Our World.

Click!  Get educated!  This stuff is real and not too far away.  Our world really is a beautiful place with some much great potential. :)

Hold Up.

Real quick, before you start trying to follow the principle laid out here yesterday about eating fruit on an empty stomach, I want to give you a few things that could be considered exceptions.  In other words, these are things that I said, "Wait a minute..." about at one point or another after deciding to always eat fruit on an empty stomach. There is reason behind all of them as well, so I'll explain:

Bananas can be eaten with more dense foods, such as nuts, grains, or proteins.  This is because, as you can feel when you eat it, bananas are more dense themselves.  They have a lower water content.  You also do not need to wait as long after eating them before eating other food.  

Fruit can be eaten with raw vegetables.  Veggies are high in water content and therefore digest easily, like fruit.  A green smoothie is a perfect example of this.  In it, greens and fruit blend perfectly to give huge amounts of fiber for cleansing and detoxing.

Frozen acai packets can be eaten with proteins and denser foods because it is a fatty fruit.  This means it digests slower and doesn't mind digesting at the rate of protein.  These little packets, unsweetened, can be found at Whole Foods in the freezer section!  Try only using half at a time to conserve them. :)

Here's a recipe that I LOVE to use after I work out.  It's awesome.  And it uses these concepts so I get some added fruit for sweetness and alkalinity!

gingerandlemon Simple Protein Packer

1 1/2 c. almond or coconut milk

1 scoop hemp protein (no wheys or soys in da house)

1 T. chia seeds

1 very ripe banana

4 ice cubes

Cinnamon to taste

Stevia to taste

Blend all in order in Vitamix.  Enjoy thoroughly.

Fruit First.

Health and nutrition should spring forth from the learned facts about your body and its natural functions.

This concept works for me.  It seems totally simple and easy-going.  When you learn something about how your body works and the properties of food and how they blend together most harmoniously, all you have to do is start following that principle.  The result is more energy, less extra weight, much less fat and less diseases.  Eventually, too, your ideal weight.

That's how I felt when I learned this little snippet about fruit:  

Fruit should always be eaten first or on an empty stomach.

Why?  Because the facts about fruit are:  

It is filled with water.

It rots in hot temperatures.

 AND..

Facts about your body:

It digests fruit very quickly because of the naturally high water content.

It is about 98.6 degrees. Hot.

So, if you eat fruit with other foods that are more dense, the fruit has to hang out and wait in a long line before it gets a turn to be digested.  Think the line at the grocery store on Thanksgiving morning or the Lululemon checkout line on its warehouse sale day.  In that amount of time (2-3 hours for proteins, starches, and longer for a mixture of both) it begins to rot and ferment, changing it from its fresh, super nutritious, raw state to a toxic pile of rotted waste.  Gross. :(  It also causes bloating.

BUT, if fruit is eaten on an empty stomach and at least a half an hour before other food, it will have time to digest very quickly and very well and provide your body with all of its wonderful benefits. Yay!

These pieces of information are SO VERY important to keep a ton of toxins out of your body, keep away from bloating, and stop premature aging.  Especially when you believe you are eating something good for you, you want to know you are actually reaping the benefits of your intentions!

Happy Monday and Happy Eating!

Math + Food = No Good.

I hate counting calories.  It's such a burden.  I love food way too much to think about the mathematical calculation of what I eat.

There are a few major troubles with counting calories as a means of losing weight:

1)  Calories are a bit controversial.  Unless you have a nutritional label, it may be very difficult to know for sure how many calories are in a certain food, leaving you out of luck with your only measure of health.

2)  The consideration of calories keeps your focus off of the most important thing that needs to be considered: what your body actually needs.  Calories themselves do not consider vitamins and nutrients.  They also neglect to consider amount of fat, sugar, and processed, fake ingredients that are poisonous to our insides.  And what happens when you neglect to consider putting poison into your body?  Zapped energy, proper organ function, anti-aging power, and overall beauty.  Calories don't care that an avocado could make your skin look moisturized and young.  If you are at your daily calorie max, they tell you to eat a sugary popsicle with 40 calories and tons of crap instead of that avocado or almond milk and chia seeds.

 

3)  Losing track of calories is easy.  Don't have a guide book with you all the time with the exact calculations of every food you could ever eat in the world and a pen and paper to record it every minute of every day?  You're out of luck.

 

4)  To keep calories in check, food manufacturers will typically turn to food fillers or sugar to make something taste good but not add extra calories (diet pop).  So, you're swapping real food for poorly altered food.  This has short-term effects such as loss of energy and long-term effects such as disease and aging.

When one commits to a plant-based diet and focuses his or her energy on fresh, natural, nourishing foods, the need to count calories (and use multiple anti-aging products and various medications) diminishes.  Sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly.  Then, once he or she is used to eating these kinds of foods and ditches the need to count calories, they will no longer have a set of rules to follow.  His or her body will literally adjust to the correct balances of nutrition and acidity and knowing what to eat will be as easy and eating what feels right to the body.  How natural and easy and awesome does THAT sound?  It really is a harmonic and beautiful and easy thing.

 

So, what to look for in foods if not looking for calorie amount?  Here is a simple list with two main answers:

Processed vs. Unprocessed: canned, bottled, fast foods and packaged foods are all processed in some way. Be careful of these and only buy when necessary.  Especially fast food, of course.

Sugar: always something to keep at an absolute minimum. If you're like me, this is a tough one.  Use stevia, a natural sweetener literally from a plant, to sweeten foods! This has helped me a lot. :)  It comes in liquid and powder for and I think I would recommend buying liquid first, if only buying one.

Fat: good fats, such as omega-3's and omega-6's, are essential to a diet. Yet, when trying to lose weight, keep them in check.  For example, eat half an avocado a day instead of a whole one.

Variety: no need to get carried away with this, simple eating is most beneficial to your body. But if you eat the same thing every day you may be missing out on nutrients provided by other foods. Experiment with a different lettuce or fruit, have fun with it!

I hope this brings some relaxation and enjoyment into your relationship with food.  Be thankful for what food has the ability to provide, and eat what you know is good for your body.  All the rest will fall into place - or just fall of as you lose weight in a natural way! :)