). Remember, all foods contain some fat. Food labels are quite helpful--although not perfect. Typically the total amount of fat is given as well as how much of the fat is saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated. Wednesday Eliminate trans fats Trans fats are unhealthy and have been shown to lead to heart disease.
They are created when food manufacturers hydrogenate a polyunsaturated
fat to make a soft, liquid fat hard and stable. It's better to eat
a limited amount of butter, which is high in saturated fats, than to
eat stick margarine, which is high in trans fats. |
