Dietary Approach

What is a sensible approach to diet? This is one of the most common questions that a naturopath is asked. In the modern world, the diet of humans has changed a great deal, even from only fifty years ago. In addition, the way that we produce that food is also quite different.

The best advice I can give is:

Eat organic food where possible.

There is evidence that pesticide ingestion is detrimental to health both directly as the result of the chemical and indirectly as a result of the effect of pesticides on the nutritional value of the food. AND, there is a lot about pesticide and herbicide use that we DO NOT KNOW, which does not allow us to make intelligent choices about what we consume and what we do not. Do not assume that because we cannot make an obvious, directly causal link between one pesticide and one disease or symptom that there are not other relationships that exist -- I think that this is a near-sighted way of looking at research. There are at least 15,000 legal additives to our food.

Be aware that different types of produce vary considerably in the amount of pesticide that is used on it. For example, grapes are a highly sprayed crop. Grapes are often consumed in their dried form as raisins &endash; this just concentrates whatever residues have remained in the original produce. Another very highly sprayed crop is coffee &endash; yes, whatever may be said about coffee's detrimental effects on health aside, it's high chemical treatment is not in your best interest. If you're going to drink coffee, make it organic. For more information, check out Organic Food.

You should eat produce that is locally grown if possible, and eat foods that are in season.

Why? Because the farther away the food is grown, the more likely that it was picked before it was ripe and then required artificial ripening. This not only affects the taste of the produce, but also decreases the nutritional value of it. The truth is, the best nutritional value is found in vine-ripened fruit and vegetables. If produce tastes great, it is at its nutritional maximum. Compare for example, strawberries. We have all had those hard, slightly green-at-the-top strawberries that taste a bit, well, tart and bland. And we have all had those juicy, oozing-red-juice strawberries that are sweet and soft and perfect at the height of summer. The difference between these two is usually that one set of strawberries has been picked early, artificially ripened, and the other has been picked at its prime.

Eat things that you can identify and pronounce.

It may seem as though this is an overly simplified rule, but it allows you to eliminate many of the additives and preservatives which really should be avoided. When I give a patient diet ideas, I often tell them to avoid things that come in boxes, because those are the types of products most likely to contain the "unpronouncables", and this approach can enable a person to make a start of eliminating unnecessary items from the diet. Packaging can make a huge difference in the quality of a food. For instance, getting dark berries fresh frozen is excellent because it makes the bioflavenoids in the berries more available when you eat them. (And luckily, you can often get them organic, too.) In any case, read the label and if there are things you can't identify, just don't eat it. (Watch this space for more info on additives!)

Don't eat hydrogenated oils.

This is a really huge topic area, but the crux of the issue is this: when you see that hydrogenated oil is in a product, you know that the oil has been artifically saturated with hydrogen and heat. This is done to increase the stability of the oil so that it is more solid and lasts longer in packaging. Unfortunately, what this also does is gives your body oils that do not occur normally in the oil known as trans-fatty acids, which refers to the arrangement of the carbon double bonds on the carbon chain of the oil. There is evidence that these trans-fatty acids are really detrimental to health. One of the most commonly used oils treated in this way is margarine, which is counterintuitive for most people because margarine is marketed as a healthier product than butter. This is actually untrue. (Take a look at Facts About Fat for more details.)

Eat four different vegetables each day, one of which should be red or orange in color.

The color or a vegetable often indicates what the most important nutrients are contained within it. Dark green vegetables are high in calcium, iron, and potassium, while red and orange vegetables are high in Vitamins A and C and beta carotene. Try to eat different vegetables each day, including the full range of colors. There are a lot of vegetables that are available to experiment with! Try spinach, chard, kale, collard, all sorts of squashes, carrots, peppers, red cabbage, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, yams, lentils parsnips, onions, eggplant, shallots, turnips and zucchini. Eating just iceburg lettuce and the odd tomato will not be adequate for anyone's nutritional needs!

Eat beans and a variety of whole grains.

