Hello Wednesday,
Here is a great article by nutrition and health expert, Dr. Jonny Bowden, on the healthiest foods available. I agree with him completely when he states, “There is no perfect diet for human beings.” This is exactly what the creators of Metabolic Typing have researched for decades and why we use it as as foundation program here at the Optimal Fitness Lifestyle Center.
Dr. Bowden and the researchers of Metabolic Typing found that when you look at various cultures over time around the world, the diet of the culture is based upon environmental availability and tradition. As Dr. Bowden states, it is very easy to stay healthy based upon the research of cultures around the world, “All these healthy diets have in common the fact that they are absent foods with bar codes.” When switching to a modern diet of white flour, sugar, pasteurized milk, cooked meat, artificial ingredients, hormones, antibiotics, and other massive amounts of chemicals, all populations studied increase their likelihood of disease. If it wasn’t around 10,000 years ago, it is probably not good for you.
One thing he didn’t mention, however, is that we all have a specific fuel source or Metabolic Type. Metabolic Typing is all about finding the ideal fuel source for each person on the planet based upon one’s genetics, psychological traits and dietary habits. After a person completes a comprehensive questionnaire that includes food experiments..how do you feel on oj, meat, no snacks, snacks, high carbohydrate breakfast, high protein breakfast, etc., you are “typed” and get your results and a dietary plan. I then work with you on your specific plan diet, lifestyle and supplementation. We meet after you complete the test and review the results for one hour . Then I work with people on various topics to optimize the plan through the use of food logs or diet record sheets for 15-30 minute sessions until they feel they have achieved their goals.
For more on Metabolic Typing go here: Your Perfect Fuel Source.
Check out the article below.
The Healthiest Foods On Earth
By Jonny Bowden, Forbes.com
Forbes
What is the best diet for human beings? Vegetarian? Vegan? High-protein? Low-fat? Dairy-Free?
Hold on to your shopping carts: There is no perfect diet for human beings. At least not one that’s based on how much protein, fat or carbohydrates you eat. People have lived and thrived on high-protein, high-fat diets (the Inuit of Greenland); on low-protein, high-carb diets (the indigenous peoples of southern Africa); on diets high in raw milk and cream (the people of the Loetschental Valley in Switzerland); diets high in saturated fat (the Trobriand Islanders) and even on diets in which animal blood is considered a staple (the Massai of Kenya and Tanzania). And folks have thrived on these diets without the ravages of degenerative diseases that are so epidemic in modern American life heart disease, diabetes, obesity, neurodegenerative diseases, osteoporosis and cancer.
In Depth: The Healthiest Foods On Earth
The only thing these diets have in common is that they’re all based on whole foods with minimal processing. Nuts, berries, beans, raw milk, grass-fed meat. Whole, real, unprocessed food is almost always healthy, regardless of how many grams of carbs, protein or fat it contains.
All these healthy diets have in common the fact that they are absent foods with bar codes. They are also extremely low in sugar. In fact, the number of modern or ancient societies known for health and longevity that have consumed a diet high in sugar would be … let’s see … zero.
Truth be told, what you eat probably matters less than how much processing it’s undergone. Real food whole food with minimal processing contains a virtual pharmacy of nutrients, phytochemicals, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, anti-inflammatories and healthful fats, and can easily keep you alive and thriving into your 10th decade.
Berries, for example, are phenomenally low in calories, high in fiber and loaded with plant compounds that improve memory and help fight cancer. Studies have consistently shown that nut-eaters have lower rates of heart disease. Beans are notorious for their high fiber content and are a part of the diet of people from almost every corner of the globe who live long and well.
Protein–the word comes from a Greek word meaning “of prime importance is a feature of every healthy diet ever studied. Meat, contrary to its terrible reputation, can be a health food if and this is a big if the meat comes from animals that have been raised on pasture land, have never seen the inside of a feedlot farm and have never been shot full of antibiotics and hormones.
Ditto for raw milk, which is generally believed to be one of the healthiest beverages on the planet by countless devotees who often go to great expense and inconvenience to obtain it from small, sustainable farms. Wild salmon, whose omega-3 content is consistently higher than its less-fortunate, farm-raised brethren, gets its red color from a powerful antioxidant called astaxathin. The combination of protein, omega-3s and antioxidants makes wild salmon a contender for anyone’s list of great foods.
Another great food: eggs one of nature’s most perfect creations, especially if you don’t throw out the all-important yolk. (Remember “whole” foods means exactly that foods in their original form. Our robust ancestors did not eat “low-fat” caribou; we don’t need to eat “egg-white” omelets.)
There are really no “bad” vegetables, but some of them are superstars. Any vegetable from the Brassica genus broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, kale is loaded with plant chemicals called indoles, which help reduce the risk of cancer.
In the fruit kingdom, apples totally deserve their reputation as doctor-repellants: they’re loaded with fiber, minerals (like bone-building boron) and phytochemicals (like quercetin, which is known to be a powerful anti-inflammatory and to have anti-cancer properties). Some exciting new research suggests that pomegranate juice slows the progression of certain cancers. Other research shows it lowers blood pressure and may even act as a “natural Viagra.”
Tea deserves special mention on any list of the world’s healthiest foods. The second most widely consumed beverage in the world (after water), all forms of tea (black, oolong, white, green and the newer Yerba Matte) are loaded with antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. Some types (green tea, for example) contain plant chemicals called catechins which have decidedly anti-cancer activity.
Finally, let’s not forget members of the Alliaceae family of plants onions, garlic and shallots. Garlic has been used for thousands of years for its medicinal properties; hundreds of published studies support its antimicrobial effects as well as its ability to lower the risk of heart disease. A number of studies have shown an inverse relationship between onion consumption and certain types of cancer.
A healthy diet doesn’t have to contain every one of the “healthiest foods on earth,” but you can’t go wrong putting as many of the above mentioned foods in heavy rotation on your personal eating plan.
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S., is a board-certified nutritionist and the author of seven books on health and nutrition, including The 150 Most Effective Ways to Boost Your Energy and The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth.
In Depth: The Healthiest Foods On Earth
If you want to learn more about how to snack and eat healthy, check out the Healthy Food, Healthy You Food Clinic starting October 7th. You will leave with new ideas for snacks for you and the family.
In health,
Brien
Brien Shamp BS CSCS CMT CHEK NLC II
CEO Optimal Fitness Lifestyle Center
650-654-4604 (w)
650-654-4108 (f)
www.OptimalFitnessLifestyle.com
P.S. Check out our nutrition programs at the Optimal Fitness Lifestyle Center: Nutrition Services.We have had amazing, life changing results with our 21 Day Purification & Weight Management Program and Metabolic Typing Program
