Tag Archives: Healthy nutrition

Level 2 (Proficient): Endurance

Level 2: Endurance

Level 2: Endurance is based on closely looking and applying with rigor Do’s and Don’ts for each of the base nutrients listed in Food Essentials: Sugar, Protein, Oil/Fats, Grains/Starch, Dairy, Salt, Water and Vegetables&Fruits.

BeeYou can read more by following each of the links; here I only enclose the steps with some checklists.

In addition to “base nutrients”, I suggest adding some Supplements as well as looking into the Well-being Essentials.

Here are all of the things that I suggest taking care of in the Endurance phase.

Have a wonderful and tasteful journey!

 1. Sugar

  • Honey is a healthy alternative to sugar, when used it in its pure, raw form.
  • Stevia is a sweet herb derived from the leaf of the South American stevia plant, which is completely safe in its natural form.

 Avoid

  • All artificial sweeteners: aspartame (Canderel and others), saccharin and sucralose (chlorinated artificial sweetener). Agave syrup is typically highly processed so best to avoid it.
  • Read ingredients list and avoid food that contains ‘corn syrup’, HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) or any variation
  • Processed foods labeled as “no-“ or “low-fat” (usually means it’s loaded with fructose or sugar), or “no-“ or “low sugar” diet foods (which usually contain artificial sweeteners).
  • Soda drinks. Filtered water is our best bet.
  • Sweets. A bar of preferably raw chocolate is ok 😉

Read more here.

2. Protein

  • Meat (organic, hormone free). All meats, including poultry with exception of pork.
  • Eggs (organic, cage-free) – best to consume them raw or lightly boiled/cooked.
  • Fish – deep or cold water wild/ caught. Avoid sorts that are likely to be contaminated with mercury etc.
  • Raw dairy (butter from raw milk, cheese from raw milk, raw or lightly pasteurized milk, yogurt).
  • Beans are sources of good, but not complete proteins.

Avoid

  • Soy (except fermented soy products like tempeh, miso and natto)

Read more here.

3. Oil and Fats

  • For cooking and baking the best is to use exclusively coconut oil or ghee.
  • Other extremely healthy oils/fats like butter (from raw, organic milk) and olive oil are great sources of healthy fat/oils but they should not be heated.
  • Avocados, walnuts, egg yolks are additional sources of healthy fats.

Avoid

  • Vegetable oils (omega-6) like corn, soy, sunflower, canola.
  • Margarine and all other butter mimicking foods including “cholesterol free” cooking fats should never be used especially for cooking.
  • Frying. If you really need to fry use ghee or coconut oil.

Read more here.

4. Grains/Starch

  • Intake of grains/starch in general needs to be significantly reduced. Use of wholegrain sorts like oatmeal, kamut, wild/brown rice, barley, rye, buckwheat, quinoa etc. is controversial to an extent, but many consider them as healthy alternatives and I see no harm including them unless you have health issues. The same goes for potatoes. In general potato consumption needs to be reduced significantly, I like replacing it occasionally with sweet potato that is higher in nutrients.

Avoid

  • Wheat/gluten need to be fully avoided or at least significantly reduced.

Read more here.

5. Dairy/Milk

  • Raw whole, unpasteurized, non-homogenized milk. It is very difficult to obtain it but sometimes you can buy it directly from small farms.
  • Second best would be the whole, pasteurized, non-homogenized milk from cows raised on organic feed which is now available in many health food shops.
  • Alternative sources of calcium are: cultured buttermilk that is often more easily digested than regular milk. Butter obtained from raw milk is great especially for children. Goat milk and yogurt is a great alternative and easily digested.

Avoid

  • Pasteurized and homogenized milk and pasteurized dairy.

Read more here.

6. Salt

  • Use only natural, unprocessed salt like e.g. Himalayan salt and Celtic Salt (high in iodine).
  • Introduce green vegetable juices as an excellent way to ensure your potassium intake.

Avoid

  • All processed foods, which are very high in processed salt and low in potassium and other essential nutrients.

Read more here.

7. Water

  • Drink only filtered water. Purchase water filters that take out the chlorine and fluoride from your water.

 Avoid

  • Bottled water, vitamin water and similar.

Read more here.

8. Vegetables and Juicing

  •  6-8 servings of fresh organic vegetables (and fruits) per day. Juicing is the easiest way to reach our daily requirement.
  • Take couple of vegetables that you normally like, that don’t have too strong flavor (e.g. cucumber (peel it), fennel, carrot or spinach) and add lemon, lime, apple or ginger to improve taste.
  • When you get used to juicing, shift slowly towards more vegetables and less sweet fruits.

 Avoid

  • Eating too much fruits at expense of vegetables.

Read more here.

9. Supplements.

The nutrition we need can be in principle fully obtained from wholesome, organic food.

However, for people on the go and especially frequent travelers it can be quite challenging to get all the nutrients that body need.

Read more and please consider adding some supplements enlisted  here or others that you feel you may need in addition.

