More 'do' than 'don't'

With so many stories in the media telling us what not to eat or drink, it's very difficult to determine what is actually good for us, or what we SHOULD be eating or drinking.

If you're a fussy eater, it's virtually impossible to eat a healthy, well balanced diet and when your working life brings a high stress load, then the low nutrient foods that you do eat, just exacerbates your problems.

Your hormones and sugar levels and therefore your moods become erratic and it's difficult to get through the day without feeling overwhelmed with various emotions as the day wears on and by the time you get home, you're too exhausted to do anything except grab a beer or a can of coke out of the fridge and snack on high sugar and high sodium snacks as you collapse on the couch.

If your life is busy, complex or complicated, where your time is limited for each of the duties that you have to perform during the day, plus you have to maintain a home, care for children, share yourself equally between a number of different people/jobs/locations, then generally speaking, taking care of yourself seems to slide very low down the priority list.

The trouble is, the longer you neglect your health, the more likely your body is going to break down with problems like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, hyper/hypothyroidism, cancers and even problems like headaches, joint pain and allergies, which disrupt your already full and busy life.

I was reading a story online the other day which surmised that the current generation of young people will die before their parents, because their diets are so full of sugars, chemical and synthetic additives, and are so lacking in vitamins, minerals and nutrients that their bodies are almost malnourished and chronic diseases will develop much earlier than in their parents or grandparents.

I was speaking to one of the checkout ladies at my local supermarket yesterday as she weighed and packed my shopping which consisted totally of fruit and vegetables, when she commented about how healthy my purchases were.

I told her about my new eating regime and what I had cut from my diet and she looked at me as if I was crazy and said "I thought about doing something like that .. but it means all you can basically eat, is fruit and vegetables and meat!!  I just couldn't do that!  And the other thing is, all that healthy stuff is so expensive!"

I replied "Well, yes, and so are all the medications that you'll be on for your high blood pressure and your diabetes and your thyroid condition."

"Oh God!" she said "That's already started for me!"

She is only in her late 30s.

So I thought maybe a list of 'do eats' instead of 'don't eats' would make it easier to look at making some dietary decisions.

• Chicken, turkey, veal, bacon, lamb, venison, rabbit, kangaroo, beef, fish and shellfish. 
• Asparagus, avocado, artichokes, brussel sprouts, carrots, spinach, celery, broccoli, zucchini, cabbage, capsicum, cauliflower, eggplant, onions, pumpkin, sweet potato, potato, beetroot, corn, beans, peas, turnips, parsnips, silverbeet, pak choy, bok choy, kale, lettuce, radish and cucumber.
• Apple, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, oranges, lemons, kiwi fruit, bananas, pawpaw, papaya, mango, tomato, grapes, lychee, plums, apricots, peaches, mulberries, passionfruit, figs, watermelon, guava, lime, raspberries, tangerine, rockmelon, rhubarb and any other fruit you can think of.
• Almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, pecans, pine nuts (which are not actually nuts), pumpkins seeds, sunflower seeds, macadamia nuts, walnuts and brazil nuts, sesame seeds, poppy seeds.
• Coconut oil, macadamia oil, avocado oil and butter.  Olive oil .. only used cold .. not for cooking.
• Soft cheeses, full cream milk, full cream cream, full cream plain yoghurt, greek yoghurt and butter.
• Eggs.
• Quinoa, rice, GF oats, rice bran, psyllium, linseed.
• Raw honey, pure maple syrup, coconut sugar, rapidura sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, shredded coconut, desiccated coconut, shaved coconut.
• Coconut water, coconut milk, coconut cream, coconut butter.
• Almond milk, rice milk.
• Quinoa flour, chick pea flour, potato starch, brown rice flour, tapioca flour, GF cornflour and almond flour (in moderation).
• Parsley, rosemary, basil, thyme, mint, dill, coriander, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, paprika, cayenne pepper, chilli, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper and any other herb or spice that you can think of.
• Water - lots of it.

Ok, that's off the top of my head and covers a lot!  I'm sure that I've also left a LOT off this list too. 

Of course, the other requirement is knowing how to cook .. or at least knowing how to read and follow a recipe.  I know some 30+ year olds who have never actually cooked a meal, other than toasting bread or putting frozen processed food into a microwave or conventional oven.

Think of it as a challenge!

I've learned to care about, and try to take charge of my own health because I want to be in my children's and my grandchildren's lives. I want to be around for a lot longer than my parents and I want to have a good quality of life.

That's important to me.

Nite all.