What I choose to eat every day is the foundation on which I build my achievements.
I've been working to find the right healthy diet for about a year now. Everyone knows there are a dizzying array of suggestions about what to do, some good and most bad. Find a trustworthy source and listen to their advice. Sources I subscribe to:
- The Health Ranger, Natural News, Healing Food Reference, and The Raw Food World
- Boku Superfood, Living Fuel, Navitas Naturals, and Nutiva
- Big Think, SENS Foundation, Singularity Hub, Methuselah Foundation, Kurzweil AI
- EWG's Skin Deep Cosmetics Database
What I've learned:
Filling my body with empty calories only makes it want more. This is the junk food diet. It is certainly addictive. Similarly, filling my body with nutrient dense, raw foods provides what it needs. I don't feel hungry and am satisfied with fewer calories. I've found Boku Superfood yields the best results for me. It contains an incredible number of healthy, organic, raw plants that would take me days to find and prepare on my own:
http://bokusuperfood.com/ingredients/super-food/
It's about weight optimization:
For some this means losing weight, and for me it means gaining weight. Eating nutrient dense foods will have that effect. That plus the right exercise routine and the body will naturally go to it's optimal weight. What's important to understand? Focus on calorie restriction with optimal nutrition (CRON). I'm a big supporter of choosing a Vegan diet. It's important to feed the body just what it needs without much excess. This is the method for longevity.
Diet and exercise:
Most diets do more harm than good by causing muscle wasting and malnutrition. Building muscle and getting proper nutrition is key to having a higher resting caloric burn rate and allow for more vigorous exercise too! It's a self supporting cycle where exercise, proper nutrition, and recovery time allows the body to build muscle, which burns more calories, which allows for a higher level of exercise and nutrition.
There's a reason body builders don't go hungry, their muscles require a lot of fuel. Though, that type of eating doesn't support longevity. There's a healthy middle ground. And don't neglect recovery time! Most people exercise too long or too frequently. It's the last set that counts, so make it a good one! For strength training, increase exercise intensity each time but not duration. Intensity can be measured as the weight times reps. It's the total work of the exercise in a period of time. How hard are you working the muscles? You must force them to grow stronger by increasing the intensity of each workout. This is good news because workouts are short, muscles grow bigger, results provide motivation, and health improvements will come.
Cardio is the same, try to run or bike farther in the same amount of exercise time, but don't attempt any increase in intensity until fully recovered from the last attempt. Recovery times vary per individual, but it can be a week between sessions when first starting out. Later it might be as short as two days if you're body heals quickly. Life is hard, we must expend energy and will power to get what we want. We also need to know when to take it easy to achieve optimal gains.
Supplements:
I don't take many supplements because the nutrient dense food already has most of what I need. However, I do supplement with 6,000 IU of vitamin D3 on days when I'm not going to be in the sunshine (here's why), a high qualtiy fish oil from Living Fuel, and an easy to absorb protein powder with all the essential ammino acids like hemp protein or Boku Super Protein.
I believe we should eat things that are not processed, pesticide-free, organic, and raw as much as possible. For Americans, it can be very difficult to find food without dairy or cheese in the ingredient list. If you're having trouble finding stuff, shop around the edges of the grocery store where it tends to be more raw and less processed. This is what nature intended. Salt and sugar can be difficult ingredients to reduce as well. Eating Vegan naturally accomplishes this, but watch out not to eat too much fruit. It's important to keep from exposing your body to unnecessary glycemic responses.
What I typically eat daily:
- Bob's Red Mill Organic High Fiber Cereal with organic blueberries, organic cinnamon, Boku Super Food, ground moon cycle seeds, chia seeds, almond milk, and orange juice.
- More Boku Super Food with hemp protein and aloe, Organic hummus, whole wheat bread, curry powder with extra turmeric and black pepper (why?), and coconut oil.
- Some of these: broccoli, sprouts, watercress, tomatoes, onions, garlic, beans, lentils, walnuts, green tea, coffee, kale, spinach, etc.
