Healthy Eating….Live it or DIEt!

So guys the title says it all when it comes to eating healthy.  Either you live it or you DIEt!  

What we are NOT going to do today is put you on a DIEt but rather explore keeping a dietary lifestyle that works for YOUR body to optimize your energy, healthy and stabilize your weight when combined with a proper exercise program and balanced lifestyle!

Why do most diets fail?  The truth is that most diets fail because they are not sustainable and are generally not fun!!  

We are all bio individual so this means that something that is beneficial for one may not be for another.

 Prime example is for my waffles we use almond flour based waffle mix and that is awesome for my body but what if you were highly allergic to almond?  The same thing that my body thrives on but could potentially make someone with an allergy ill or cause death.  So if someone were to ask me about almond flour I would say it is almost always a great substitute for wheat unless you are allergic!  Let’s explore a few popular diets and see what the pulses and minus are of each and how we can disseminate the positive to take advantage of!   

Adkins diet was popular because it cause swift and dramatic weight loss initially.  The positive is that it was fast and efficient.  The negative is that it was loaded with animal fats and dairy.  The major amount of weight loss in this diet was due to water shedding to get rid of the toxins.  This is not a sustainable diet if you want true health and wellness!

Keto Diet has a profound effect on mental cognizance when done properly but again like Adkins does not delineate enough what type of fats you are consuming and does not address getting enough raw foods nor complete nutrition.   

 Vegan diet has a lot of merit to eliminating animal fats but the biggest challenge to the vegan diet is the only real criteria is that it is not an animal product.  This means that according to this diet processed foods, wheat products, high sugar content foods and over cooked foods are all acceptable just because they are not animal based rather than by the effect they will have on your body!  

Vegetarian diet has a lot of great merits as eating a primarily plant based diet tends to have a profound effect on your health.  The downside again is that it is assumed that as long as it if fruit or vegetable that it is good for you!  Even a good vegetable that is cooked to death loses its nutritional value. 

 Also just because it is plant based doesn’t make it good as in the case of high lectin foods such as tomatoes, nightshades and cucumber as well as wheat products!  Lectins are plants protective toxins that are designed to protect the plant or fruit of the plant from predators but also create issues in our digestive systems that actually show these foods to be toxic even though they would be considered OK as they are veggie plant based. You can see where we are going with this right? 

 How about Paleo?  Paleo combines health vegetables and lean proteins with healthy fats.  Generally speaking this could seem to be nicely balanced and great by eliminating wheat and other high lectin grains.  The challenge here still is the higher amount of cooking involved which kills off a lot of the nutrients and enzymes in a lot of the foods as well. 

  Raw foods diet. Now we are getting way more on track! Eating foods in their most natural state the way God designed them is generally the best bet. The obvious being are foods that would make you ill if not cooked!  The upside to this is increase nutrient availability, enzymes are not destroyed and water content is preserved in the food.  The down side again is just because it is raw or heated below 112 degrees does not guarantee that it is going to work for your body!   So at this point you are posing some questions such as what is the best one then?  What do you recommend Coach Lew?  What and how do you implement your dietary lifestyle Coach Lew?  The terminology that I find would be the best fit my dietary lifestyle would be FLEXI-TARIAN  This is based on the premise of making sure that you are eating to nourish and fuel your body and not designing your dietary lifestyle from broad terms rather what works best for you.  See the diets we  discussed earlier all have some good and some not so good aspects to them.  What we are after is the balance that works best for each of us!  Time and again I am asked about what is my “diet”?  To sum up some basic rules that I follow check this out:

1)  Eating most foods in their natural state ie raw for about 80-90% of your intake

2) Make 80-90% of your foods plant based and be alert to avoid high lectin content foods.

3) Eat organic foods whenever possible and make sure to consume clean alkaline waters

4) Avoid high sugar, processed and acidic foods

5) Focus on nutrient rather than calories

6) Make sure the fats you are consuming are healthy fats such as coconut oil, olive oil and avocado as opposed to animal fats.

7) Avoid wheat, dairy, refined sugars and pure sodium.

Obviously there is more to designing your dietary lifestyle but these are some basics that should keep you pointed in the right direction as you begin or adjust your dieatry lifestyle.  Feel free to reach out and book a coaching session and we can help guide you through a process that will help you design a dietary lifestyle set up for you maximum health and energy!  Thank you for reading this post and please make sure to watch both videos to help you get on the right track and gain energy today!

-Coach Lew  

Click here to see the replay of the Facebook live!

Disclaimer.  The statements here in are for informational purposes and have not been evaluated by the FDA, nor are they intended to replace medical advice nor cure or prevent any disease. Always consult your health care practitioner prior to beginning any dietary, exercise or self-help program.