My Views On Eating Well

Choosing a nutritionist to work with can be a challenge. The media is flooded with ideas of what is “good” and “bad” in the realm of food.  Many of these ideas seem to change from one week to the next.

Let’s face it, we are often inundated with fads. I think back to what I have seen as the trends in the last 30+ years of work in this field — some are laughable, some were and are down right harmful.

For this reason it is important to have a clear picture of the nutritionist’s approach to nourishment.

A bit about me -

I am an AOBTA® certified instructor and practitioner of Asian medicine* and Holistic Nutrition. My foundations in food come from my upbringing on a small, productive family farm with a lot of food diversity, my chosen career in Asian medicine, and my passion for food as the foundation for living well and healing. Asian medicine’s energetic understanding of foods and herbs is simple and profound, nuanced and creates a holographic understanding of food and nourishing self while working well with western nutrition’s understanding of food and healing – if we let it. In my 30+ years of teaching and practice, I have maintained a diversified clientele, working with people in all stages and stages of life. I’ve been an active part of many of my client’s and their family’s healthcare for years.

The food we choose to ingest can be our best source of vitality and healing or our biggest self hindering process.

I do not believe there is one “right” diet. We are not static beings and our needs vary based on our age, constitution, gender and general health. The digestive system – ruled by the Earth Element and its organs the Stomach and Spleen – loves the middle ground, stability and integrity – the center path. It is the source of all energy and healing in the body so it is always central to my treatments and focus in treatment and just living. If you have a very weak or compromised digestion, regularity and routine in eating habits are perhaps, the most important habits you can have. I am also acutely aware of the state of health of our planet and our food industries. Food sustainability is a primary concern of mine and it is reflected in my recommendations.

*I use the term Asian medicine rather than Chinese medicine as I acknowledge the medicine’s foundations in China but I have heavy influences from the Japanese and Korean culture’s usage in my personal practice and teaching.

The following are my broad recommendations for eating well – meeting you where you are at.

These are the central path recommendations – home base - if you will. The starting point for anyone and where we return to first if we need to regroup and reassess. From this frame work, nutritional recommendations are then modified based on the person’s specific needs. The nutritional needs of an elder, compared to a young athlete, or a client undergoing chemo, or a woman in perimenopause can vary vastly.

A good nutritionist should meet the client where they are at and help them learn themselves and how to adapt their diets as needed taking into account history, age, current state of health or disharmony and more.

Eat whole foods

If grandma wouldn’t recognize it – reconsider and eat something else. Okay, honestly, my grandmother wouldn’t recognize much of the Asian and Mediterranean food I love – but she would have recognized them as veg, fruits, grains and meats. Our modern diets are plagued with foods stripped of their nutrients. They have been broken down, fractionalized and then reformed into something totally different.  Food has been dyed, bleached, flavored and preserved with chemicals. These foods are also usually “made” in more than one location. It is not surprising that many of our children have problems recognizing whole foods – what a potato, onion or pea even looks like. If you have problems imaging a food in its original form or it sports a horrendously bright color or smell, steer clear if possible. Want to really clear it up?  Go through your kitchen and clear out processed and refined foods. Meander through the farmer’s market, look and explore unfamiliar whole foods.

Know your body

Our bodies are amazing and dynamic. Asian medicine does not view health as a static state, rather it is one with ups and downs. We shift and change in different life stages, ages and situations. Health as an overall state of well being (in body and mind) that is able to handle the impact of life and situations and then bounce back. This is highly individualized; some of us are born physically strong, some are born with constitutional weaknesses.  What matters is what you do with what you have. My goal is to help people recognize a person’s individual state and to improve on that, no matter how strong or weak. There is always room for improvement.

Know your attitude

Food should nourish us to the very deepest level.  Eat with joy and gratitude whether you are eating a gourmet meal, a simple carrot or eating fast food. Harbored thoughts of anger, guilt or disgust while eating can block your ability to nourish yourself. Even if you are eating a meal that you might consider “bad”, it is better to resolve to enjoy it – for your body’s sake. I often work with people with orthorexia. These are people who have become so obsessed with eating ‘correctly’ they have lost the ability to enjoy food. They have created a highly controlled and restrictive diet that allows for no deviation. In the process, they may loose the ability to find joy in nourishment and community that come with eating with others. Understanding your likes and dislikes would fall into this category. For example - I don’t like standard broccoli that you find in stores. It’s a beautiful, healthy food, but it’s not essential to have in my diet. There are many other green vegetables that can please my palate and cover my nutritional needs. Get creative, find other options. When working with kids, presenting foods in a positive light is especially important. Nutritional needs must be met, but in a way that encourages a healthy relationship to eating and self nourishment rather creating habits of fear, trauma, or hate around food - but that’s for another blog.