Beans are a great protein source and fiber source which is a staple in many parts of the world. There is a stunning selection of different flavors and textures to beans and a number of ways to prepare them. Although using dry beans requires an overnight soak, there are organic, canned beans that do not need soaking before use. Be adventurous and try black-eyed peas, black beans, flageolets, lentils, kidney beans, pintos, lima beans . . . the possibilities are tastily endless.

Western diets are also rarely subject to a great variety of grains. We are often limited to refined white wheat flour with the occasional scoop of bran thrown in , bleached white rice, and some corn (particularly when we eat Mexican food!). But there is an impressive variety of whole grains available to us. Start by eating bread that has mostly whole grains in it. Because of the process of breadmaking, a baker must use a high gluten flour for the texture of bread that we are used to, so most breads will contain some amount of wheat flour to maintain texture. However, there are many breads which incorporate whole grains and whole grain flours into the mix, and these make up in taste for what they lose in texture.

Think about including the many varieties of rice that the world has to offer: basmati, wild rice, violet rice, whole rice (which is brown because the rice bran is left on). How about amaranth (an Aztec grain with a grassy flavor), or bulgur, kasha, cornmeal, couscous, quinoa, oats, millet or barley? If you've never tried any of these, including them in your diet could provide culinary delight.

Limit your intake of meat.

Animal meat is a very concentrated food source of protein and fat. It accounts for about 40% of the saturated fat and cholesterol in a Western diet. As we have become more affluent, meat, once a food only of the wealthy, has become one of our staple foods. However, there are many health consequences to this development. High saturated fat contributes to obesity, risk of stroke, risk of heart disease and atherosclerosis. In addition, animals raised for meat are often injected continuously with antibiotics (because they are usually kept in close quarters where infections spread rapidly and where the health of the animals is compromised because they do not exercise or forage for food) and with steroid hormones (to enable the farmer to fatten them up more quickly so that they may be sold sooner). We do not know about how this will affect us long-term by consuming the meat that is produced in this manner, but because it is unknown, I prefer the conservative view of staying away from it. Free-range and hormone-free meats are available in most grocery stores, and from independent farmers through farmer's markets and co-ops.

The category of meat INCLUDES all beef, pork, poultry, and fish. This is important to understand, since most people assume that the only "bad" meat is beef. This is not true. All meats, in excess, will produce similar effects, although some comment about fish should be mentioned here. Cold-water fishes like salmon, mackerel, cod, and halibut are unique because they contain essential fatty acids which can prevent and reverse the effects of saturated fats. However, this is less true of farmed fish, which are generally fed with corn-based feeds, just like cows and pigs. This has an effect on the fatty acid balance in the fish which decreases the amount of essential fatty acids that we eat fish for in the first place. Salmon, for example, when farmed to be sold at the grocery store, must be dyed to appear as pink as wild salmon. The pinkness of the salmon is an indicator of its' fatty acid content. So eat wild fish, and make it the most common meat in your diet.

Restrict your intake of dairy products.

Dairy products are very concentrated sources of nutrition. Milk is, however, designed for baby mammals who are growing and require that type of nutritional support. Not only that, but milk qualities vary from mammal to mammal, because milk is designed species-specific (cows milk is really meant for baby calves, for example). Adults are not really designed to adequately digest the milk products (the gut changes as we age, and the enzymes needed to digest milk decrease with time), and they have no need for the concentrated nutrients found in it. Yet dairy products are consumed with abandon! (Could this be one of the main reasons for obesity in our society?) It is very difficult to avoid dairy products because they are found in many products, and because most people equate milk and cheese with their only source of calcium. But this is a food myth. There are plenty of plant sources of calcium that we eat all of the time. In order to best absorb the calcium in vegetables, though, there must be a acidic environment - splash in a little lemon juice or vinegar and that will do the trick! Use molasses to sweeten and use nuts and seeds as a condiment and if you are following the other food rules on this page, you will ingest lots of calcium. There are also alternatives to cow dairy made from nuts and soy that are tasty and healthy.

If you follow these tips you are likely to be investing in a healthier future, a little bit every day!