Posts Tagged ‘whole foods’

Assessing the Energy of Foods

February 3rd, 2010

One of the most interesting topics in nutrition, at least for me, is the concept of food energy.

What do we mean by the energy of foods?

Well, according to food labels, it would strictly reflect the number of calories in a food. But a food that packs 500 calories and comes in a box doesn’t really strike me as being very energizing.

In fact, I challenge you to eat a packaged food, regardless of how many calories it contains, and then observe how you feel afterwards.

If you feel energetic, then you’re definitely 1 in a million. But if you’re like most people, then you’ll probably experience a drop in energy – not an energy boost.

I was thinking about this the other week after I experimented with eating a “healthy” organic cereal made with spelt, flax, hemp seeds, granola, and some other seemingly healthy ingredients.

The first thing I noticed upon finishing the cereal was that I was slightly irritated. I was also tired. Definitely not energetic.

Now, this may have been due to an intolerance to some of the grains in the cereal but I also suspect that because this wasn’t a raw food, which would be packed with live energy, my body would have to expend extra energy to digest and assimilate it.

So eventhough the cereal had about 400 calories for that serving size, those calories DID NOT energize me.

So before we continue, let’s clear something up…

More calories doesn’t equal having more energy although it does mean more energy from a calorie perspective.

Obviously, the better option would be to eat whole foods that actually provide a lot of energy (not calories) without providing high amounts of calories.

So what are those foods?

Well, very simply, they are raw living foods. Specifically, fruits and vegetables.

To give you an example of what I mean have a look at the following 2 kirlian photographs …

This first photograph is of organic broccoli (a very healthy food) that has just been steamed for 2 minutes – not a long time. Notice the energy or “life force” emanating from it. This aura is what kirlian photography is able to capture. It’s truly amazing!

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Now look at this photograph.

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What’s the first thing you notice?

Perhaps, a much greater energy field surrounding the broccoli? Well, this is because this broccoli has not been steamed. This time it is truly alive. It is raw and has not been heated. Thus, it still preserves it’s inherent life force.

Calories vs. Life Force

When looking for foods (or a diet) that will energize you this concept of calories vs. life force is a helpful one.

Sure packaged foods state that they contain a certain number of calories (a measure of energy) but they do radiate the kind of life force that we see with raw foods? Not at all.

When foods are heated or processed they essentially die.

So if you want more energy, wouldn’t it make sense to eat foods that are alive? That carry a natural life energy that your body can benefit from?

I think so.

And that’s what Eating for Energy is all about.

That’s really what eating for a healthy and vital life is all about.

It’s too bad that our current food supply had taken so many of us so far astray.

But you can get back on track…

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3 Easy Ways to Boost Your Immunity

November 4th, 2009

Since  beginning our soccer season just 4 months ago, I’ve been amazed at how many of our players have been sick. Now I’m not talking about H1N1 (at least I don’t that’s what’s going on) but instead the common cold and even flu.

One of the reasons these kinds of sicknesses can spread so easily within a sports team is that the guys spend a lot of time together, they shake hands and don’t follow proper hand washing protocols, possibly share water bottles, and don’t necessarily eat the healthiest of diets.

After all, they are university students.

So if you find yourself in a similar situation or know someone who is, then the following 3 tips to boosting your immunity will help.

Before we get into the specifics, I want you to consider your overall diet. If you eat a whole foods diet (preferably raw) then you are already providing tremendous immune support – via good nutrition.

However, the poorer your diet, the weaker your immune system and the more susceptible you will be to getting sick.

Look at it this way…

Food can be a form of physical stress to your body. Eat the wrong foods and you increase the stress load, which in turn taxes your immune system even more.

But eat the right foods and you provide the nutrients and stress-free environment for your immune system to focus on more important issues.

Alright, so now let’s look these 3 easy ways to boost your immunity so you can prevent getting sick or get over a cold if you already have one.

1. Alkalize and Oxygenate Your Body

When you think alkalinity, think oxygenation. Alkalinity brings more oxygen into your body. The reason it is important to alkalize and oxygenate your body is that “unfriendly” micro-organisms do not flourish in oxygen-rich environments.

For instance, cancer has been shown to flourish in acidic, oxygen-deprivated tissues, yet will literally die off when exposed to high oxygen environments inside the body. That’s why one of the most important things you can do to prevent (and treat) cancer is drink (and eat) lots of greens – which are the highest source of alkalinity on the planet. It’s actually too bad that the medical establishment doesn’t even know about the power of greens for improving the vitality of the human body.

Some of my favourite strategies for alkalizing my body (and those of my clients) are the following:

- green juices (my favourite contains kale, celery, cucumber, parsley, lemon, ginger, and apple)
- green smoothies (one of my favourites has spinach, spirulina, apple, banana, and lime juice)
- wheat grass shots (just 1 oz has the nutritional value of 2 lbs of vegetables)
- barley grass powder added to water (very similar properties as wheat grass)
- lemon water throughout the day

All of these nutritional strategies will add tremendous alkalinity (ie. alkalizing minerals such calcium, potassium, magnesium) to your body and create an internal physiology that strengthens your immune system and prevents bacteria, viruses, and other nasty critters from spreading!

