Nutritional Fridays

FOOD COMBINING

 What is it? Food combining is the use of vegetable proteins, grains, and nuts in combination to allow for the body to digest nutrients that will make a complete protein.

Our human bodies need complete proteins, and nitrogen.  There are 22 Amino Acids that make proteins, 8 of them are essential for good health.  Meat and dairy are not necessarily the only source of proteins!  Although, the dairy and beef industry would like to convince you that these are necessary!  They advertise this and donate to politicians inn order to have the backing they need to "push" the idea of their necessity.

But, not that we know that the beef and dairy industry has been using hormones in the cow's feed, and genetically modified grains are also used, lets now take another look! Is meat the main source to look to for protein? NO.

Did you know that grains, vegetables, nuts, and legumes (beans) have proteins?  They also contain many vitamins our bodies need, as well! Do we need to supplement these in our diet, in order to get the 8 essential Amino Acids? No.

Ancient cultures knew instinctively what foods to eat to have inexpensive and yet tasty, nutritious diets.  The Mayan meal of beans, rice, tomatoes, and bits of chili contains everything necessary for all 8 essential Amino Acids and vitamins from the vegetables. 

I will discuss next Friday how this all works....

Nutritional Fridays

Food & Nutrition as an Alternative Healing Modality

In the “Nutrition Fridays” blog, I asked “what is a ‘serving’ of food?”

Answer:

1 slice bread

½ cup cooked grains

1 cup pasta

½ cup cooked vegetables or ¾ cup of vegetable juice

1 ½ ounces of cheese

2-3 ounces of meat

2 Tablespoons  of peanut butter

½ cup of lentils or beans

Why use nutrition as a means to heal?

One of the big reasons to use nutrition as a means of healing is that it is natural.  There are no chemicals, re-actions to medication, it is long-term, and your body absorbs it better.  Unfortunately, it takes the body longer to rejuvenate.

We have previously looked at one diet that has “proven its salt”.  I had discussed studied conducted with this diet, that was immensely productive.  That is the Mediterranean diet. Today we will begin a discussion on the Food triangle  for this particular diet.

The Old Ways Preservation and Trust is an organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  They list the typical characteristics that are inherent to the Mediterranean diet. 

This list includes:

1. Whole food based on plant sources
2. Foods that are locally grown and / or have been minimally processed 
3.   The PRIMARY source of fat is Olive Oil
4.  The fat consumed is around 25% to as much as 35% of the total calorie intake and minimal saturated fats
5. Cheeses and Yogurt are minimal each day and these are usually low fat
6.  Low to moderate consumption of fish and poultry every week (usually 3 X weekly)
7.  And no more than 4 eggs a week, which would include eggs used in baking or cooking
8. Desert is fresh fruit
9.  Beef is eaten rarely, it is recommended to consume less than 16 ounces of beef a month.
10. If alcohol is not a “problem” it is recommended that one glass of wine is consumed with a meal. 
11.  Exercise and socialization

Note: some information is repetitive. But, we learn best by repetition, right?