Food Therapy and Nutrition

Everything we put in our bodies is medicine. Everything we tell ourselves is medicine. How to eat, when to eat, how to prepare food and how to balance the energetics of food are just as important as what we eat and is based on each person’s constitution and present health.

Education and discussion around foods, trusting one’s own body over health fads and bringing awareness to our eating habits is significant to leading a healthy, long life.

During appointments, we can discuss which foods, medicinals, eating habits and supplements will assist with healing and protect health. Recommendations on which brands of supplements are most easily absorbed, talks about a plan for working new foods into the diet and answering questions about food and nutrition are part of our work together. 

How to Plan Your Meals

Shifting how and what you eat can feel intimidating, and it can be a slow process. One of the easiest ways to ensure you have the foods you would like to be eating around and in abundance so you don’t resort to snacking on foods you are trying to avoid is to plan ahead. Take an hour once or twice a week and think about what meals you want to eat for the week and what snacks you would like to have around. Make a list of meals and the ingredients you need before you go shopping. Consult recipes if you like to do that and make sure you’ll have what you need. There are lots of resources for healthy recipe ideas, whatever you are trying to eliminate or add to your diet. It’s helpful for some people to have a chart to fill in for the week

Basic Rules on Shopping for Healthy Food

The fewer ingredients the better. Preservatives, additives and processed ingredients with long names are difficult for the body to digest and have other negative health impacts. The more complicated (and numerous) the ingredients, the more work your body has to do to break them down. Ingredients are listed in order of how much the product contains. This is how companies get sneaky, including sugar by several names so they can be further down on the list. In general, the top three ingredients make up most of what you are eating. If you don’t recognize the name of something, it might be a tricky way the manufacturer is covering up for inclusion of something highly processed, sugary or just bad for you.

Whole, fresh foods grown in the same climate as the eater are always the best. Pesticide free and organic foods are less toxic for the body and the planet.

Many prepared and preserved foods contain high amounts of sugar because it is addictive and food companies know it. Click here to read more about sugar, substitutes for it, and nine reasons to avoid it .

Hormone and antibiotic-free meat! Farmers markets, local butcheries, small farms and natural food stores offer alternative meats. Americans consume more meat than they should on average, so if you can imagine eating less meat but making sure it is good quality, the price difference is not as significant. Plus, it is fresher, tastes better and generally involves better conditions for the animals. People don’t need hormones from the animals they eat to throw off their own delicate hormone balance! And this way you support farms that choose not to inject hormones and antibiotics into their animals, which inevitably get into our soil and water. Grass-fed beef and other red meat is far preferable as grain-fed animalsare often raised on GMO corn and soy, proven to cause health problems in humans.

An important note: A lot of healthy, organic, free-range, local food is expensive. It doesn’t feel logical that foods involving less processing that travel a shorter distance cost more money, but it is the current reality. Fortunately, most farmers’ markets and natural food stores accept food stamps. Grains, nuts and seeds in the bulk section of the grocery store can be cheaper and small amounts can be purchased. Eating with the seasons means eating foods that are often cheaper because of their abundance. You can use the scraps of meat and veggies that cannot be eaten to make great tasting stocks and soups. Cutting back on sugary foods means buying less of the foods you don’t need to be healthy, so you can spend money on the ones you do. Still, there is no question that cooking and eating well is a privilege.

Books

Digestive Health:

The Paleo Cure, Chris Kresser

Gut and Psychology Syndrome: Natural Treatment for Autism, Dyspraxia, ADD, Dyslexia, Depression, Schizophrenia by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride (also has recipes)

Digestive Wellness, Liz Lipsky fourth addition.

Healing with Whole Foods, Paul Pitchford (Chinese medical principles used, recipes)

Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar–Your Brain’s Silent Killers, David Perlmutter

The Second Brain: A Groundbreaking New Understanding of Nervous Disorders of the Stomach and Intestine, Michael Gershon

Sugar Blues, William Dufty

Healing Spices: How to Use 50 Everyday and Exotic Spices to Boost Health and Beat Disease by Bharat B. Aggarwal, PhD

Cook Books:

Good for Your Gut, Desiree Nielsen

Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon

Longevity: The Tao of Eating and Healing, Aileen Yaoh

Wild Fermentation and The Art of Fermentation, Sandor Katz

A Spoonful of Ginger, Nina Simonds

Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen, Yuan Wang

A Tradition of Soup, Teresa M. Chen

Chinese Medicine:

The Tao of Healthy Eating, by Bob Flaws

The Web that Has No Weaver, by Ted Kaptchuk

Wood Becomes Water: Chinese Medicine in Everyday Life, by Gail Reichstein