Don’t skip meals – unless you are choosing to fast or cleanse

One of the most common recommendations I end up making is to not skip meals. Our bodies need energy to run on and that energy comes from the foods we eat. If meals are skipped we run the risk of blood sugar swings. Choosing to cleanse, fast or clear out certain foods for a period of time can be exceptionally helpful on both the physical and the spiritual level. However, if you’ve never cleansed or fasted before seek wise guidance that takes into consideration your current health, constitution and goals. Wild dieting and cleansing patterns are one of the biggest causes of Spleen and Stomach Qi depletion I’ve seen. The Earth element and its organs, the Stomach and Spleen don’t like radical food shifts and fad diets. Many clients do best with eating within an hour of rising, and eating every 3 hours. Breakfast, a snack, lunch, a snack and the old dinner. Yes, there are numerous fad diets out there, and I can find truth and possible benefits in all of them. The hierarchy of questions that goes through my mind is -

1 – What is the intention of the client’s desire to do this fast or cleanse?

2 – What is this fast? Is it extremely limiting or does it rule out an entire category of food? (Yes, those diets that eliminate complex carbohydrates and fibrous foods will come around to kick your Liver enzymes in the booty – please be careful).

3 – Does this client have any particular health issues that make this diet inadvisable? For example – someone who is very Blood deficient should not fast. Same goes for a nursing mother.

4 – How long do they plan on using the fast for? Some cleanses and fasts are fine for short periods of times, but I don’t advise being on any diet that eliminates entire categories of whole foods for long periods of time. This has become an extreme problem in the generation of carbohydrate confusion and all carbs are evil. Everyone started tossing out all whole grains, lentils, legumes and whole roots – ah! Complex carbohydrates are not evil. They regulate blood sugar, provide long standing strength, keep the muscles tone and warm and stabilize the core.

Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper

Remember this one? From an Asian medicine perspective our ability to digest food is at its peak in the morning. From the hours of  7-11 am, during Spleen and Stomach energy times, to be specific. When we skip meals our blood sugar fluctuates which may lead to more health problems including diabetes. When you eat breakfast you utilize the energy from that food to make it through your day, rather than stealing energy needs. Skipping meals also will not help with weight loss – many studies agree, eating regular and appropriate sized meals makes for better and more sustained weight loss if needed. If weight loss is not a concern, regular and stable meals continue to allow the body to heal, strengthen and maintain vitality. Yay!

80%-20% rule

Meaning most of the time, eat well. This will allow you room for play 20% of the time. By increasing the quality and nutrition food in your diet you will naturally start moving towards greater health. Likewise, it can be detrimental to our well-being if we are so rigid and strict that we don’t allow ourselves to enjoy another’s cooking a bit of decadence here and there.  What I have observed with clients that as they practice this rule, their choices in foods continue to refine so that even in their 20% time they make better and better choices. If you can’t swing 80/20, start with 70/30 or even 55/45…simply start to improve. It’s a process.

Eat mostly vegetables

Lots of them. I recommend people eat 7-9 servings a day or about 65% of your daily intake. What’s a serving size? About 1 cup of raw or 1/2 cup cooked. Why?  Besides nutrients, fiber and vitamins vegetables alkalize the blood. No, I’m not saying you should eat 3 cups of mashed potatoes a day. Enjoy variety–roots, squashes, leaves, stems and stalks – which all provide different energetics and healing values. Another way to look at this fill 1/2 of your plate with vegetables and divide the other 1/2 equally between your protein source and whole grain or starch. Vegetables and grains are also our primary sources of fiber which is essential for good bowel health. In the big picture, reducing our consumption of animal proteins is paramount in protecting our planet’s ecosystem, helping to fight global warming and create food stability. The resources used to raise animals for our excessive consumption is significant.

