In some cultures, people thrive on vegetarian or near-vegetarian diets. These people are extremely healthy, with little or no degenerative disease. This led many enthusiasts to proclaim that the only healthy diet is a vegetarian one; however, there are other cultures, equally disease-free, who live almost entirely on animal foods. The common thread to both dietary extremes is what they leave out!
By Janice Buckler
Both groups get plenty of exercise and eat only natural foods, i.e., no refined sugar/flour, soft drinks, artificial fats/colorings/flavorings, or preservatives. If we were to exercise heavily and skip the processed foods, we would probably be as healthy as they are, no matter what else we ate.
The following guidelines provide a plan for a healthy, long-term diet:
• Drink half your weight in ounces of purified water daily.
• Eat four (4) cups of veggies each day, with two (2) of those being green vegetables (spinach, lettuce, celery, green peppers, green beans, etc.).
• Eliminate all refined sugars, refined flours, alcohol, coffee, tea, chocolate, tobacco and processed meats.
• Consume concentrated sugars separately, i.e., not with proteins or fats at the same meal. Examples of concentrated sugars include white sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, corn syrup, molasses, honey, maple syrup, sucrose, glucose, fructose, dextrose and malto-dextrin.
• Ideal fat sources are butter, olive oil, peanut oil, fish oils, and the naturally-occurring fats found in poultry, lean meats, raw nuts/seeds and avocado.
• Regularly eat fermented foods (yogurt, sauerkraut, tofu, miso, and kefir) to provide the body with the beneficial microflora we all need.
• Most meals should contain high-quality protein (eggs, fish, poultry, raw milk/cheese and/or balanced legume-grain/seed/nut combinations).
• Choose organic foods whenever possible.