Let's Talk About Food

Healthy food means healthy living, at least in the physical realm. It also means healthy thinking. When we don't get proper nutrition, our bodies become weak and we cannot even think clearly. So if you want to have a clear mind, you must eat properly. But what is the proper food?

To start with, you need the whole range of essential vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids, even healthy bacteria. This subject is far too large to deal with in a blog, but there are many online sources if you want to delve more deeply into the subject. But for our purposes here, I intend to keep it as simple as possible.

Vitamins. A, B1, B2, B6, B12, C, D, E, etc. We've all heard about these. We get them in the food we eat. That is, if our food is nutritionally balanced and cooked properly. Just overcook your food if you want to destroy many of the vitamins it contains. Or eat nothing but junk food: fast-food restaurant burgers, fries, etc. Potato chips, nachos, ice cream, chocolate bars, processed and packaged foods. The list goes on. These foods not only contain few vitamins, they also contain many harmful things like cholesterol, trans fats, saturated fats, additives with long, unpronounceable names to improve taste and longevity. Yes, packaged food is made for long shelf-life, but eating regularly on this kind of diet will shorten our life span.

In some instances, our bodies have the ability to create vitamins, for example Vitamin A. When we eat food containing beta carotene, our bodies will manufacture Vitamin A. But, for the most part, vitamins must come from what we eat. A healthy balance will consist of a wide range of fresh vegetables - dark green leafy, red, orange, yellow, white, root vegetables, legumes - and a variety of fresh fruits - orange, yellow, green, red, dark purple and blue. If you eat these uncooked you get the greatest potential of vitamins available. Cooking, especially at high temperatures or for a prolonged time, destroys many vitamins including Vitamin C. Raw is definitely best, but if you must cook your veggies, steam them or quickly stir-fry them in healthy oil such as grapeseed oil.

Even when we eat what seems to be a healthy diet of fresh fruit and vegetables, often they do not contain an adequate supply of vitamins to sustain our bodies let alone get them healthy when they are sick. The land on which our food is grown is highly deficient in nutrients and many artificial fertilizers are used to force the crops to grow bigger and faster. To say nothing about the harmful chemicals sprayed on the crops to stop insect infestation. This has led to a huge depletion of nutrients in our food.

We need to add nutritional supplements to our diet if we want optimum health. But not just any supplements will do. They must be high-quality, pharmaceutical grade from a food source, not synthetic. And not just an extract of individual vitamins from the food. We were created to eat whole food, not bits and pieces of foods dissected in a lab for convenience in ingesting them. Before you buy any supplement, check the source. It's important if you don't want to waste your money. Check the label. Does it say 'whole food'? Is it organic? Where does it come from? Are there artificial additives that are, at best, unnecessary, and at the worst harmful? Do your homework before you buy.

Next time we'll talk about minerals and how important they are in a diet conducive to healthy living. Until then, eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies and remember to take your supplements. Here's to healthy living for all.