Ideas for Good Health in the New Year with Carol Kenney

Ideas for Good Health in the New Year….See which might resonate with you…by Carol Kenney, respected nutritional coach, www.pathways4health.com.

Strategies to Work With the Natural Energy Rhythms of the Body.

Make time to eat a good breakfast. It is the most important meal of the day. A hearty breakfast following the 40/30/30 concept of 40% complex carbohydrates, 30% protein, and 30% fat can help to boost metabolism, stabilize blood sugar, and provide sustained energy for the brain. Studies confirm that people who eat breakfast have the least problem keeping a healthy weight.

Try to eat your main protein-based meal at noon, when digestive fire is at its peak. Avoid eating three hours before you retire at night. Digestive fire dwindles in the evening as the body naturally cools down to welcome sleep.

Allow for enough sleep. We all vary both in how much and when we sleep best around the 24-hour cycle of a day. Some people are Owls and love working into the late-night hours, while others are Larks and thrive on waking up early and retiring early. Whatever your pleasure, recall that a lack of sleep can throw off body chemistry, foster inflammation, and contribute to weight gain. Adequate sleep restores the immune system and is one of the best ways to ward off illness. Check in with yourself. “Enough” sleep varies with the individual, one’s type of work, and level of stress. One useful gauge: If you are craving caffeine and sweets to keep going throughout the day and often come down with colds, you are probably not getting enough sleep.

Try some regular aerobic exercise in the fresh air and sunshine (Yes, sunshine is good for your health!). Among its many benefits, aerobic exercise helps prevent inflammation. A 30-minute walk three times a week may be sufficient. If possible, try to exercise early in the day when the lungs are at their peak energy. If you exercise to lose or maintain weight, choose something you like since studies show that exercise that is not enjoyed creates stress and can be counterproductive, even exacerbating weight gain.

Strategies When Choosing Foods.

Try to buy local, fresh, whole foods…organic when possible. Think variety…rainbow colors, some raw and some cooked, some fermented. Foods are a system, uniquely balanced with nutrients and fiber for assimilation and nourishment. Our body converts foods into energy in a way that defies the explanations of science and the microscope.

Read food labels. Read for trans fats, for genetically modified (GMO) foods, and for the pseudonyms for sugar and artificial additives such as “evaporated cane juice” and MSG. Recent scientific studies suggest ties between GMOs and allergies, immune problems, and infertility; and between MSG (prevalent in processed, packaged, and fast foods) depression and childhood obesity.

Consume healthy fats and oils. Saturated fats such as organic butter from grass-fed animals and organic unrefined coconut oil are top choices for cooking, and quality cod liver oil4 and fish oil are good sources of omega-3 fats. Saturated fats are necessary for cell membranes, which are 50% saturated fat. Omega-3s are important for neurological function. Avoid trans fats, which are found in many processed and fast foods; they confuse the body and can foster chronic disease.

Let the way Nature packages food be a guide. Sugar is a classic example. To make one cup of refined white sugar requires 17 feet of sugar cane!!! In refining, we miss the cane’s natural fiber and micronutrients. How much sugar would we eat if we had to ingest it in this form? Or, how many walnuts might we consume if, instead of pouring from a package, we had to take the time to crack each one?

Think prevention of disease, not suppression of symptoms. Develop strategies to curb inflammation, the root of all chronic disease. From evolution and genetic selection, we as a people are prone to inflammation. The inflammatory response supported our survival before the discovery of modern antibiotics. While good strategies to try to curb our inflammatory nature are tied to lifestyle (getting enough sleep, moderate exercise, laughter, fresh air, sunshine and connection with others), they are also tied to diet. This means limiting sugar, refined flour, clear denatured vegetable oils, and meats from grain-fed animals. It also means bringing into good balance the consumption of omega-6 and omega-3 fats...

Try to limit processed and fast foods, and avoid cooking with clear vegetable oils. This can be a huge step toward creating in your diet a healthy 2:1 balance of omega-6:-3 oils. Omega-6 oils are inflammatory. They are hidden in processed, packaged, and fast foods, which is a major reason the typical American ratio is 20:1, rather than 2:1. The sensible way to bring the “-6:-3 ratio” into better balance and benefit from the omega-3s that you do consume is to limit your intake of omega-6 fats. Since omega-3s and -6s compete for the same digestive enzymes, consuming large amounts of omega-6s through processed and fast foods can negate the potential anti-inflammatory benefits of omega-3 oils, because omega-6s “crowd out” omega-3s.

To preserve the delicate brain, consume good fats and oils while you also try to avoid excitotoxins in foods and the excessive use of mobile phones. The protective lymph system does not extend its strong protective web to the head. Nature in Her design anticipated neither our modern technology nor additives in processed foods.

Eat foods attuned to the season and the season of your life. Tropical fruits, and summer foods like tomatoes, cucumbers, and salad greens are cooling and well-suited to warm climates. But in winter, hearty soups and meals built around warming chicken, turkey, and lamb, leeks, onions, parsnips, and winter squashes can preserve internal heat and support the body’s natural energy without undue strain and overwork. Rotating foods with the seasons supports this energy and can also help prevent allergies. In the later decades of life, foods and quantities that worked in earlier years may no longer. Our body gives such wonderful feedback. We need only to pay attention…

Be “bad” sometimes. It reminds us why it is generally best to be “good.” An 80/20 or 90/10 goal is good enough: if we aim for 80%-90% of our choices in the “healthy” zone (food, sleep, or whatever) we enjoy some “wiggle room.” Then, we just pay attention to how we feel. In all realms, our body will give us feedback. And, as Annemarie Colbin taught me, there is no need to feel guilty when we make a “bad” choice. After all, we have already paid the price by how we feel. In the meantime, what we have gained is valuable information. Happy eating and good health to you in 2009.