What You Don't Eat Is More Important Than What You Do Eat
By Cliff baker
Do you ever feel bombarded with messages from the media telling you that such and such a food is bad for you? One day eggs are good for you, the next day they are bad for your heart. You need to eat more spinach, less fat, more protein, less sugar. So what is the bottom line? What are nutritionists trying to tell you? It all boils down to the fact that what you don't eat is more important than what you do eat.
Start From Zero:
The best way to figure out what you should be eating to live up to your highest health potential is to start from scratch. Sit down with a pad of paper and a pen and follow these simple steps. First, write down everything that you currently eat. This may take a while, but you will be able to see that most foods can be broken down into a few simple categories at their basic ingredients:
Now take out a new sheet of paper and add only the items that fall under the category of fruits and vegetables. This is what is called starting from zero. You take out everything that does not contribute to your health and add back those items that you know are good for you.
Why Fruits and Vegetables?
The governments of the world recommend that you eat between 5 to 10 fruits and vegetables every day. This recommendation is a great one and it has helped dozens of people loose weight and become healthier. The problem with it is that in order to eat 5 to 10 fruits and vegetables a day, you will need to eliminate other snacks or types of food. Have you ever tried to sit down and eat 10 apples? Or 10 bananas? You are not going to
be hungry for at least 5 or 6 hours if you do that.
It's no wonder that continuing to eat the way you always did and trying to add more fruits and vegetables is going to fail. It is only by eliminating the unhealthy or extraneous foods that you will be able to incorporate the recommended amount of healthful produce.
The Building Blocks of Health
Think of this exercise as a way to build up your health, starting from the base. By eliminating meat, dairy and aggravating grains from your diet you prepare your body for proper nutrition. You allow yourself to cleanse and you provide your body with all the enzymes, the minerals and the vitamins that your body requires for proper functioning.
Looking at the new list of healthy foods, you might see that it needs to be improved upon a bit. Why not add some new and exotic fruits and vegetables that you never tried before? Add more healthy grains in the form of brown rice, quinoa, barley and buckwheat if you find you need something denser.
Give Yourself a New Start
By starting fresh you give your body a break and a chance to rejuvenate itself. If you decide that you would like to add some of the things from the original list back into your diet, do so only 30 days after this exercise. Then watch to see how your body reacts to this newly added food. If you don't experience any side effects then you can continue to eat it, once again. Otherwise you have proof that it was never that good for you in the first place.
