Nutrition for Your Body Temple
By Janet Lawson, Health Coach
Habits for Healthy Eating Start at the Store
Let’s begin to tackle the biggest contributor to our performance and health: Nutrition
Food is fuel. If we eat too much or stock up on low quality fuel, then we start to risk malfunction. If you put the wrong fuel into a car, eventually it will run poorly or even grind to a halt.
Today’s society of convenience makes it difficult to maintain a healthy diet. Unfortunately, chemicals, processed packaged foods, corn syrup, and saturated and trans fats are somehow accepted in mainstream. Eating such foods that are 'empty' of nutrition can starve your body!
To increase your mind clarity, performance, resilience, and ability to self-heal, choose the fuel of vegetables, fruits, proteins, and grains as the majority of your daily caloric intake.
FIRST, it starts with your purchase choices! Why waste your money eroding your bodily functions with bad stuff (some things I can’t even rightfully call “food”)? Why treat yourself disrespectfully with a daily habit of chips, fast food, cookies, fried food, pizza, starches, huge servings of meat, ice cream, etc. Yummy they may taste, but indulge only as a treat, on occasion. We want to enjoy life and all its epicurean delights, but let’s choose healthy delights as our consistent intake. Let’s take charge and moderate our junk intake. If you want to live a feel-good life, lead your business well, stay out of doctors’ offices, and be a role model for your family, choose your healthy fuel every day.
Grocery Stores – Your Commitment
A commitment of self-respect and nutrition starts at the Grocery Store!
Watch what you buy – nutrient rich foods or chemicalized junk. Here are some simple rituals to implement:
1. Plan your Store Shopping Event.
As an entrepreneur, business leader, or goal-getter, you may already be adept at managing your time. Treat this shopping event as a meeting on your calendar: you are meeting with your mortality. Include in this event post-shop time to organize your nutritious food: clean it, cut it, separate it into small portions, and store for easy grab-and-go over the next several days.
2. Actively Manage a Running List of Nutrient-Rich Food to Buy.
Maintain your list on your phone or on paper. When you shop, stick to the list, as if it were your purchase order.
3. Don’t shop hungry.
Hunger will tempt you to grab carbohydrates and junk products. Eat some protein or drink 16 oz of water just before going into a grocery store. Often a “hunger” feeling is actually thirst. Also, water fills you up temporarily.
4. Perimeter Purchasing
Shop primarily on the perimeter (produce, refrigerated, and frozen sections)
Avoid the chips and junk food aisles!
5. PRODUCE produces productive fuel
Majority of your basket should be full of fresh produce! Grab a variety of fruits and vegetables. If you want back-up in your kitchen, choose frozen over canned foods.
6. Read Labels for Nutrition. Don’t buy it if:
- There are 0 vitamins, 0 proteins, 0 fiber, and 0 minerals
- Saturated and Trans fats are present. These are bad artery-blocking fats. (The “good fats” are Unsaturated fats which lower cholesterol: polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats)
- Ingredients include corn syrup or a list of other unpronounceable, unknown things
- Has >25% of the recommended salt or sugar in a serving
- Is any form of soda or unnatural energy drink! Bad bad things are in soda products, diet or regular. Soda cleans carburetors and disintegrates a tooth because it is so acidic! What do you think it is doing in your body? Similar to cigarettes, perhaps these products should have a warning: “Consuming this product is your first step to diabetes, obesity, cancer, and arthritis”.
7. Target food for your “On the Go Good Habits”
- Always have raw veggies cleaned and ready in your refrigerator to grab and go or throw into a salad, or a stir fry!
- Prep leafy green salads, fruit, and snacks at night to take to work or activities the next day.
- Take a nice fruit salad with you. Always have oranges, grapefruits, apples, pears, grapes on hand that are sturdy to throw in your bag, purse, briefcase, or backpack.
- When travelling, carry fruits, carrots, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, avocado, nuts, or hard-boiled eggs. Stay away from the dark side of junk food kiosks at airports and gas stations.
- When produce and nuts are not sating, choose a healthy snack such as a Kind bar, Health Warrior bar, graham crackers, baked peas, trail mix, cheese, or lightly salted popcorn. Beware of the overly sugared snack bars such as: Nutrigrain, Cliff, Luna, Cliff, Nature Valley, and Power Bars.
8. Body-Brain Fuel List considerations:
- Alkaline foods, not acidic
- Leafy salad greens (the greener the better). Kale is the most nutrient rich!
- Grains: Quinoa, Buckwheat, Rolled Oats, Corn, Amaranth
- Breads: go whole grain, wheat, and dark
- Other carbohydrates: choose items grown from the ground (potatoes, grains, beans), and not processed (many pastas, breads)
- Create ‘cucumbwiches’ with meat and cheese between cucumber slices (bread impersonators)
- Snacks: Figs, dates, raisins, prunes, nuts
- Protein: Salmon and other fish
- Get your fiber, vitamins, proteins from the most natural of products
9. Avoid over saucing, over-dressing, over-salting your food.
Your palate will adjust in a few days to appreciate more pure foods. Soon you will eat corn without butter and crave carrots as sweet treats.
Take Aways:
Decide what YOU Will DO for Your Body Temple.
- Commit to shopping to have nutrient rich foods at home
- Schedule and plan your shopping trips and adhere to a healthy list of foods
- Shop the store perimeter, load up on produce, and read labels to put good fuel in that shopping cart. Avoid the junk food aisles. You can do it!
- Wash, cut, separate items for the next few days to “grab and go”
Breathe Deeply, Appreciate Daily
Janet Lawson, Health Coach
http://janetlawson.net