Chew your food

It’s true, digestion begins in the mouth with an enzyme called salivary amalyse. When you take the time to chew your food well, your digestion improves and decrease problems like gas, bloating, acid reflux and the sensation of food ‘just sitting’ in the stomach. Eating slower is beneficial for those who want to eat less, as well as, those who might need to gain. The process of chewing also slows us down, enabling us to make the most out of the nutrients we are taking in.

Good, the bad and the…  

“Red meat and carbs are bad, right?” I am often asked if one food is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ – but there really isn’t such a thing as bad foods when you are looking at whole, real foods. What matters is your relationship to a particular food and whether it is appropriate for your needs. A little red meat may not be ideal for someone with high cholesterol and high blood pressure, yet it may be very beneficial for a very cold, weak and anemic person. Another example is wheat. Wheat isn’t a bad food, however, energetically it is cold and cloying and a high allergen. It has been overused in our diets and much of the ingested wheat has been heavily sprayed or engineered. All of these components mean that people have become sensitive to or are allergic to wheat. However, some without sensitivities may benefit from its cooling principles – if the wheat is used in its purest of forms.  Some foods – like winter squashes – can be eaten by nearly everyone. These are often foods in the Earth element category and are neutral in temperature and nature. In my years of practice, I’ve never had a case of a client who is allergic to winter squash. While foods with strong energetics are often overused like soy and coffee. These may need to be removed or moderated in the diet. Again, enjoy variety, try something new. One of the biggest contributors to clearing up food sensitivities and allergies is to gradually increase variety and reach for foods that are no longer common in the diet.

Eat local, organic and sustainable whenever possible

Whenever possible, I try to eat what is available around me and in season. This helps support my local community, encourages good farming and husbandry (raising animals) and helps reduce environmentally unsound habits of food production including use of resources for shipping and pesticides.  This also aids your body like only live, nutrient dense food can. Do I eat out of season? Yes, sometimes. Do I eat imported?  Yes, sometimes. However, these are the exceptions rather than the rule in my book. For example, I live in Idaho. We have no ocean nearby, to bring in fresh seafood uses a lot of resources. I take this as a personal choice to consciously limit my intake of items that have to be rushed here.

Eat with the season

It is a tremendous benefit to our body and mind to eat with the seasons. Eating with the season supports the local community and growers, the food of each season helps your body adapt the condition of the season. For example, a coconut, pineapple ambrosia might be lovely if you are in a hot country, but it’s too cooling if it subzero outside. Perhaps consider a lovely root and mushroom stew. Each season has its own bounty, benefits and patterns of disharmony. Wait –  5 Seasons? Yep, Chinese medicine has 5 seasons - Spring, Summer, Late Summer ( actually a buffer between each seasonal shift), Autumn and Winter.

Eat with people you like

This is partly an attitude thing, but contention or uncomfortable situations will stagnate the Qi slowing digestion.  Never piss off the cook, and you might need to turn off the tv or put down your phone so you can simply eat.

Keep your Spleen warm

Our digestive systems are a fire which can be snuffed out by extremely cold or raw foods.  For best absorption eat your food warmed up. A little raw here and there for those with strong digestion and during the summer is fine unless you have a specific disease where raw food is contraindicated.

Have a seat

When you eat, take the time to sit, taste your food, savor it and be thankful.  We’ve lost this simple habit that helps tremendously.  When you want your body to digest food to transform it to vital energy–give it the opportunity to do so.  Enjoy pleasant company, maybe go for a gentle stroll, turn off the TV.  The Qi will flow into the digestive track.  Remember grace and gratitude.

Get the package deal

Personalize

This is where the Asian medicine and food energetics shine.  Five clients can walk in with the same western diagnosis – let’s say, high blood pressure. Each of these five may come out of my office with a different nutritional recommendation from the others. In Asian medicine, there are several patterns that can give rise to high blood pressure, that we see as a result of functional disharmony in the body.  One client may be cold, have a pale/purple hue to the tongue and a slow pulse while another’s tongue is dark/red, a rapid pulse and they feel hot all the time. These are two very different patterns in one tradition of medicine (Asian) but are assessed as the same pattern of disease in another medicine’s (western tradition). Both approaches are valued, and treatment should be honed to the client. Each of these clients would leave with differing nutritional recommendations.  Tongue, pulse, Q & A, and other assessment skills will help me identify and layout a plan that is individualized.

Here’s to a healthier you!

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