We Are What We Eat
(continued from Lifestyle page).
Studies have shown that the best diet for our long term health and daily
energy needs is a diet balanced in complex carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables,
grains), lean protein, good quality fats and fiber. The lean protein should
be vegetable (soy, nuts, beans) as well as meat protein. Protein should
be the smallest component of your meal and you should eat some protein
at every meal. Organic extra virgin olive oil is the best fat.
We should balance out our eating through the day and start with a balanced
breakfast. When we wake up our bodies have been fasting for up to 12 hours.
If we start out our day without replenishing our energy reserves we will
suffer from low blood sugar. Most people when faced with this energy problem
look to quick fixes and find it in a fast food sugar snack. If we do not
ingest food at breakfast we continue fasting and eventually experience
low sugar fatigue.
The non breakfast scenario looks like this: wake up, continue fasting,
work, fatigue, snack, sugar high, insulin release, fatigue. We need to
balance our food intake to balance out our energy supply. (go to third
column on this page)
The Perfect Daily Food Diet
Breakfast:
2/3 cup (175 ml) whole rolled oats. (4 grams fat, 40 grams carb, 6 grams
fiber, calcium and iron, 8 grams protein in 220 calories), a little
raw fresh fruit or vegetables (always make the vegetable portion larger
than the fruit portion) and a little extra lean protein. Drink 1 glass
of water or decaf tea or decaf coffee. Try not to add any sugar to this
meal.
Mid morning snack: dried fruit, nuts, and cut-up raw veggies.
Lunch:
balanced carbs with lean protein.
Dinner:
a balanced dinner and if you plan on eating dessert do it right after
your meal. The dense protein and fat help to slow the breakdown of sugar
so you will avoid some of the glycemic sugar hit of the sweets. Sugar
products tend to make us hungrier so we have to be careful not to eat
sweets by themselves.
I believe we should drink 8 glasses of water a day and avoid sugared
soda pop. Real fruit juice is ok but have it with a meal. The amount
of sugar in juice causes our bodies to react strongly to such a highly
sugared product. You will get hungry and eat more if you drink a very
sugary drink, even if it is a fruit juice.
Some people might say well I want to go on a high protein diet or a low carbohydrate diet so I can’t do this. Well you actually can. It is all a matter of balance.
Contact Zestlife: zlf@zestlife.ca
(continued
from first column)
The key is that you must balance your food intake and then supplement
this intake with extra protein or lower protein. It is fine to give
up white bread, white pasta, white rice and other carbohydrates as long
as you continue to eat the very-good-for-you complex carbohydrates in
vegetables.
If you do not consume vegetables, grains, beans and fruit you remove
a vital component to your body’s healthy eco-system. You remove
your vital source of fiber. Fiber, soluble and insoluble, is as important
as water is to a healthy digestive system. Never give up fiber for a
diet. In the case of insoluble fiber (in whole grain, bran, vegetables,
nuts, seeds, fruits) you do not digest it rather it is the roughage
that helps to maintain your lower digestive tract. Insoluble fiber is
essentially calorie free, good for us and helps us feel full. So eating
fiber is excellent for anyone trying to lose weight.
Studies have shown that lean protein from vegetable sources is preferable
to saturated fat varieties found in meat. The China Study recently revealed
that high meat protein use can be a risk factor for cancer as well as
high cholesterol.
Some tips on this diet. Whole rolled oats are an amazing food. The cost
of one serving today is 17 cents. Oats have been proven to lower cholesterol
and improve our digestive health. It is a self contained balanced food
product without sugar. For great tasting oats and to bring out the natural
nutty flavour of oats, start cooking the oats and water at a higher
temperature. This helps to cook and brown the oats then turn down the
heat to finish cooking. If you boil the oats under low heat you end
up with a boiled, uncooked flavored oats. Like the bland ‘porridge’
mentioned in Charles Dickens novels.