Optimum Nutrition: Medicine of the Future

So what is a healthy diet?

What is a healthy diet? Most people don't know, not because they're ignorant or don't care - it's because they're confused. There is so much conflicting advice about diet and nutrition, who can blame us when we throw in the towel and eat pizza?

You may hear much conflicting advice and confusing information, but actually, hidden away among the self-serving propaganda of a lot of the food industry - and even the nutritional supplement industry - there are very clear guidelines for healthy eating. After years of research and campaigning, there are finally official and nutritionally sound guidelines for a good diet.

The message is plain: a low saturated fat, moderate protein, low simple-carbohydrate, high complex-carbohydrate diet is the way to go. Stated simply, the golden rules for a healthy diet are:

Avoid stimulants such as sugar, coffee, tea and cigarettes, and limit alcohol.
Avoid saturated (animal) fats and especially hydrogenated (processed) fats.
Avoid simple (refined) carbohydrates, including white bread, biscuits, cakes and other processed foods.
Avoid unnatural additives, flavourings and preservatives.
Eat more beans, lentils, seeds, nuts and wholegrains.
Eat more vegetables, raw or lightly cooked (steaming is best).
Eat several servings of fresh fruit every day.
Eat oily fish several times a week.
Whenever possible eat organically-grown, natural, unprocessed foods.
Drink plenty of filtered water.
Avoid these poisonous items in your diet and medications: aspartame, ritalin, Prozac, fluorinated water, vaccinations.

Alongside regular exercise, this works for weight loss but more importantly it's the cornerstone of optimum nutrition - an approach to diet and health that says food can be both pleasure and medicine, and that diet has a crucial role to play in disease prevention and longer, healthier living.

Many people would like to believe that as long as they take their vitamin supplements they can keep eating all the "bad" foods they desire. But you can't rely simply on supplements; a well-planned, varied diet is essential.

Of course it is good to eat foods rich in vitamins and minerals. But this is only one criterion. Good food should also be low in saturated fat, salt and fast-releasing sugars, and high in fiber. Alkaline-forming foods (foods high in calcium, magnesium and potassium) are preferable - such as all fruit and vegetables, millet, seeds, almonds, brazils, herb teas, yoghurt, bean sprouts. These help to buffer the acids that result from the metabolism of proteins, refined foods and stimulants. Such a diet will also be low in calories. And to further help keep your weight in check, eat earlier in the day, rather than later when the metabolism slows down. And of course, equally important is to exercise every day.

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The best sources for essential nutrients include:

Carbohydrates - Beans, lentils, wholegrains, vegetables, fruit
Protein - Nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, wholegrains, vegetables, and moderate quantities of animal produce
Fats - Nuts, seeds, cold-pressed vegetable oils, wholegrains, oily fish used in moderation
Water - Filtered water, still bottled water, fruit and vegetables
Vitamin A - Carrots, watercress, spinach, cabbage, squash, sweet potatoes, melon, pumpkin, broccoli, apricots, beetroot and tomatoes, eggs, fish liver oils, cheese
Vitamin B Complex - Wholegrains, seeds, nuts, vegetables, beans, lentils, eggs, milk, yoghurt, liver, poultry, fish, meat, eggs
Vitamin C - Berries, tropical fruits, peppers, tomatoes, cabbage
Vitamin D - Fish, dairy products, egg yolk
Vitamin E - Wheatgerm, unrefined vegetable oils, avocados, seeds, nuts, beans, peas, fish, egg yolk
Vitamin K - Kelp, alfalfa, cauliflower, leafy green vegetables, potato, tomatoes, polyunsaturated oils, dairy products
Calcium - Peanuts, sunflower seeds, dairy foods, bones in small fish, green leafy vegetables
Chromium - Brewer's yeast, egg yolk, mushrooms, wholewheat bread, molasses
Iron - Green leafy vegetables, dried fruits, wholegrains, beans, lentils, fish, meat
Magnesium - Green leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds, soya beans, wholegrains
Potassium - Fruit - particularly bananas, vegetables
Selenium - Nuts, seeds, wholegrains, fish, meat, eggs, dairy products
Sodium - Fruit, vegetables contain all you need
Zinc - Nuts, seeds, wholegrains, wheatgerm

Check out this comprehensive list: The World's Healthiest Foods, A-Z which have been selected because they are among the richest sources of many of the essential nutrients needed for optimal health and vitality and do the most to promote your good health.

Also see: Ultimate Superfoods List: 30 Foods That Will Make Your Life Super Healthy. This list will help you understand each food's benefits and proper use, with a free download of the world's most delicious and healthiest superfood recipes.

Alternative Medicine for Animals

You may be interested to know how effective alternative medicine - like aromatherapy - can be, for humans of course but also for animals. It is possible to treat your pets with alternative medicine like essential oils, acupuncture, naturopathy, osteopathy... and even better, to save their lives. There is so much to gain from treating our pet with alternative medicine and yet few people know it… learn more here:

7 Alternative Medicine Treatments for Animals:
A Short Guide for Caring for Your Pet Naturally

Help with Healthy Eating

You are what you eat, they say, but taking full responsibility for food and healthy eating in your life can be quite a challenge. Especially nowadays, in the modern world, we are all surrounded by temptations to consume too much, and too much of the wrong thing. And not only temptation - a whole industry is devoted to persuading us to indulge ourselves to excess.

And what if your challenge is in the other direction? What if you have been depriving yourself unhealthily, and are trying to return to a more balanced approach? All that pressure is no help to you either.

Of course you need to take practical measures to manage your food intake and establish a good and healthy routine, but you will be much more likely to succeed at this if you focus on the psychological aspects of nutrition and eating. And this is where hypnosis can really help you.

The following food and healthy eating hypnosis downloads are based on a solid understanding of the psychological underpinnings of unhealthy consumption. You can find a download to help you comfortably, easily and effectively take control of how food contributes to your healthy lifestyle...

Help with Weight Loss

Are you struggling with weight loss? Hypnosis can provide the extra motivation and determination to keep you moving in the direction of your goals, and help you escape the many food traps that can cause weight gain.

Self hypnosis for weight loss is the perfect tool for re-educating your unconscious mind - the part that creates cravings and impulses - to give you back real choice in what you eat. You know that a real and permanent change in your weight only comes with a change in lifestyle, not through fad diets that you can't possibly keep up over the long term. The following weight control hypnosis downloads can help you make those changes, and far more quickly and easily than you ever imagined possible.

Why is hypnotherapy so much more effective than just dieting alone? Because it lifts you out of a double bind. On the one hand, faddy dieting and unnatural calorie restriction actually causes your body to store fat more effectively, and create cravings for high-calorie, unsatiating foods. In addition, feeling 'deprived' on a daily basis is eventually going to drive you to bingeing and rebellion, no matter how strong your self-control. In short, hunger always wins in the end.

Break the patterns and habits of poor or over eating and take control of your hunger and weight.

Taking a psychological approach with hypnosis deals with the hidden patterns behind poor eating and over-eating at the same level as they occur - deep in your unconscious mind. That's why it's so much more effective. Taking control back and giving your body the foods it needs will make maintaining a healthy weight natural and easy.

Save 42% with the 10 download Weight Loss Hypnosis Pack, containing the 10 most needed solutions to weight loss problems.