May, 2003

5Pillars.com

We all know that healthy eating should be an everyday part of our lives, but sometimes we don’t understand enough about nutrition to make the best decisions. We tend to go overboard once we decide its time to lose weight, making drastic changes that we can’t stick to rather than thinking of how we can best eat for a lifetime.

To be "on a diet" implies eating a certain way just long enough for a person to reach his or her weight loss goal. Once done, the person then goes "off the diet", returning to old eating habits that put the weight on in the first place.

Dieting, as it is commonly understood, is primarily about weight loss and food restriction, not about replacing one food for another to improve health. For most of us, “dieting” can only be sustained for a short time, not because we don’t have the discipline or desire, but because we do not understand that there is a better way.

Ideally, we would get all the nutrients we need from our food, but the modern diet of increasingly processed foods leaves most of us lacking in basic nutrients. Supplementation--with well-researched, high-quality products like any of Nikken’s Bio-Directed Nutritionals--is the only way to ensure that your body has all the resources it needs to function optimally.

Once you’re certain you’ve gotten the basics covered, it’s time to start changing how you eat. From now on, whenever you shop, prepare, or consume a particular food think healthy, not weight gain or loss. Choose foods that will help you achieve success with positive goals, whatever they may be. You may be looking for greater stamina and power for your workouts, you may have decided to eat for a healthier heart, or you may simply want to improve your energy levels so that you don’t feel tired all the time. Eating for health does not involve stress, frustration or counting the days until you can have a particular food.

Instead, it gives you such a noticeable difference in the way you look and feel that you become motivated to continue. The beauty of healthy foods is that they are naturally low in calories, low in sugar, low in saturated fat and low in sodium, making each and every one an excellent choice. Many healthy foods like fruits, vegetables and whole grains also contain fiber.

Fiber foods not only fill you up, but they satisfy your hunger for long periods of time, helping you to reach your weight loss goals safely and naturally. A big plus is that healthy, nutrient dense foods are difficult to overeat, which means that portion sizes are rarely an issue. Most unhealthy processed foods on the other hand do not fill you up, and are rarely ever packaged so that you eat a single serving. For example, it is easy to consume a bagful of potato chips, but how many baked potatoes can you eat at a sitting? If given the opportunity to consume as many bananas or apples as you would like, how many could you eat? Probably not many, each is packed with healthy nutrients and fiber, yet low in calories.

There are so many healthy food choices available that it is impossible to list them all, but here are just a few suggestions to get you started:

Strawberries: Just one cup of strawberries provides over 125% of the recommended dietary allowance of vitamin C. Vitamin C helps prevent the tiny capillaries beneath the skin's surface from breaking and promotes healing of wounds. Strawberries are critical to the formation of collagen, a key element of the connective tissue that keeps skin firm. They are also rich in potassium, and give you iron and fiber as well. All of this and only 45 calories per cup!

Chicken and turkey: Every time you eat these lean meats you get a complete array of amino acids, the building blocks of protein, to promote growth of muscle tissue and new skin cells. These lean meats also have niacin, an important B vitamin that helps all cells obtain the energy they need to stay healthy. One 3 ounce serving of skinless chicken has approximately 150 calories and provides half your daily need for niacin.

Tomatoes: Just one medium size tomato delivers almost one half of the RDA for vitamins A and C, along with some niacin and fiber, for only 30 calories.

Oatmeal: Many processed cereals are high in sugar and high in calories, and leave you feeling hungry, while oatmeal is low in calories, has no sugar, and is a great natural energy food. One reason that oatmeal is so filling is that it contains two kinds of fiber, insoluble and soluble. Insoluble fiber keeps you regular and soluble fiber helps keep your blood-sugar levels stable.

Yogurt: One cup of low-fat yogurt gives you plenty of protein, zinc, folacin, B12 for healthy blood and skin tone, and riboflavin, important for providing energy to skin cells.

Broccoli: One large cooked stalk has 1 1/2 times your daily need for vitamin C, 50% of your RDA for vitamin A, and also has B vitamins, iron, calcium and fiber, all for just 26 calories! Tip: Excess heat can destroy some of these important nutrients, so be sure not to overcook broccoli..

A word on fats: Americans are overconsuming saturated fats, but are not getting nearly enough of a very important and essential fat known as Omega 3.

Eating foods rich in Omega-3 fatty acids can help prevent heart disease, diabetes, and have a beneficial effect on cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, stroke, and inflammatory skin conditions. Whole grains, seeds, nuts, leafy green vegetables and deep-water-fish such as salmon and tuna contain omega 3 fatty acids.

c. 5Pillars.com, 2003