Healthy Eating Recommendations

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I’ve been asked quite a bit, “what do you eat?”, or more importantly “what should I eat to lose weight and be healthy?” This is a very complicated question with no easy answer. Naturally, there is no single correct answer or one-size-fits all diet that works for everyone. Instead, I determined it would be more helpful to provide some tips that work for me, and will certainly work for others.

  1. Eat as if you weigh your target weight. People go to so much trouble to find the ideal diet, the correct number of points, calories, macronutrients, whatever, to lose weight. If you find out how you should be eating at your target weight, then you have your answer. Think about it, if the diet will sustain your target weight, it will help you get there as well. How do you find out what to eat at your target weight? Try asking someone you know that weighs your target weight about their eating habits. Don’t be embarrassed, most people are happy to assist others in their weight loss journey. There is also no shortage of literature and formulas out there to reference. Lastly, you can follow my tips in this post which should hopefully provide a good starting strategy.
  2. Make every item that goes into your mouth an important life decision. We all know that life is a series of decisions. Choosing our profession, determining who we will marry, or deciding which house we’ll purchase are all decisions that we’ve taken seriously. So why not take your health just as seriously, if not more than the rest? After all, our health decisions yield life or death consequences. When ordering from a menu or when I’m otherwise about to eat, I ask myself (in my head) “what health benefits will this provide me?” If the answer isn’t extraordinarily positive, I avoid it. If your food isn’t providing nutrients, isn’t helping you maintain a healthy weight, and/or is leaving you vulnerable for illness, then why eat it? Sure, it may taste good for a moment, but it’s not helping you after that. In fact, in most likelihood, it is harming you. Strive for food enjoyment while bettering your future. There are tasty healthy options out there. You just need to know which to pick.
  3. Don’t drink your calories. Your focus should be on healthy eating, not healthy drinking. It’s best to take drinking entirely out of the equation. Strive to drink zero calories each day. I also recommend avoiding all carbonated beverages, and artificial sweeteners. The only sweetener I use is stevia (I prefer the NOW brand in powder form), because it’s natural, has been in use for decades, and has no known major health issues associated with it. The best thing to drink is water. If you must drink something else, I recommend green tea, since it contains healthy antioxidants.
  4. Once you feel nearly full, stop eating. It can take up to 20 minutes for your stomach to inform your brain of its current capacity. You can eat a lot in 20 minutes. For this reason, eat slowly, chew your food well (which also helps digestion), and don’t continue eating until you’re full. When you begin to feel the first hint of approaching fullness, stop. In all likelihood you are, and don’t realize it yet. If 20 minutes pass and you’re still hungry, eat a small healthy snack to hold you over until the next meal.
  5. Avoid all processed sugar. If the ingredients of what you’re about to eat say “sugar”, “corn syrup”, or end in “ose”, avoid it like the plague. With each day that passes, sugar is being attributed to more and more adverse health conditions. Even worse, it’s the likely reason for your weight gain. Processed sugar is metabolized differently from other foods. When you eat a powdered doughnut, the sugar is largely metabolized in your pancreas. The pancreas gets the processed sugar in a matter of minutes after you consume it, and quickly converts it to fat for convenient storage. That’s convenient for your pancreas, but not for your weight loss. On the other hand, when you eat an apple that contains healthy unprocessed sugars, it is digested in the gut and takes much longer for the body to process. The apple is slowly broken down and processed into fiber, nutrients, and so forth. If your sweet tooth is getting the best of you, indulge in nature’s sweets. Eat some fruit and berries. As long as it’s raw and unprocessed, you cannot go wrong. Fruit and berries will give you a boost of energy, help your immune system, and help your body!
  6. Avoid processed grains. Breads, cereals, and anything that isn’t whole wheat has had the goodness of the originating plant processed right out of it. What is left is the tasty, but unhealthy, garbage that remains. Furthermore, the food processing introduces toxins and other chemicals that aren’t good for your body. For example, processed bread contains bromine, which has caused many western countries to be deficient of iodine and is believed to be responsible for an increase of thyroid issues. Processed grains are also very dense with calories and carbohydrates. This is where a lot of our weight gain comes from, in the form of caloric density. We all need carbohydrates for healthy brain and body function; however, it is best to consume your carbs in the form of unprocessed fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes.
