Health is Wealth: Health Alert
by Nobel Laureate in Medicine Dr. Louis Ignarro and Naturopathic Physician Dr. Andrew Myers
Eating Fresh
What type of foods do you regularly eat? Are they fresh, natural foods? Or do you often eat processed food with ingredients you can barely pronounce? Our bodies were designed to eat fresh food, not processed food. As it turns out, fresh food actually tastes better than processed food though many people no longer remember what eating fresh tastes like.
Eating fresh is one of the most fundamental aspects of staying healthy, having energy, and feeling good. Eating fresh, healthy food is only one part of the equation. Individuals need to re-learn how to enjoy preparing, cooking, and consuming delicious food.
How much fresh food should you eat? People need at least five to nine servings of fresh fruit and vegetables every single day to stay healthy and prevent cancer and other disease. This will provide a huge boost in vitamins, minerals, fiber, enzymes, and other nutrients necessary to thrive. Raw nuts and whole grains like brown rice are also nutrient-rich fresh foods.
No matter what you are eating, it is a substance that was alive at one time. Imagine, for instance, walking to your backyard and tugging a bunch of sweet, orange carrots from the ground. You take them inside, rinse them off, slice them and add them to your salad. In this scenario, you are eating food that was alive just half an hour before eating. As you eat these carrots, they are passing their life-giving vitality directly into your body. The less your food is refined, the more nutrients it shares with you.
Now, consider the frozen carrots in your freezer right now. These carrots were alive a few months ago. After they were picked they were hauled to a processing plant where they were rinsed with chlorine and other chemicals to eliminate contamination. They were then boiled, frozen, and sat on a truck and in a freezer for months at a time. These frozen carrots simply do not offer the same vitality that fresh, living food delivers.
Next time you eat, ask yourself how you feel.
Do you feel bloated and tired?
Do you suffer from constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, or low energy?
Simply adding more fresh fruit and vegetables to your meals can quickly reverse even the most irritating health woes.
Benefits of Fresh Veggies
Fiber to cleanse your body of toxins
Phytonutrients: health-protecting plant compounds
Enzymes to fuel vital chemical reactions
Essential fatty acids to help combat a host of diseases
Keys to Success
Eat the rainbow: Consume as many different colors of fresh foods as possible. Each color represents different nutritional contents. A big variety in color can help to provide the nutrients necessary for long term health and vitality.
Shop the perimeter: When visiting the grocery store, the healthiest and freshest foods are always around the outer edge of the store. Produce, dairy, seafood, and the butcher are areas to focus on. Avoid the middle aisles which typically contain processed food that isn’t likely to be as healthy as the fresh food around the outside aisles.
Keep fresh food in sight: Keep fruit, vegetables, and nuts on countertops and coffee tables whenever possible. Seeing these healthy items means you’re more likely to snack on them.
Add fruit to dessert and breakfast: Instead of trying to eliminate cereal and ice cream from your diet simply use it as a vehicle for delivering fresh fruit. Add strawberries, bananas, or blueberries to your regular meals for an easy extra serving of fresh food.
