3 Food Choices That Will Save Your Life!
1. Fats: Decrease your hydrogenated fats and increase your good fats.
- The media has done a pretty good job of informing the public of the hazards of trans fats but has not discussed the dangers of hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats. These fats continue to plague our pre-packaged food industry. Some examples are: partially hydrogenated soy bean oil or cottonseed oil. Although these fats may only contain small amounts of trans fats they are still unhealthy and need to be avoided.
- Instead, I suggest including healthy fats such as: avocado, coconut oil, eggs, nuts and seeds, and fish such as wild salmon or sardines. If you get your sardines canned, please make sure the can is BPA free; a good choice is the brand Wild Planet. Finally, you can obtain a list of sustainable fish from www.montereybayaquarium.org.
2. Fiber: Eat 10-12 servings of colorful vegetables and fruits daily.
- Make these all organic, if at all possible. If not, then refer to “The Dirty Dozen and The Clean Fifteen” from the Environmental Working Group (https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/list.php).
- Make your plate colorful; include all the colors of a rainbow! How? You can start with lots of green leafy vegetables such as: arugula, kale, chard, mustard greens. Then, add other green vegetables high in antioxidants such as: broccoli, broccolini, and brussels spouts, to name a few. These veggies in particular, are high in substances that increases glutathione levels. And glutathione is the most potent antioxidant our body makes! Next, to bring in more color, you could add orange foods like carrots and fuyu persimmons, and then add a layer of red from tomatoes and raspberries, or even purple from eggplant and blueberries. Finally, you could finish off the array of colors on your pate with yellow from crook neck zucchini, squash, and yellow plums.
- Aside from the above mentioned, remember to eat 35 grams of fiber daily from: flax seed meal, coconut flour, chia seeds, lentils, peas and beans. (Note that this does not have to include fiber from grains).
3. Freedom: from bad sugars
Get rid of non-caloric artificial sweeteners such as Equal or NutraSweet, (which contain aspartame), Splenda (sucralose) or saccharine. These all change your gut microbiota and increase your risk of diabetes and obesity.[1] [2] Further, they can be damaging to your brain.[3] Instead, use stevia or small amounts of honey or raw sugar if needed. Lakanto is another possibility which includes fermented erythritol and munk fruit.
References:
[1] Suez, J., Korem, T., Zilberman-Schapira, G., Segal, E., & Elinav, E. (2015). Non-caloric artificial sweeteners and the microbiome: findings and challenges. Gut Microbes, 6(2), 149–155. http://doi.org/10.1080/19490976.2015.1017700
[2] Suez, J., Korem, T., Zeevi, D., Zilberman-Schapira, G., Thaiss, A…& Elinav, E. (2014). Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota.Nature. 514(7521):181-6. doi: 10.1038/nature13793.
[3] Alcaraz-Iborra, M., Carvajal, F., Lerma-Cabrera, M., Valor, M, & Cubero, I. (2014). Binge-like consumption of caloric and non-caloric palatable substances in ad libitum-fed C57BL/6J mice: pharmacological and molecular evidence of orexin involvement. Behav Brain Res. 272:93-9. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2014.06.049.