Diet for a Healthy Life

It's true that there are certain diets that are better for some than others, but the following diet is for about 90% of us who will do well on a "moderate carnivorous diet", sometimes referred to as "transitional carnivore."

Please buy only organic foods. Organic fruits, grains, nuts, seeds, vegetables are grown without synthetic chemicals, fertilizers or pesticides. Organic chickens and cattle are raised without the use of hormones, growth stimulants and antibiotics. ( Grass-fed beef is the best with less saturated fat-more Omega 3's although cannot at this time be purchased commercially. You must know a rancher who can cut you up a 1/4 of a cow or more and freeze-wrap it for you.) You can buy all of the organic foods at a Whole Foods or a Wild Oats. You will pay about 1/3 more for organic food, but it is more nutritious and will give you about 2 1/2 times the nutritive value as non-organic.

First of all, eliminate coffee, alcohol, tobacco, pork, bottom feeders like shrimp, lobster and catfish, fried foods, sugar, refined foods, processed foods, artificial foods, anything "white" except for cauliflower, additives, preservatives, fake colored foods and mercury laden fish like orange roughy, shark and swordfish. Cut way back on canned tuna and limit wild-caught salmon to once per week, although farmed salmon is safe.

If there is a word on a label that you can't pronounce, that means that your body can't pronounce it either. Don't buy it. General rule: Don't eat anything from a bag, box, can, jar or wrapper. Exception: Organic canned tomatos, broths and beans are OK in a pinch.

Here are some foods that are good for you and that you should include on your weekly shopping list:

Vegetables and Vegetable products: There is no limit on the servings of vegetables you should eat every day. Eat as much as you want. Stuff yourself with vegetables! And raw is best. If you cook your vegetables, you can gently steam, bake or stir fry. Never boil a vegetable. Buy yourself a good stainless steel basket steamer or two and use daily. Following are a list of vegetables:

Asparagus and Avocado.

The Crucifers: Broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower.

Green leafy vegetables: Beet tops, carrot tops, celery, collards, escarole, kale, dark lettuce, parsley, spinach, swiss chard, mustard greens. Very good steamed in broth with lots of garlic.

Legumes: Black beans, chickpeas, green beans, kidney beans, lentils, lima beans, pinto beans, dried yellow peas. Please avoid peanuts ( a legume, not a nut) because they harbor a very poisonous mold which produces a liver-destroying chemical called aflatoxin. This is extremely carcinogenic. Your transition from peanut butter to almond butter will be a cinch. I am not a fan of soy in any shape or form.

Mushroom family: All edible varieties

Nightshade family: Cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, tomatos, potatos. You might want to avoid these as well as cayenne, chile, paprika and tobacco if you have painful joints from some form of arthritis.

Onion Family: Garlic, leeks, onions

Root vegetables: Beets, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, radishes, rutabagas, sweet potatos, turnips, yams.

Squash: All winter and summer varieties

Salads: Eat at least one big salad per day and more if you like. Use as many different vegetables as you can - the leafy greens, peppers, tomatos, onions, sprouts, and lots of garlic. Try to eat garlic once a day. A very good salad dressing is make from Braggs Organic Apple Cidar Vinegar plus organic extra-virgin cold pressed olive oil, plus Dijon mustard, spices and, of course, garlic.

Sea Vegetables: Learn to like them. Use them in your soups and in other recipes as they are a wonderful source of minerals only gotten from the sea. I use a 5" long piece of crumbled Kombu for my pot of beans. Try arame, hijiki and nori as well.

Vegetable Juices: Juicing is great. Purchase a good juicer like a Champion. and use it several times a week. Use mostly greens in your juice. A good juice would be cucumber, parsley, chard, kale, celery then "sweeten" it up with an apple or a carrot. You can also buy a number of juice combinations at the health food store. Be sure to get the 1 oz. "chaser" of wheat grass juice to go with your vegetable juice. If you have cancer, the juicer is a must and you must drink a quart of fresh juices per day. Juices must be fresh as many important nutrients deteriorate within minutes. Drink your juice within an hour of when you make it. I often "spice" my juices up with 1/2 of an organic lemon (unpeeled) or a thumb sized piece of ginger.

