Way of Life

I do not like the word "Diet." To me, a diet is "I'm about to start something and that there is an endpoint in the future".  It's temporary.  If you don't like your current health how is the way you are eating something you would want to go back to? Doesn't it make more sense to change the way of life to a more permanent way of eating/thinking/being?

Just like any other "way of life" habit, you can't just start bench pressing 500 lbs. You must start out slowly. You also can not just change your eating habits all at once either. This will give you all sorts of other health concerns that will push you right back to your unhealthy lifestyle thinking you can't change.

As an example. If you are used to eating instant white rice, then change to eating plain old white rice. This step can be a fast and easy conversion. Now changing from white rice to brown rice may take a few months. Start by mixing in the brown rice in a ratio of 1:3 to white rice. Let your body get used to this change over the course of a month. Then convert to 2:2, and then 3:1 and finally to 100% brown rice. From here it is easy to change up your brown rice with wild or jasmine rice as they are all on the same level of health quality.

Changing from white flour to ground wheat flour should be done the same way, but maybe over the course of a year. Wheat is a great laxative if your body isn't used to eating it.

Now for a quick bit of advice to those who are young and want to change. If you love it, so will your children, but only if that is all they are used to seeing you eat! For those that are older, don't get discouraged! I am a firm believer that you can teach old dogs new habits too!

Before I begin teaching you your new lifestyle, let me throw out a few names that you may be familiar with and then explain my opinions about them.  You may be familiar with Low Carb diets or Keto Diets.  Both are very similar. My problem with them is that they encourage sugars that are processed. The least amount of processing you can do to your sugar the better off you are. Natural sugars are not bad for you. With that being said, I do believe that moderation in all things. Just because it has maple syrup or honey in it does not mean that it is OK to eat it!!!! My other thing is that I am OK with small amounts of "starch" foods, but again moderation in all things!

So let's begin!

To start off, let's do some definitions. We want to understand each area and what it means for your intake.

Vegetable Examples: Cucumbers, Bell Peppers, Zucchini, All Squashes, Corn on the cob, Green Beans, Peas, Asparagus, Carrots, Lettuce, Spinach, Cauliflower, Broccoli, and the list goes on.

• On average half of your plate should be vegetables.

Fruits Examples: Apples, Oranges, Grapes, Bananas, Kiwi, Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries, and the list goes on. This does not include, fruit juices, processed or cooked fruit. It must be raw fruit to count.

• On average about 1/8 of your plate should be fruits.

Protein Examples: Meats, Seeds, Nuts, Quinoa

• On average 1/4 of your plate should be a protein.

Carb Examples: Potatoes, Rice, Bread products.

• On average about 1/4 of your plate should be a protein.

Now there are different levels of carbs, you see, some are more healthy than others for you.

	Not Great	Better
Potatoes	Brown Skin	Any other Color
Rice	White	Everything Else
Flour	White	Everything Else

Oil/Fat Examples: Liquid at room temperature oil, Oils that are solid at room temperature. I am going to add Milk here. I know that seems strange, but milk contains good fats.

Again there are some Oils & Fats that are better for you than others.

	Not Great	Better
Liquid Oil	Everything Else	Olive Oil
Solid Oil	Margarine, Shortening	Butter, Coconut Oil, Cream Cheese
Milk	Fat-free	Whole

• Despite contrary thoughts, these products are good for you and while they should not comprise all of your foods, don't be afraid of them either.

Sweetener Examples: There are so many different types of sweeteners, and just about as many opinions about them.  The biggest push of my way of life is to stay away from as much processed foods as possible. I know of only 2 types of sweeteners that don't require a large amount of processing to become what they are. These would fall under my "Best" category below. The next two require some processing, but if you need an actual sugar they are close to what our ancestors used and therefore I am OK using them. I have a huge soapbox about all the "fake" sugars out there. I might even write a paper with references to help those who are skeptical about my soapbox, but for now just know, either use them up and don't buy them again or save your future and throw it away.

Best	Better	Stay Away from
Honey	Dextrose	Everything Else
Maple Syrup	Cane Sugar

•  Use as little as possible of anything in this category. Be mindful while eating foods with from this category. Rely on your body to tell you how much or how little it wants and learn to listen. You will find yourself eating less and less of foods from this area. But never tell your body no. All that does is makes you crave it more. But as you eat a sweet food, ask yourself the following questions:
• How does this food make you feel?
• What are your taste buds telling you?