Eating with awareness

"If we eat wrongly, no doctor can cure us;
If we eat rightly, no doctor is needed."

--- Victor G. Rocine

Good eating habits are a strong foundation to good health. It's important to eat what you like and also to experiment with a variety of new foods.

You also need to set aside enough time to sit down and enjoy your meal. Don't get into the trap of eating in front of the open refrigerator, rushing down the street or driving the car.

Eating slowly will allow your body's natural enzymatic mechanism to tell you when you have had enough. When you eat with awareness, you enjoy food more fully.

You notice how food affects you and you are less likely to overeat.

Eating with awareness also means eating whole, pure, natural foods. Without the proper balance of a variety of nutrient-rich foods on a continuing basis, good health cannot be achieved and maintained.

Remember, if you neglect your health through poor eating habits, it spills over into every aspect of your life. Eating with awareness will make you aware of other aspects of your inner life, including your emotional and spiritual side.

The 5 Secrets for Healthier Living

1. Stop dieting! Find the cause of your imbalance
Most people believe that you lose weight by cutting calories or fat, eating only one meal a day, or only certain foods, or by starving yourself. Research tells us that the reason most diets don't work is because the body adjusts its energy requirements by modifying cortisol levels as it loses weight. The secret is in your metabolism, or how your body converts food into energy or fat.

= Eat and drink only those things that are healthy for your body
= Decrease your sugar intake and eat low glycemic foods.

Despite all opinions on diets, there are few basic principles of human physiology that apply to all of us. Any healthy diet must be based around healthy blood sugar control and proper glycemic control. This means maintaining blood sugar levels. Ideally, you should eat many small meals a day made up of foods that are low glycemic foods, that nourish your body and help maintain and control your insulin and glucagon levels.

2. Eat 5 small meals a day (300 to 500 calories)
Eat large meals in the morning and smaller meals at night to improve your hormone and immune system. Combine protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats. Drink enough clean water, equivalent to half your weight in ounces daily. Water increases nerve conduction, improves digestive function, helps eliminate toxins in your body, and reduces your risk of colon cancer by 45% and breast cancer by 79%. A 2% drop in water in your body is enough water loss to create a foggy shot-term memory, give you trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on a computer screen or printed page. Drink a minimum 8 to 16 ounces of water when you get up in the morning and always drink purified, well, or spring water. Avoid drinking tap water.

3. Breathe
Take deep breaths often. This is excellent for the lymphatic system (circulating immune system) and clears out toxins from your body. Deep breathing will reset your nervous system.

4. Get sunlight
Absorb sunlight at least 20 to 30 minutes daily on as much skin as possible, preferably between the hours of 9 and 11 in the morning. Sun activates Vitamin D, which in turn activates all other nutrients in the body.

5. Get adequate rest and recovery time
Go to sleep by 10 PM to activate your anti-aging hormones and repair your body and mind. According to the American Sleep Disorders Association, 68% of Americans suffer from insomnia. If your hormones are balanced, you burn fat through the night. If cortisol levels are too high, you can't shut down your body and mind. Progesterone helps to turn you body off mentally and physically. Melatonin keeps you asleep so you can rebuild and repair growth hormones (anti-aging) produced during sleep.