There is so much talk about nutrition, there are so many diets out there and most of them are centred around weight loss. But this misses the point of eating which is all about getting important nutrients into your body.
We forget this. We use food as a hug, we eat it because it tastes nice or because it’s tradition, but rarely do we think about how much good it’s doing us.
If I had $100 for every time a client said to me, “My diet’s pretty good, I don’t think that’s the problem” then I’d be very rich indeed. It usually turns out that their meals are not that great. Sometimes not that bad, not stuffed with McDonald’s or other fast food, but certainly not optimal either. And this is why I wanted to write this blog. So many people think ‘not that bad’ is 2-4 + servings of animal products per day and one small portion of veg with dinner. Sometimes people may have a salad for lunch and sometimes fruit for breakfast. Usually it’s a sandwich for lunch. And these are the good ones! This isn’t to add ‘shame’ to this way of eating, but to highlight that there is a real disconnect with this ‘average’ way of eating and a truly ‘correct’ optimally healthy eating pattern, to create great health and ward off chronic health conditions.
Really healthy includes 2-3 portions of fruit per day, 5-6 portions of veg per day ( including lots of green leafies), 2-3 portions of animal products per week (max), not per day. Nuts, seeds, pulses and whole grains are frequently missing from people’s plates and instead they are replaced with processed food, white flour products, fizzy drinks and alcohol. Water almost certainly is not drunk enough. We need to eat more raw food and the vast majority of our food should be organic. Of course, you're human and you'll steer off course sometimes, but this way of eating should be your mainstay.
This is what optimal looks like. If we all ate like this, then we’d all feel better and our chronic conditions would be lessened. Our guts would feel less bloated and constipated and we’d poop multiple times per day. Oh and we’d lose weight.
If you need help to eat better, then please drop me a line.
Ally van de Pol is a Certified Healing Diets Coach
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