We Are Surely What We Eat - eat how you want to live!

Hello everyone!!! Another good day to live well.

“Your current life is the result of your previous choices, if you want something different, begin to choose differently” Joe Tichio

In our journey of living well, CONSISTENCY is very key to success. As Mike Murdock put it “you will never change your life until you change something you do daily”. Taking one good step consistently will give a better result than taking various steps haphazardly.

I’m sure we can all agree that what we eat is important. How about the when? The timing of our meals can play an important role in our digestive health. Having a regular eating schedule keeps our systems in top shape. Not eating at consistent times everyday can lead to bloating, indigestion and overworking of the stomach.

Being creatures of habit, setting specific times for meals and eating at the same time everyday will enable our bodies know when to expect food, prepare for it, thereby improving digestion and prevent overeating. Apparently, our body clock, metabolism and digestion have an interesting relationship.

The general advice is that breakfast should be within an hour of waking, to give energy for the day. Lunch, about 4 to 5 hours after breakfast and dinner, at least 3 hours before bed. Eating too close to bed may make falling asleep hard.

Why do we crave for things we plan not to eat ? Why do fad diets fail? I have a theory (The She Theory); it’s a mind game. When deciding on making changes to your diets, seek the cooperation of your whole being by thinking and focusing on the positive. Rather than think you need to lose weight because you are not happy with your looks, think you need to be healthy to live well. I believe your whole being will show more support. That is something I just believe. 

The body going through a rigorous diet  must feel almost like an act of war against itself. The yearnings must be its defensive mechanism against the enemy, deprivation. And once the war is over, it goes into preservation mode, take as much of these foods as possible in preparation for another war which may or may not come.

In making changes to your diet, I suggest you tell yourself that you are going to eat well because your body deserves the best. Forget any diet you can’t stay on for life, it’s not likely to do you much good. Remember healthy living is a lifetime objective.

Healthy eating is choosing the right foods to eat as well as avoiding processed or refined foods that are so readily available. Eating the right foods will provide good nutrition, avoid developing illnesses and diseases and make you feel your best.

Every single thing you eat throughout the day becomes you; you will feel and eventually look like the food you eat. So if you eat whole and nutritious foods, you will move closer to a healthy lifestyle. If you choose to eat more junk/processed foods, you will move further away from your goal.

Our daily diet should be balanced, fruits and vegetables making a third, carbohydrates making another third (fruits and vegetables = carbohydrates daily) and protein, fats & oils making up the remaining third.

As much as possible, eat whole foods, as they come out of the farm. Avoid foods with labels, especially those with more than two to three ingredients or contents you don’t recognise or can not pronounce. And if sugar is listed as numbers one to three, avoid because the first three ingredients on the list make up the bulk of the content.

To ensure your meals don’t leave you craving for other things, always combine your carbohydrates with protein or fats/oils. I encourage you to cook your meals so that you are certain of all that goes into your most valuable asset, your body. Eating well will keep you healthy or help you regain your health. When you feel good, you are better able to take care of yourself and in a position to make sound judgements. That means the world around you is better for it.

Eating healthy does not have to be bland or boring. Eating a wide variety of whole foods will ensure your body gets most of the nutrients it requires as different foods offer different benefits.

Another thing to avoid is boullion (a.k.a Maggi , Knorr etc). Their primary ingredients are salt, MSG and hydrogenated fat. A lot of people use this in addition to salt, thereby raising their salt intake and increasing the risk of high blood pressure. The good news is there are spices and herbs that not only add flavour to foods but nutrition as well. Spices and herbs will be a topic for another day as there are so many of them. I am a huge fan of spices and herbs for they transform food in a variety of ways. I encourage you to be adventurous with them. My tastebuds have been round the world, thanks to them. 

Please let go of stock cubes and you will be glad you did. See you next week! 

                                                   whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well. So Live Well! 😊