The Whole Food Blog

Today, I’m committing myself to a week of pure, healthy, whole food nutrition.  Normally, I eat some things that aren’t necessarily healthy food, but at least for the next week, I’m keepin’ it real with only whole foods.

Why do I feel the need to adopt a strict, healthy food plan consisting of only whole foods?
I broke my arm in a bicycle accident about 8 weeks ago, so I haven’t been as active as usual.  Now, my physical therapy is kickin’ into high gear and I’m eager to get back on the mountain bike with all the gusto I had before.  Also, I need to be ready for backpacking 20 miles at the Grand Canyon with my teenage son.  I know that this healthy food plan is the quickest way to rev up the energy level and reach optimum fitness because it has worked for me before.  The first time, I lost about 8 pounds a week for a total of 30 pounds in 4 weeks, which really turned my level of cycling up a few notches.  I was able to ride farther, faster, longer and enjoy speedier recovery times.

I am eager to get back on the mountain bike

I started my healthy, whole food diet this morning and already notice a difference.  How can that be you ask?  It’s all about attitude.  I believe that by committing to a new healthy food routine, I receive an instant energy increase and a quick mood boost.  Adopting new healthy food habits that I know are good for me, gives my mind and body a lift right out of the gate.  I’m already thinking more clearly, feeling more relaxed, and saving time by not eating and thinking about food so often.

Please understand that this plan involves the use of whole food concentrates and health drinks from my online health food store.  This is not an attempt to convince people to buy these products. It’s just that I’ve been using these healthy foods and drinks for over 8 years and know they work, especially when I consume more of them and less “store bought” food.  These healthy foods and drinks work so well because all the nutrients are still in their whole food state.  This means they have live enzymes, complex carbohydrates and other valuable nutrients that the body absorbs efficiently, which curbs cravings for other, unhealthy foods.

Here’s how my healthy, whole food plan works:

Breakfast: 1 Cocoa VitaShake mixed with 16 oz of water, 1 Cinnamon Fortune Delight, 1 Quinary, 1 ripe banana (broken in chunks and frozen) and 3-4 drops of Sunnydew stevia sweetener , all blended together.

Drink 1 Quart (32oz) of Calli tea with Sunnydew Stevia throughout the morning.

Midmorning Snack: 1 Fruit or Chocolate Sunbar.  If still hungry for some healthy food, then eat an apple or a handful of nuts.

Drink 2 quarts of Fortune Delight with Sunnydew Stevia throughout the day.

Lunch: 1 NuPlus and 1 Quinary mixed with 8oz of rice milk

Midafternoon Snack:  1 Fruit or Chocolate Sunbar.  If still hungry, then maybe eat a small salad, piece of fruit, handful of nuts, or other whole, healthy food.

Dinner: 1 Nuplus mixed with 10oz of rice milk and frozen banana chunks
If still hungry, have another NuPlus.

A cup or two of Calli Night to sleep like a baby.

I’ll continue to provide updates on my progress.  Let me know if you have any questions about my personal healthy whole food diet.

Those who understand the power of nutrition and high fiber food know that 25-35 grams of fiber are the daily amounts recommended for a healthy diet.  Here are 5 simple ways to remember to get that much fiber each day.

1.    “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”

An apple is the perfect high fiber food to eat anywhere for a good source of fiber in a convenient, ready to eat package.  Apples provide a quick way to pick up 5 grams of fiber.

2.    “Beans, beans, good for your heart”

Beans are indeed good for the heart and for their high fiber food content.  Few foods with as much fiber are as economical and versatile as beans.  Soups often provide a good source of beans. Some fast food chains have bean burritos, chili or salads with beans, and of course, rice and beans are always popular.  Black beans provide as much as 7g of fiber per 1/4 cup, a quarter cup of pinto beans rings up a hefty 12g of fiber per serving, and Garbanzo beans offer 9g of high fiber food per 1/4 cup serving.

3.    “Breakfast is the most important meal”.

Breakfast is the first opportunity to start the day with plenty of fiber.  A bowl of oatmeal, a piece of whole-wheat toast, and a multi-grain muffin are wholesome high fiber food choices for breakfast. Each one provides 3-5g of fiber or more, and they’re easy to prepare.

4.    “High fiber food is good for your mood”

For a quick snack any time of day without the guilt of eating junk, a high fiber food bar is a good mood booster.  A snack bar should provide at least 4g of fiber in a serving or it isn’t worth the calories.  All too often, people eat candy bars and power bars that offer little or no fiber.  Look for all natural high fiber food bars on the Internet to get the most nutrition for your dollar.

5.    “Shake it up and go”.

Get 5g of fiber in health drinks that provide excellent sources of soluble fiber.  In fact, some high fiber drinks even has FOS, a soluble fiber that is typically found in foods like onion, garlic, oats, and barley.  High fiber foods in a health drink make it really easy to add 5g of fiber to any diet.

Add these five high fiber food reminders to your daily routine and you will easily consume 25-35 grams of fiber each day.

Stevia may be the only natural sugar free sweetener that is really healthy.  A calorie free sweetener that registers zero on the glycemic index, stevia can help individuals sustain normal blood sugar levels.  This makes it a very beneficial product for diabetics and other health conscious people who are striving to maintain a sugar free life.

