It is an absolutely beautiful day and the snow is slowly melting. We had a good time doing the chores this morning. We love doing it together and as Jim said to me this morning, “We have such a good life and we are so blessed”. I am making dinner for a new family that moved into our congregation. They are actually unloading the truck today but Jim and I do not unload moving trucks anymore to keep our backs in working condition. Therefore, I am bringing in dinner instead. They have three children and are near us. They wanted to have land but can’t so perhaps we can incorporate them to help on our farm when we need to go away.
I am sending this out into the airwaves early today so I can get everything else done that is necessary. Please read the nutritional information today because it is the basis of all our nutrition.
Nutritional Information
Let me step back and start over on teaching what to eat. This is what Jim and I eat. We eat this way to be balanced, to eat real food, to be healthy, to not be extreme or follow the latest food fad.
We eat breakfast followed 2-3 hours later with a snack.
We eat lunch followed 2-3 hours later with another snack.
We eat dinner (supper). We try not to eat a snack after dinner but if we do it will follow the same rules I am giving to your right now. We are not just trying to fill up our belly. We are feeding our brain good fats to maintain a healthy brain and body, great protein for the amino acids, and a complex carbohydrate for the energy required to function, and non-starchy vegetables to slow down the digestion of carbohydrates to keep blood sugars level.
Start with a protein – you need 15 – 20 grams of protein every 3-4 hours to feed your brain. Amino Acids are essential for making the brain function properly. These Amino Acids make up the brain’s neurotransmitters, Serotonin, Endorphins, GABA, and Catecholamines (Dopamine, Adrenaline, Norepinephrine). If there is a deficient of these Neurotransmitters, the result is depression, anxiety, irritability, insomnia, and cravings to name of few.
For this reason, we always start with protein. Eggs, almonds, chicken, oats, cheese, cottage cheese, Greek full fat yogurt, Milk Full fat) Lean beef, tuna, quinoa, lentils, pumpkin seeds, turkey (not processed), fish and shrimp, brussels sprouts, peanuts, black beans, meat, pork, lamb, bison, avocado, corn, mushrooms, broccoli & sprouts, spinach and kale, salmon and halibut, cauliflower Bok-choy and Asparagus, Sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, guava, peas, pistachios, chia seeds, nut butters watercress.
Next add a complex carbohydrate. You need the protein and the carb together so insulin is regulated better in the body and will process well together. Examples of complex carbohydrates are fruit, berries, citrus, plums, apples, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, legumes, lentils, green beans corn, whole grains, 100% whole grain pasta, sprouted wheat bread, multigrain hot cereal, brown rice, quinoa, oats, acorn squash, barley, butternut squash, parsnips, eggplant, garbanzo beans, cabbage, artichokes and cooked carrots. That should give you a good list to start from.
(Many of these contain starch but that is okay because they are real food. Poor examples of starch you do not want to eat are white rice, white pasta, white bread, sugar.)
Add in good fats. First of all, we never look at calories. We cannot use weight watchers because we go past our points by breakfast. The low-fat diet is DEAD. It was debunked almost 2 decades ago. It was based on false information and has not stopped heart disease. Cholesterol and fat are essential to life. Without it, aging is accelerated, disease comes, and our moods are altered. HOWEVER, and this is big. There is the right kind of fat and the wrong kind. This subject requires its own blog but let me abbreviate.
Good fats – Olive oil, Avocado Oil, Coconut oil, Unrefined palm oil, butter, ghee, lard from fresh pork, eggs, raw nuts, avocado, salmon, sardines, flaxseed, leafy green vegetables, milk (raw, full fat), Dark Chocolate over 60%, Cheese, Chia seeds, full fat plain yogurt, nut butter, olives, sunflower seeds. Use pure-pressed, cold pressed or expeller-pressed oils.
Inappropriate fats – The vegetable oils are very high in omega 6 which we need, however, we get far too much omega 6 and it causes inflammation in our body.
Don’t cook with polyunsaturated oil, don’t cook with butter on HIGH temperatures
Avoid these fats: Bottle salad dressings, hydrogenated oils, partially hydrogenated oils, mayonnaise, shortening, margarine, cool whip, rancid fats, corn oil, canola oil, soybean oil (almost all crackers and cookies and dressing have soybean oil in these.) safflower oil, sunflower oil, cottonseed oil.
You can use some of the oils for salad or uncooked foods but we have chosen to not have them in our home at all.
The biggest part of our plate is filled with non-starchy vegetables. This is where we get many of our vitamins and minerals that the protein needs to mix with to make the amino acids into the neurotransmitters for better mood and good health.
Spinach, kale, greens, artichoke, asparagus, baby corn, bamboo shoots, green beans bean sprouts, beets, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage (cooked is complex carb, raw is non-starchy veg), carrots (raw), cauliflower, celery, cucumber, Jicama, leeks, mushrooms, okra, onion, peppers, radishes, Summer and Zucchini squash, spaghetti squash, sugar snap peas, Swiss chard, tomato, turnips, water chestnuts.
Thank you
Thank you. I needed this breakdown of good food to eat.