Cookware: Do not use aluminum. Stainless steel or glass is fine. Non-stick is OK but throw it away the minute the bottom starts to become chipped. I end up buying two or three non-stick frying pans per year. My Vita-Mix blender is indispensible but expensive. Get one for $400 if you can fit it into your budget. My Cuisinart is useful and my crockpot is irreplaceable. Costco sells a nice one for about $40. I have a Miracle Juicer but a Champion would be excellent. My large Cuisinart electric skillet is also indispensible. I use it all the time.

Smoothies: I am a big fan of smoothies, because they are simple and nutritious. I sell a couple of good protein powders. To that you add your water, berries and maybe other stuff like vitamin C and flax and you are ready to drink your breakfast or your lunch.

Fruits: All fruits, as long as they are organic, are acceptable. Have at least 3 servings per day. Dried fruits like raisins or craisins are really like candy, so they are barely OK. Use them for a special treat. Canned fruit is not OK. Frozen organic (Cascadian Farms is a good brand) , especially for smoothies, is fine.

Grains: This category includes amaranth, barley, buckwheat, corn, flax, rice,millet, oats, quinoa, rye , wheat and teff. I personally think that we should eat grains only on special occasions, then only non-gluten grains, like brown rice, quinoa and millet. Do not eat any grains on a daily basis. They will make you fat and raise your insulin levels. Hot cereals: Occasionally, make yourself steel cut oats (takes about 1/2 hour to cook) or "Bob's" wheatless 8 grain.

Nuts: Nuts are wonderful. Eat them as often as you like. Organic of course. And no peanuts. Walnuts are great for the heart and almonds are very alkaline. Brazil nuts, cashews, macademia, pecans, hazelnuts - are all great sources of vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and good quality protein. Nuts should be eaten raw, unroasted without salt or sugar.

Seeds: Ditto. Sunflower, pumpkin and sesame are all rich in protein, just like nuts. Flax is my favorite seed. Make this for yourself several mornings per week: Grind 3T golden flax seeds in your dedicated grinder and add to 1 C of non-fat milk (or a nut/rice milk) in the blender with a few ice cubes. Blend well and drink.

Beans: Beans are excellent. Rich in fiber, proteins, minerals, trace elements and vitamins. Here is a wonderful and easy bean recipe: Place two cups of any kind of dried beans in a covered oven-proof casserole. Add 10 C. water, 1 t. sea salt, 3T olive oil, 1/8 t. cayenne and a 5" piece of Kombu seaweed. Cover the pot and cook all day at 200 degrees - about 8 hours. Make this "pot 'o beans" at least twice a month.

Regarding Animal protein

1) Eat organic eggs and don't worry about cholesterol. Despite the bad publicity of eggs and cholesterol, 1 egg per day is not too much. Poached or soft boiled is best

2) I have found that a couple of slices of Applegate Farms turkey bacon is great with the eggs. Buy a couple packs and freeze by the 2-slices. This way you can have it available for breakfast without much defrosting hassle.

3) Dairy Products: Eat as much fermented dairy as you like - like kefir and yogurt. A good brand is Stoneyfield Farms lowfat plain yogurt. Don't eat the flavored as there is too much sugar. There is a lot of controversy about milk. That it causes cancer and actually leeches calcium from your bones etc. Taking everything into consideration, I don't think that it is particularly good for you and many people have a subtle allergy to milk. It also causes mucus, sinus pressure, asthma and infections. If you are going to drink milk, non-fat milk is the healthiest because of the lack of homogenization. Raw milk is great, but we can't get it here in Colorado. Cheese is OK in moderation. Try to eat sheep and goat cheese if at all possible.

