Do you ever get fed up with news reports telling you the “best way to eat?” You hear one recommendation, and not two weeks later, there’s conflicting advice telling you that method was all wrong.
The reason this happens is because nutrition is a powerful tool that can be used as a standalone to medicine to help you achieve optimal wellness in life – if you understand that there’s no one-size fits all approach.
You have to tailor your nutritional needs to your own body. There are five things you need to be aware of – and it all starts by understanding the basics. From there, you can use it preventatively, to fight illnesses, to reverse or slow the aging process, and to even enhance your natural beauty.
Give Yourself a Nutritional Baseline to Work From
Do you remember back in elementary school when you first started learning about the food pyramid? It was pretty straightforward – eat more whole grains, less fat.
But even the food pyramid has evolved over the years – it seems like nothing stays the same for long periods of time. Your basic nutritional needs stem back to infancy – before you even knew what a food pyramid was.
From the time you were a baby, you met your nutritional needs automatically. You ate when you were hungry and stopped when you were no longer hungry. It was as simple as that.
We know that breast milk is best for babies because it helps boost their immune system, providing antibodies they don’t yet have. Manufacturers tried replicating natural breast milk as good as they could, but even from the very beginning of your life, scientists have known that natural trumps processed foods.
That’s a key idea you can take with you on your road to better nutritional health. Always eat natural foods if there’s a healthy option for that, rather than go with processed foods or even supplements.
Before you start choosing which foods you need to eat, in what amount, and how often, begin by relearning your food groups and putting today’s meal choices into each one.
Try to adopt basic healthy nutrition habits, such as:
- Watching your caloric intake so that you burn off more calories than you eat.
- Learn how to listen to your body so that being “full” is a thing of the past.
- Eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains than you do fats, sugar and salt.
You also may want to head to the doctor and get a blood panel to check all of your current statistics on things like your vitamin D and iron levels. When low, these can zap your energy and start causing more serious medical problems that mimic common fatigue.
From this baseline, you can start creating a food plan that’s in line with your specific nutritional needs.
Using Food for Preventative Health Measures
It’s never too late to adopt a regimen for preventative health when it comes to nutrition. Even if you’re currently fighting one disease, the opportunity for you to fight off other illnesses is important.
You might already know some of the basics, such as eating foods right in vitamin C to boost your immune system. We’ve grown up routinely being told to drink orange juice or eat oranges when we feel a cold coming on.
To tailor your choices even better, look at the history of disease that runs in your family. For example if heart disease is an issue, then you’ll want to adopt an eating plan that prevents that from developing.
You can pursue a Mediterranean diet – something like the DASH diet – which will help keep your arteries clear of plaque build up and prevent a heart attack or stroke.
We know that early on, if you want to prevent osteoporosis, you should be eating foods rich in calcium. It’s not all about dairy products, though. Protein helps prevent osteoporosis, too.
Some of the guilty pleasures you enjoy, like pizza, can result in complications later on that grow out of a seemingly small issue at first. For example, if you continually eat foods that give you heartburn at night, you can put yourself at risk down the road.
Acid reflux has the potential to transform into cancer of the esophagus. Every time your esophagus is exposed to the acids you experience when eating spicy foods, or foods late at night, you’re increasing your chances of developing the disease later.
Look into your family’s history and see what health woes you might encounter – and then take steps to avoid traveling down that same path by research which foods help you with that issue.
Fighting Disease through Smart Food Choices
Sometimes it’s too late for preventative nutrition, but it’s not too late to use food to help you reverse disease, or at the very least manage it. This is when you turn to what researchers call “super foods” that help your cells perform better inside your body.
Let’s look at some of the top super foods and how they can help you battle disease and illness:
- Almonds can be used to fight obesity and help you with diabetes. The fiber-heavy nut helps you get your blood pressure back to normal, too.
- Berries are often touted as one of the best antioxidants you can use to prevent and fight cancer. All of the berries have their benefits, but blueberries are the richest source of super food perks.
- Alfalfa sprouts help you lower your cholesterol – and they also contribute to the fight against cancer.
- Whole grains like barley also fight cancer, decrease cholesterol, and lower your risk of obesity and stroke.