10. Well-Being Essentials.

In addition to nutrition, at this stage I also suggest looking into implementing the basics of the Well-Being Essentials. However, if it feels overwhelming, focus on nutrition first and leave it for the next phase.

 Food In, Love Out.  See you at the Level 3 🙂

Healthy Food Essentials, Protein

Feel-Good Protein

Protein – An Indispensable Nutrient

  • Proteins are nutrients that are essential for our body. Meat, eggs, cheese and other foods from animal sources contain complete proteins that our body need and can’t make on its own.
  • We need approximately 1 gr of protein for 1 kg of weight (this is approximate, you will find all kind of different opinions and competing studies). For your reference, one egg has 6 grams of protein, cup of milk 8 grams, 80 gr steak will provide 20 to 25 grams of protein.
  • High quality, organic eggs are an excellent source of protein. Contrary to what we are led to believe there are a number of proponents like for example Dr. Mercola that support the statement that we can easily eat a dozen of raw eggs per week.Egg 810
  • All conventional animal protein (meat, eggs) fish and dairy are easily contaminated with dangerous hormones or pollutants and we need to make an effort to search for high quality, organic animal protein.
  • Pork meat is best to avoid as even pastured pigs have been found to be vulnerable to Trichinella parasite.
  • Soy (except fermented soy products like tempeh, miso and natto) is not a healthy food, despite popular belief. Among many other issues, intake of soy weakens our immune system, soy phytoestrogens disrupt endocrine function, cause infertility and promote breast cancer, cause hypothyroidism, thyroid cancer etc.
  •  Fish and seafood is great source of protein, but unfortunately  often contaminated with mercury and other toxins.

Key Things to Remember

Protein is an indispensable nutrient and we need to ensure a necessary intake of high-quality protein on a daily basis. Great sources:

  • Meat (organic, hormone free). All meats, including poultry with exception of pork.
  • Eggs (organic, cage-free) – best to consume them raw or lightly boiled/cooked.
  • Fish – deep or cold water wild/ caught. Avoid sorts that are likely to be contaminated with mercury etc.
  • Raw dairy (butter from raw milk, cheese from raw milk, raw or lightly pasteurized milk, yogurt)
  • Beans are sources of good, but not complete, proteins.

 Sources and Credits

Level 1 (Beginner): Essentials

Level1: Essentials – Healthy Eating for Beginners

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Beginner If you are among those who are convinced of the benefit of healthy eating but simply feel overwhelmed with possibilities and don’t know where to start, I suggest implementing the following nutrition basics:

  1. Sugar. Replace the white sugar with any other unrefined, raw version. Replace sweets, cookies, cakes and packaged snacks with fresh fruits, nuts and dried fruits.
  2. Grains/Starch. Replace refined/white with complete/ wholegrain. If brown rice and whole wheat pasta don’t sound too good, start by mixing it with what you normally use and then gradually increase the whole grain.
  3.  Oils/Fats. Go for extra virgin cold pressed unrefined oils e.g. olive oil (great for salads but not good for cooking). On the other hand ghee and coconut oil are great for cooking as they withstand the high temperatures.
  4.  Water. Try increasing the water intake. Replace the soft drinks with plain, filtered water or tea. If you can’t live without soft drinks, squeeze in some fresh fruits or make a fresh lemonade or orange juice.
  5. Salt. Replace refined, table salt with unrefined/sea salt.
  6. Milk/Dairy. If you can’t find “the real thing” (fresh, unpasteurized) then it is probably best to avoid it all together and buy yogurt instead. Tip: although not comparable with cow’s milk, you can use almond “milk” for your morning cereal.
  7. Protein (meat, fish, poultry, eggs). I am afraid no compromise here, these you need to buy organic.  Fish – avoid farmed and buy wild, caught.  Try to avoid fish that is on top of the food chain.
  8. Vegetables/fruits. If possible, buy the organic produce, at least for those that belong to the “dirty dozen” (with the most pesticides): apples, strawberries, grapes, celery, peaches, spinach, sweet bell peppers, nectarines (imported), cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, snap peas (imported) and potatoes.  Unfortunately this is “North American Dirty Dozen”, maintained by Environmental Working Group and as far as I know there is no European list. In addition, you definitely want to avoid genetically modified (GMO).
  9. Start reducing slowly the number of processed and pre-packaged foods, sweets and grains/starch and start consuming more vegetables, fruits, nuts, meat, eggs and fish.

Voila!  The suggested changes enable you to target quite a few essential nutrients and implement a number of beneficial changes. Your food budget would typically need to increase for 10% -20%, but hey, by doing this you are likely extending your time on this beautiful planet!

Now, before going to the next level give yourself couple of months to get used to the new way of eating and observe your mood, energy levels, potential weight loss etc.

Good news – no limitations as to how much you can eat,  provided you took care that produce is of organic and finest quality origin.

When in doubt, use variety, balance and moderation as guiding principles.

Healthy Food In, Love Out