Approachable Nutrition™

Happy New Year!

Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food” - Hippocrates

As we head into 2006, we typically will have at least one New Years resolution! One resolution usually involves achieving good health. Part of your resolution may include weight control. In this newsletter I will give a few simple solutions to get your New Year off with a healthy start. Here are a few ideas to try and do on a daily basis. If there is something listed that you already do – great! If there is something that you have not been doing, try to add just one solution at a time. Following these simple solutions is a delicious healthy dessert that enjoyed recently.

• Eat a variety of Fresh Whole Foods.

• Eat a healthy breakfast; do not skip this important meal- Eating breakfast gets you off to a good beginning. People who start the day with a healthy breakfast tend to make healthy food choices throughout the whole day.

• Balance your meals and snacks with complex carbohydrates, protein and healthy fats.
• Carbohydrates are the body’s main source of energy providing the main fuel for the brain.
• Protein is important for stabilizing energy and staying power. Adding protein will help you avoid the ups and downs of energy and help to stabilize your blood sugar levels. You do not have to eat a lot to get this benefit.
• Fats add good taste to the food and contribute to feeling full, however, fats provide twice the calories of carbohydrates and proteins so be careful when choosing fats. Too many calories and fat at one meal will slow you down; fat takes a lot of energy to digest. Some healthy fat choices are avocados, nuts, olive oil, and fish such as salmon.

• Minimize simple carbohydrates that can deplete energy – Avoid simple sugars such as doughnuts, sugary snacks, and high sugar soft drinks.

• Eat organic foods whenever possible – Reduce your exposure to harmful pesticides and herbicides.

• Incorporate raw foods into you daily diet – Important for obtaining valuable enzymes that are essential for maintaining proper function of the body, digesting food, and aiding in the repair of tissue. Cooked foods are depleted of enzymes. While the body does manufacture a supply of enzymes, they also are obtained by food. Enzymes are extremely sensitive to heat, so in order to obtain enzymes from the diet the food must be raw. Not eating raw foods or supplementing with enzymes can put a lot of stress on the supply of enzymes in our bodies. Eating vegetables, fruits and salads raw is a great way to obtain these important enzymes.

• Drink a minimum of 2 quarts of water a day.
• Prevent dehydration and boost energy.
• Water is involved in several body processes including digestion, absorption, circulation, and excretion.
• Add Emer’gen-C packets, or a squeeze of lemon or lime to add flavor to your water if needed.

• Avoid/Reduce processed and prepackaged foods – Avoid the intake of food additives and coloring.

• Get your daily dose of essential fatty acids and watch your saturated fat intake - Flaxseed, cold-water fish, sardines, dark green leafy vegetables, nuts and seeds.

• Completely avoid hydrogenated oils, trans-fatty acids – New labeling requirements will be listing the amount of trans-fatty acids in a product this year. Look for this when you are purchasing a processed/packaged food product. The ingredients list on the package will state whether the product was made with hydrogenated oils or partially hydrogenated oils. There are plenty of alternatives that do not use hydrogenation.

• Eliminate/Reduce consumption of coffee, alcohol and caffeinated high sugar beverages.

• Be conscious of chewing your food slowly – This will help with digestion.

• Include fiber daily – Whole grains, legumes, fresh vegetables and fruits. Oatmeal also contains good fiber.

• Get regular exercise.

• Eat berries and other antioxidant containing foods.

For an easy and fun all fruit recipe, you might want to check out the Sunny Day All-Fruit Sundaes from this book: Healthy Cooking For Kids by Shelly Null. This is a wonderful, refreshing and creamy desert.

Janeen Goldsmith is a Certified Nutrition Therapist who specializes in working with people who have MS or other autoimmune conditions and who are seeking additional health support along with the traditional therapies. Her practice is based on the principle that because everyone is different, each person’s nutrition program should specifically fit his or her lifestyle and preferences. Janeen’s goal is to help people eat better to feel better. She meets with individual clients in person, email and/or by phone. She also shares her knowledge through public speaking and teaching cooking skills to local Colorado residents.

Thank you for reading this article, which is part of Approachable Nutrition’s Get Healthy Newsletter (from Janeen Goldsmith, Nutrition Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis). I value your interest and support. If you are not on the mailing list to receive notification of these feature articles, please sign up here. Also know that I never sell your personal information to any third party. And, it is always easy to unsubscribe from email newsletters or change your email address: you can do that right from the bottom of any newsletter. If you have feedback, suggestions, or questions about my newsletter or practice please send me a private note through my contact form.