- Apples are perfect if breast or colon cancer runs in your family. They offer a sizeable amount of cancer fighting power.
- Dairy foods like low-fat yogurt, milk and cheese help to strengthen your bones and stabilize your blood sugar levels.
- Bison is a healthy meat that many people are turning to because it has less fat and calories, and plenty of omega-3 fatty acids that help with Alzheimer’s, heart disease and Crohn’s disease.
- Beans – particularly black beans – offer lots of great disease fighting benefits for those suffering from kidney disease, heart disease, lyme disease, and celiac disease.
- Fatty fish are healthy for you – because these omega 3 oils benefit your heart and brain. Salmon and tuna are the best choices.
- Leafy greens like Brussels sprouts, collard greens, turnip greens, kale and others help with diabetes and obesity, heart disease, inflammation and blood pressure management.
Nutrition that Can Turn Back Time
When we think of the aging process, we think in terms of health, energy, and physical signs of aging, like wrinkles. Foods can be used to reverse the hands of time.
You can certainly prevent many of the symptoms of aging through food choices, but what if they’re already happening to you? You might recognize things that you’re currently experiencing, such as:
- A loss of energy
- Thinning hair
- Aches and pains
- Forgetfulness
…to name a few. Things like this can be treated through better nutritional choices. Never accept any sign of aging as just “part of getting older.” You can (and should) feel as energetic as you did in your twenties and thirties.
So let’s look at these main symptoms and how nutrition could possibly help you with that.
To increase energy when you’re aging, start choosing the right carbs. You may have gotten into a routine where you rely on caffeine and sugar bursts to have energy. Instead, start fueling your body with whole grains.
Get plenty of iron from leafy greens, and health protein from lean meats. Start fueling your body regularly during the day, not just twice a day later in the afternoon and evening.
Is your hair starting to thin out? Sometimes it’s caused by poor nutritional choices that you make. Other times, it’s due to hormone changes – or even increased stress that you’re enduring.
Food can help you retain your locks and strengthen them. Look for foods rich in omega 3 fatty acids, like walnuts or tuna. Your body will use the acids to fortify the cell membranes in your scalp, helping you hold onto your hair longer!
If you’ve started to feel achy all over or you find it harder and harder to get out of bed in the morning, you can use nutrition to give you more pep in your step – without it hurting!
Look for anti inflammatory foods, which include things like soy, tuna, nuts, whole grains, leafy greens, tomatoes, beets, garlic, and berries. When the sugary and fat-laden foods are replaced by these smart choices, inflammation decreases and you start feeling less pain!
Have you started noticing more memory slips as you age? Instead of forgetting where you placed your keys once in a blue moon, you frequently walk into a room and can’t remember why you went in there now?
Food choices can help! Fruits and vegetables help with cognitive decline, as do omega-3 fatty acids, as we know. The top two fruits you can eat are blueberries and apples. And if you follow in Popeye’s footsteps and eat spinach regularly, you’ll see even better memory retention.
Using Food as Your Primary Beauty Product
It used to be thought that topical products were all that could help you with your beauty regimen (in addition to expensive plastic surgery). Men and women spend an exorbitant amount on creams, serums and lotions that are supposed to enhance their looks.
The only time food was ever mentioned was when someone was giving advice to mash up foods into a bowl to apply topically to your face in an effort to rejuvenate your skin.
Now we know different. Food can be used from the inside-out to help make you look younger and healthier each and every day. Start with an increase in your hydration.
Skin that is dehydrated will not only develop a raisin (wrinkly) appearance, but it will also start to look flaky and ashen – forcing you to look older than your true years.
Those omega 3 fatty acids are top of the list again, but in the case of beauty, the way it reduces inflammation also helps you achieve better hydration. When your arteries are working better, blood is circulating and helping your appearance look fresh and youthful. Oysters, which are packed with zinc, can help your skin with new cell production so that you’re always looking your very best.
To prevent sagging, try collagen-rich foods such as oranges, peppers, cherries and grapefruit. This will keep your skin looking supple and firm, which makes you look beautiful!
Whatever beauty issue you have – whether it’s acne, wrinkles, dry or oily skin – you can find foods that will help feed your body’s largest organ internally, so that it delivers the results you want on the outside of your body.