Avoid margarine and anything that has the words partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated in it. These are very dangerous and damaging fats called transfats. They can and will cause heart disease and kill you. They are present in all commercially made doughnuts, crackers, cookies, pastries, deep-fat fried foods, potato and corn chips, imitation cheeses and confectionery fats found in frosting and candies.

4) Seafood: As mentioned before ,because of mercury contamination, eat only a couple of times a week. Avoid all raw fish because of serious problems with bacterial and parasitical contamination. Avoid "bottom feeders" like lobster, shrimp, crab,clams and catfish they are highly polluted . Although "farmed" fish used to be less desirable than "wildcaught", I believe that it is now the best to have on a regular basis, because of our contaminated ocean waters.

5) Poultry: Only organic chicken and turkey. Eat several times a week.

6) Red meat: Organic beef only, preferably grass-fed. New Zealand lamb is usually safe to eat even if it doesn't say organic. Eat red meat a couple of times a week.

7) Pork, the "other white meat". Avoid pork. Pigs are very dirty. They eat anything including human feces and since they don't sweat or have very good elimination systems, their flesh retains much of the putrid waste. They also harbor the very dangerous trichinosis parasite. Since ham is pork in a pink outfit, don't eat it either. (Did you know that the cellular structure of arthritic deposits of a human are the same as those found in a pig? Did the pig get it from humans? Or did we get it from the pig?)

Desserts: Rarely and on your birthday. Here's a good dessert for you: Stoneyfield low-fat yogurt sweetened with Stevia Plus and vanilla extract. Here's another good dessert: Blend in your Cuisinart 4 cut-up frozen bananas, 3 T. unsweeted cocoa powder, a bit of water just to be able to mix it all up and some maple syrup for sweetening. Serve in parfait glasses with fresh raspberries.

Beverages: No tap water, please. Filtered pure water should be your main beverage and lots of it. Drink 1 liter per 50 pounds of weight. Avoid alcohol and carbonated beverages and all synthetically sweetened and flavored junk juices. Eliminate coffee. Black and green tea is OK in moderation. The "grain" coffees you find in the health food stores are fine, also.

Sweeteners: Mostly use low-glycemic xylitol and stevia. Get rid of saccharin and nutrasweet.

Salt: Good for you in moderation. Use Celtic Sea Salt. It has all the 70 minerals that has been processed out of the Mortons. There are also harmful additives and chemicals in ordinary salt.

Oils: Olive oil is great for an all-purpose oil. to cook with and for salad dressings. For a change from olive oil salad dressings, I also make blend out of almond, avocado and apricot oils (1/3 to 1/3 to 1/3). It is lighter than olive oil and goes well with lemon. I also use ghee and coconut oil for cooking.

Lastly: Avoid the microwave!

Sample shopping list

Shop primarily on the perimeter of the store. Buy lots of vegetables like broccoli, carrots, zucchini, winter squash, onions, garlic, celery, brussel sprouts, peppers, leeks, the leafy greens like chard, spinach and kale, radishes, daikon, cucumber, cabbage, red and green. Buy greens for salads like romaine, watercress, radicchio, endive and arugula and sprouts. Yams, avocados, fruits like apples, pears, oranges, lemons, watermelon (organic only) berries, peaches.

Buy sunflower and pumpkin seeds, almond and walnuts.

Short grain brown rice or brown basmati, quinoa and steel cut oats.

Organic fish, beef, chicken and lamb. Chicken sausage is good, too.

Almond butter, tahini

Organic mayonnaise, mustards, ketchup

Rice and almond milks

For treats try rice cakes, rice crackers and rye crisp. Eat with almond butter, tahini or hummus.

For condiments and for a little fun on your plate, try chutney (make your own), Braggs Aminos, tamari, nori flakes, dulce, gomasio, ume plum and brown rice vinegar, Bubbies saurkraut and dill pickles, Kimchee

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