  7. Eat plenty of unprocessed proteins. For obtaining that “full” feeling without packing on the pounds, nothing works better than protein-rich foods. I’ve heard repeatedly that it’s best to eat 1 gram of protein for each pound of your target weight each day. That can be difficult to always accomplish, but it’s a good goal to strive toward. Grass-fed cuts of beef or bison, as well as chicken, turkey, and my personal favorite, venison, are all great sources of lean complete protein. For a number of reasons, I also recommend that everyone eat at least a handful of raw or dry roasted nuts or seeds every day. Beans, lentils and other legumes are a terrific way of eating a lot of protein and feeling full without packing on the pounds. Wild caught fish is another terrific option. I keep cans of wild caught sardines around for a quick snack. Most people don’t realize that several veggies also have protein, with the most notable being broccoli and asparagus. Last, but definitely not least, are organic eggs. I buy several dozen and hard boil them, and munch on them for a late night snack when I’m feeling hungry.
  8. If working out, eat carbohydrates before your workout, and eat protein immediately after. For healthy muscle function and performance, you need carbohydrates. Each morning before my workout, I eat two pieces of Dave’s Killer bread (which is minimally processed, tasty, healthy, and has protein), and spread organic peanut butter (with no added oil) on them. That provides a good hit of carbohydrates and protein in preparation of my workout. Immediately after my workout, I drink 30 grams of protein from an organic chocolate plant-based protein powder mixed with unsweetened cashew or almond milk. Considering it’s low on calories and healthy, it’s so tasty that my daughters ask for the occasional sip. Working out causes muscle tears that need repairing. Also, you’ve depleted carbohydrates and your body may begin to burn protein and muscle. To halt the chances of that as well as encourage beneficial muscle growth, consuming at least 20 grams of protein immediately following a workout is recommended.
  9. Eat as many vegetables as possible. It turns out that our parents were right, when forcing us to eat our peas as children. It also turns out that Popeye was right, spinach is actually good for you. Pound for pound, there is no better food item than the vegetable. It doesn’t even really matter which you decide to eat, they’re all packed with important vitamins, minerals and micronutrients in the form of phytochemicals that help your body thrive. A good goal to set is to eat raw, steamed, or in soup form, at least 1 pound of vegetables each day. For the sake of that goal, exclude corn and potatoes, as they contain fewer nutrients than other options (please feel free to eat them, however. I love baked potatoes with no toppings). This goal is a daunting task to the average American who eat virtually no vegetables aside from potatoes or corn, and those are usually in the form of unhealthy processed foods such as chips and fries. You’ll quickly discover that the more unprocessed vegetables that you eat, the better you will feel, and the faster you’ll lose weight. There is no better meal, in my opinion, then a good old salad.
  10. When eating salad, avoid the traditional dressing. People will take a perfectly healthy salad and dump tons of unhealthy dressing on it, which in effect makes the salad worse than other unhealthy options on the menu. When ordering or making a salad, either bring or make your own healthy dressing, or try using vinegar. Do not, however, use vinaigrette, as most contain a lot of sugar and calories. Most restaurants have apply cider or malt vinegar available, and I find that most salads taste terrific with a liberal amount of vinegar drizzled on it. Do you dislike vinegar? Try blending some berries and almond milk together in a blender, pour that onto your salad. Not only will it make your salad taste amazing, it is just as healthy as the salad! Lastly, unrefined flaxseed oil and extra-virgin olive oil are also terrific options and help boost your Omega-3 fatty acids. Just be careful about the amount you use, since they both contain calories.
  11. Avoid dessert. A lot of us get ourselves into trouble during dessert. Pies, cakes, cookies, brownies, the possibilities to kill ourselves with sweets are endless. My suggestion is to fill up on the healthy main course and skip dessert. If you are the type of individual that MUST eat a sweet dessert, try a bowl of berries with some stevia sprinkled on top. It is sweet, tasty, and good for you!
