Concentrate on your health rather than your weight.
Change takes time.
Especially in the weight management department.
Losing weight fast may sound exciting but there’s a big catch.
Fast weight loss = range of health risks.
Remember that the most important job you ought to do is to nourish and nurture your body.
The rest will come along.
Stop overeating and stop eating junk.
Slow down and stop thinking junk.
Start to eat well and nourish yourself
…and the change will happen.Persevere.
Remember- the real change takes time.
Do you want to lose weight?
Do you want to get rid of mood swings?
Are you the person who’s ready for a nap straight after getting up in the morning?
Are you fed up with bloating or heartburn?
The list goes…
If you answer YES to any of the above then you want to read this article!
When I say give up junk I mean all kinds of it.
In the food department of your life junk includes (nonetheless, it’s not limited to):
most of the supermarket shelf content like stir fry sauces in jars, muesli bars, non-organic meats, mayo, ready-to-eat porridge, low fat yoghurt, UHT milk, all sorts of “grab-and-go” and many many more, just go to any supermarket and it will be there on each single shelf waiting for you to pay for it and to poison you in return.
What’s even more sad that this is not only supermarkets who offer you junk products.
There are other sellers pretending to sell „healthy” options to you.
And of course YOU are the one who chooses to buy and use it all.
So how do you reclaim and sustain your health and well-being?
You start to change your eating habits.
It’s simple as that.
You start to:
1. Eat fresh and more green choosing natural produce, organic/biodynamic whenever possible.
2. Avoid/reduce/best- eliminate:
– processed, refined and artificial products (including colours, flavours, additives and preservatives),
– sugar,
– and all other types of sugar, often hidden in products, like glucose, corn syrup, fructose, etc.
– artificial sweeteners (this may get easier if you avoid products from the first group above).
3. Forget about wheat in any kind of shape and eliminate or reduce most of other grains.That means no more bread, buns, cakes, biscuits, pastas etc. made with wheat.
4. If you choose to eat grains remember that more tolerable are for most people non-gluten grains.
I would use millet, buckwheat, amaranth, rice and always sprout them beforehand.
You can also try products like chickpea flour, coconut flour, almond flour to bake naturally gluten and wheat free bread, cakes, pizzas and more.
5. Soak your non-gluten grains, beans, nuts and seeds.
The process of soaking neutralizes harmful anti-nutrients and hard-to-digest proteins and at the same time, activates vital enzymes, minerals and other beneficial nutrients locked inside.
Use the same clean water you use for drinking.
6. Reduce caffeine intake including not only coffee but also black tea and green tea as well (not to mention energy drinks!).
7. Use organic salt.
Celtic Sea salt and Himalayan salt are unrefined and unprocessed salts what means they can be utilized by our body properly.
Salt which is non- organic such as table salt has been harvested mechanically and put through artificial processes to crack its molecular structure what leaves it deprived of all of its essential minerals but full of chemical additives like iodine, dextrose and bleaching agents.
8. Eat slowly and chew well.
It does not only help your stomach to digest and your intestine to absorb nutrients but also prevents improperly digested food from entering your blood and causing a wide range of adverse effects to your health.
And as a bonus you finally get a chance to discover that your food is more flavorsome.
Plus probably you will eat less as it takes time for your brain to send a signal to your stomach that you’re full.
9. Don’t drink while eating.
Drink about 30 minutes before your meal and not earlier than 1 hour after eating.
If you are chewing adequately, you should be able to eat comfortably without liquids.
10. Drink clean water and herbal teas.
NOTHING substitutes for water!
Investing in reverse osmosis home water filter may be a good idea. Otherwise you can fill up bottles at a local service station that sell reverse osmosis filtered water or buy high quality mineral water from the shops (the last option is the most expensive one).
Adding a pinch of Celtic Sea salt or Himalayan salt to water will replace some of the electrolytes lost in the process of purifying water (reverse osmosis filtering).
I use filtered water and high quatlity mineral water that has alkaline pH.
However, remember NOT to drink any alkaline water just before, with, or right after your meal (or even as soon as one hour after eating).
Alkaline water inactivates some enzymes that you need in your stomach while eating to trigger production of digestive acids.
Inactivating those enzymes will result in poor digestion and absorption of nutrients.
Tap water is not a clean water.
Using tap water (water contaminated with chemicals and not only) for making tea or cooking is not a good idea!
Boiling tap water will only concentrate heavy metals in it so remember to use for cooking the same clean water you drink!
11. Avoid excessive consumption of dairy and chose organic or biodynamic and non- homogenised unpasteurized products from cow’s, sheep’s or goat’s milk.
Listen to your body. Some races and cultures tolerate raw milk products and do really well on them while others can’t tolerate them and consuming dairy causes many health problems for them.
12. Go alkaline whenever possible.
Your health and well-being depends on the pH balance of your body.
On the pH scale 0-14 zero means purely acidic and fourteen means purely alkaline.
Human body works best in the slightly alkaline environment (about 7.35 on the pH scale).
The natural tendency of our body to be at balance can be supported by eating certain foods.
Supporting your body’s acid/alkaline chemistry through simple changes in diet can result in weight loss, increased stamina and strength, a stronger immune system and a greater sense of wellbeing.
I believe that it is not a coincidence that the numbers of cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes are rapidly growing.
It seems that they correlate precisely with the rise in consumption of acid forming foods such as sugars, trans fats, fast food, refined food and white breads and a dramatic decrease in our consumption of fresh, life giving foods such as vegetables and essential fatty acids.
Convenience or life-threatening choices?
13. Good fat is good for you!
High quality fat doesn’t make you fat.
Fat it’s essential for your body to function properly including building cells and producing key hormones.
Good sources of quality fat include:
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Extra virgin coconut oil/butter
- Butter (raw, from organic grass fed cow’s milk)
- Ghee (clarified butter)
- Organic, grass-fed animal fats (lard, tallow)
- Fish oil (be careful of its source)
- Seeds (especially flax seeds)
- Nuts (raw, organic, activated)
- Avocados
Every human body works on similar mechanisms but we are NOT the same and each body has its own ways.
Factors such as environment, our genetic inheritance, our lifestyle may play a big part in whether or not certain foods are suitable for a person to include in their diet.
And remember – nothing in human body is either black or white.
There are all sorts of shades of gray which simply means our body doesn’t like extremes.
Extreme means out of balance and this is NOT what human body likes.
Remember this and stay on the right track of moderation –
you can easily turn from Healthy to Unhealthy Healthy (which I will cover in a seperate article) and ruin your health by taking healthy living into extremes.
What you can do is to understand how your own body works and support it while it’s serving you best it can or you can run a war against your body…
Choice is ALWAYS yours.
Just remember that there will be no winners in that war…
You want to be the winner in your life, don’t you?
I bet you do!
Then START to change.
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.
One step at the time.
You are a winner already, all you must do is to stay on your path.