Stevia is a plant in the Chrysanthemum family, which grows wild in parts of Paraguay and Brazil.  The plant’s extracts are up to 300 times sweeter than sugar, but have a negligible impact on blood glucose.  Stevia leaf extract has been used for centuries by native South American tribes as a sugar free sweetener in yerba mate and other teas.  It is also known for relieving ailments such as heartburn and for its antiseptic properties, which can be helpful in treating irritations of the skin.

Dr. Tei-Fu Chen, an herbalist and pharmacist from Taiwan, perfected a method to extract the nectar from the stevia leaves without using chemicals.  His company, Sunrider, successfully petitioned the FDA in 1995 to lift the import alert on the extract of stevia. This paved the way for other companies to use stevia as a sugar free, “dietary supplement”.  In 2007, Coca Cola petitioned the FDA for approval of stevia as a sugar free “food additive”.  That approval was given in 2008, and Coca Cola has now joined other major manufacturers in the production of stevia based, sugar free products.  Sunrider was one of the first companies to introduce stevia sweetener to the United States with the product Sunectar, in 1984, and later with SunnyDew liquid stevia.

More than twenty-five years of experience with stevia sweetener in the United States reveals that the benefits of this sugar free herbal extract seem to outweigh any negative consequences.  Through my own daily use of liquid stevia since 2001, I can say that it has helped to reduce cravings for sweets, and I am no longer searching for a healthy sugar free substitute.

Stevia sweetener is not only healthier, but it is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar.  Stevia is a zero calorie sweetener, and it can actually help people maintain normal blood sugar levels.  Stevia has no known harmful side effects and does not contribute to health problems the way that sugar does, so it only makes sense to consider it as a desirable alternative.

Stevia sweetener harmfully impacts no important bodily functions, while the dangers of sugar are well documented.  For example, it has been discovered that sugar shuts down the immune system. Researchers at Loma Linda University documented the effects of sugar on phagocytes, white blood cells in the immune system that protect the body from harmful invaders.  The studies showed that sugar caused the phagocytic index to drop, creating a negative effect on the number of harmful invaders destroyed by the immune system.  Bacteria not consumed by phagocytes means the immune system is compromised and the chance for disease increases.  So, instead of risking a shutdown in the immune system, stevia sweetener makes a smart choice as a healthy alternative.

Sugar disrupts the delicate balance of minerals in a healthy body while stevia sweetener does not have this kind of an impact.  Calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, iron and zinc are vital minerals for the body. A shortage of just one of these minerals means the entire system can be disrupted.  Two teaspoons of sugar can cause micronutrients in the body to change, creating a radical shift in blood chemistry.  Some mineral levels increase, some decrease, and fragile ratios are disturbed. Even a little sugar can undo the effects of consuming calcium supplements.  Stevia sweetener, on the other hand, will not have that sort of a negative impact on minerals in the body.

Sugar speeds up the aging process, but stevia sweetener contributes to a healthy, active lifestyle.  Often, when sugar is consumed, the pancreas becomes over stimulated and secretes too much insulin.  Excess insulin can cause a drop in normal blood sugar levels.  Stevia sweetener is a zero calorie natural sweetener that has no effect on normal blood sugar.  Low blood sugar causes hypoglycemia.  Symptoms of hypoglycemia include fatigue, memory failure, rapid heartbeat, anxiety, tremors, headaches and depression.  These may sound like diseases of the elderly, but more and more young people are noticing health problems of this nature because they are ingesting too much sugar.  Understanding that stevia sweetener is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar without the harmful side effects can have a dramatic impact on health, especially when this discovery is made at an early age.

Of course, it’s hard to avoid sugar in foods today, but stevia sweetener is gaining acceptance as a healthy alternative.  To learn more about the dangers of sugar, read “Lick The Sugar Habit” by Nancy Appleton, PhD.

Many people know that high fiber foods are essential for a healthy diet.  However, not as many know about the benefits of fiber rich foods with FOS for the digestive system.  FOS is an acronym for fructooligosaccharides.  These are carbohydrates that come naturally from high fiber foods such as garlic, onions, leeks, oats, barley, rye, and chicory root.

One reason that natural fructooligosaccharides are good for digestion is that they are probiotics.  They help the body create its own healthy bacteria, which is necessary to fight off the unhealthy bacteria in the digestive system.  This is especially beneficial in a world where so many antibiotics have entered the food supply.  Antibiotics not only destroy the bad germs, but the good bacteria, too.  Additionally, when there are enough friendly bacteria in the colon, the body is able to produce a healthy dose of B vitamins.

Most high fiber foods sweep the intestines, but FOS also works like a scrub brush for the intestinal walls.

Here are several good reasons to consume high fiber foods with FOS on a regular basis:

1.    The body can absorb nutrients more efficiently as food passes without difficulty through the intestinal walls.
2.    The growth of good bacteria, such as Acidophilus, Bifidus, and Faccium will be stimulated in the digestive system.
3.    Cholesterol and triglycerides may be reduced as fat is more easily trapped in the intestinal tract where it can be flushed out faster.
4.    Better assimilation of complex carbohydrates from high fiber foods that take longer to digest will provide longer lasting energy, which is good for blood sugar regulation.
5.    Probiotics from FOS can minimize yeast infection, Candida, and bloating.
6.    Symptoms of constipation, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and lactose intolerance may decrease.

Unfortunately, onions, leeks, barley, oats, rye, garlic, and chicory root are not high fiber foods that the average person will eat often enough to get all the benefits of FOS.  Fortunately, there are other ways to get fructooligosaccharides.  Search the Internet for natural high fiber foods with FOS.