2. Avoid Refined Sugar

This is an important one. Entire books have been written on the body-decaying effects that sugar brings about. From an immune system perspective, it has been shown that as little as 1 tablespoon of refined sugar can depress your immune system for up to 6 hrs! Moreover, sugar curtails the action of the immune system’s lymphocytes and other “foreign invader-killing” cells.

If you want to avoid getting sick and want to skyrocket your health, minimizing or avoiding refined sugars may be one of the most important things you do.

3. Fortify Your Defenses with Natural Immune Boosters

I’m not a fan of antibiotics – not by a long shot. They actually create more sickness (or business) for the health care system to deal with.

In order to avoid having to use them, you need to eat a clean whole foods diet (preferably a raw diet) and you can further boost your defenses with the following natural weapons:

Garlic – it’s active ingredient – allicin – is an incredible natural “anti-everything” will fend off bacteria, viruses, fungi, and much more.

Oregano oil – wow! If there’s one thing you need in your medicine cabinet it’s this powerful essential oil. Anytime you feel any kind of cold coming on, just drink 1-2 drops of oregano oil with 1 oz of water a few times a day and you’ll be feeling in no time. Oregano oil also kills off the unwanted yeast – candida albicans!

Probiotics – Having good bacteria to balance out the 400 different types of mico-organisms in your colon will definitely support your immune system. Your best source will come from supplementation but naturally fermented foods and drinks like miso, sauerkraut, and kombucha are also good food-based sources.

Not only are these tips great for builing your immune system but they will obviously create a strong foundation for great health.

Considering the spread of H1N1 and how many unhealthy people there are, you need to fortify your defenses – naturally!

To give you some more helpful tips, you can watch this video I put together on natural cold remedies about a year ago. Enjoy!

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Food Additives – One More Reason to Eat More Raw Foods

August 12th, 2009

If you need another reason to eat more raw foods then this could be it. Keep reading to find out the chilling facts about our westernized “non-whole foods diet”

Non-foods. Faux foods. Dead foods. These are just some of the names I use to refer to packaged and processed foods “created” by big food conglomerates such as Kraft, General Mills, and McDonald’s. Part of what makes these foods so deadly is that they are laden with food additives.

Big Business

The total U.S. market for food additives is an estimated $5.8 billion, a huge increase from $1.3 billion in 1978. Food sellers are very clever that most consumers are more likely to buy products that contain additives that render their foods more appealing, in one way or another. They spend, therefore, more than $1.4 billion annually to introduce 10,000 new food products into the market.

Most recently, we’ve witnessed the unfortunate introduction of “functional foods” such as Wonder Bread with DHA, Tropicana Orange with Omega-3s, and many more foods that add one healthy element to make it more appealing to the masses without providing any additional nutritional value.

The chilling reality is that it takes many years of research and unfortunate trial and error for governing bodies to realize the true effects of many of the food additives in our food supply. As an example, in 1978, there were 35 widely used additives that had been approved as safe for food but have since been removed as unsafe, most because they were found be carcinogenic.

Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS)

But just how are such substances established as safe for human consumption?

Foods approved for human consumption need to be deemed as “Generally Recognized As Safe” or GRAS. Such foods are placed on the GRAS list and then ready for our bittersweet enjoyment.

The GRAS list was established in 1958. However, substances added to food before that time were exempt from the Food Additives Amendment, which created the GRAS list. Therefore, additives like saccharin and many of the later banned food additives were, at the time, deemed safe because a handful of scientists simply decided they were.

Needless to say, over the past 50 years new research has brought awareness to the need for proper food additive testing. In fact, many of the food additives added to the GRAS list early on did not even have adequate testing. As a result of these shortcomings, in 1969, U.S. President Richard Nixon ordered the FDA to re-test all 415 pre-1958 substances on the GRAS list.

Unfortunately, under new rule, decades later the federal government weakened the GRAS additive requirements. As of the late 1990s, food manufacturers simply had to notify the FDA of their additives GRAS and provide minimal evidence to support their claims.

This easier approval process was put in place to save the FDA money, since they believed that passing the buck to the manufacturers would allow the FDA to gain increased awareness of new ingredients in the nation’s food supply.

Before this time, food manufacturers were required to go through a stricter petitioning process before their additives could be approved for mass consumption.

A step in the wrong direction to the say the least!

This is just a brief introduction to the nonsense that goes on in our food supply. And I’ll be giving you more of the gritty details over the coming weeks. For now, do yourself a favour and avoid foods that come in a package or box.

Stick to a natural whole foods diet and live with vitality!

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