  12. Avoid processed salt, but DO eat unrefined salt.  This is where I disagree with the medical community. Our bodies need salt, particularly when living an active life. Consuming too little salt can cause serious medical issues. I believe the issues with hypertension that exist are the result of obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, and the terrible American diet, not salt. I also believe that processed salt should be avoided because manufacturers process out the important trace minerals found in unrefined salt that we need; moreover, residual chemicals from the refining process can be found. A good recommendation is  to consume one to two teaspoons a day of unrefined salt. My personal favorite is Real Salt, but pink Himalayan salt and sea salt are all excellent options as well. As long as the salt is in the form that nature deposited it, you cannot go wrong. Add it to soups, meats, and your otherwise healthy dishes as desired to taste.
  13. Avoid alcohol. There’s really no health benefit to drinking, in my opinion. The benefits to drinking red wine and other alcoholic beverages purported to be healthy can also be obtained by eating fruits and vegetables. Alcohol is a toxin that your liver has to process. That paired with the junk in the American diet, can exacerbate your liver’s ability to process other chemicals and toxins, which can lead to Fatty Liver Disease or worse. Furthermore, most alcoholic beverages contain a lot of calories, which is simply counter productive to weight loss or management goals.
  14. Drink plenty of water. Yes, you can include the green tea per my suggestion from #3. The recommendation I’ve heard and use as a daily goal is to take half my weight in pounds, and drink that many ounces of water and/or tea each day. Being properly hydrated is crucial to most processes within your body. You simply cannot achieve optimum health without proper hydration.
  15. Avoid dairy. This is an item that most people resist in the beginning. The dairy industry has successfully lobbied the benefits of consuming the calcium and protein found in milk and other dairy products for decades. What they don’t discuss are the sugars, calories, and potentially harmful casein proteins found in dairy as well. Dairy has plenty of calories, and consuming dairy can lead to counter productive weight gain. Most people have heard of lactose (and lactose intolerance), but are unaware that lactose is a form of sugar found in milk. As previously discussed, most sugar except that naturally found in fruits and berries is bad for weight loss and general health. Lastly, a significant number of people have allergies, intolerance, or sensitivities to the casein protein found in dairy, which results in a wide assortment of gastrointestinal discomfort or issues. The benefits of dairy can easily be replaced with fruits, vegetables, and lean protein sources.
  16. Eat unprocessed and unrefined fats. This is another controversial suggestion that flies in the face of status quo nutrition, and I strongly suggest that everyone read “The Skinny on Fats” by Dr. David Brownstein and Sheryl Shenefelt. Essentially, your body works optimally when it has enough good fats. Despite what you have heard, (unprocessed) fats are good for you, even and especially saturated fats. The issue arises when polyunsaturated fatty acids are exposed to light, air, and high heat, they turn into harmful free radicals that can cause or exacerbate serious health issues. Look to oils and fats dense in saturated fat, such as tallow, real butter, coconut oil, avocado oil, and palm oil, for high heat cooking and frying. Flaxseed oil and olive oil contain unsaturated fats and are inherently sensitive to heat, but are great options as salad dressings or spreads for a variety of foods. Lastly, meats, fish, and nuts are terrific sources of fatty acids, proteins, and minerals. The thing to avoid in all of this are refined and processed fats, such as soybean oil, vegetable oil, safflower oil, corn oil, canola oil, and other heavily refined oils that have exposed the polyunsaturated fatty acids to heat, light, and air during the refining process. A good overall rule to stick to is to eat what has not been tainted by man!

I certainly hope my suggestions are useful to those looking to improve their diets. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to leave me a comment.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this blog is based entirely upon my experiences and observations. I am not a medical professional and you must do your own research and consult your doctor before making any changes to your eating, fitness, medication, or supplements. This general information is not intended to diagnose any medical condition or to replace your healthcare professional.