Eat Well To Be Well

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Consume Excess, Exude Deficiency

Within nutritional deficiency can be found excess. Unfortunately for a lot of Americans, our excess comes in the form of fats, sugars, highly refined products and a general lack of good nutrients. Only about a third of Americans eat foods from all the food groups on a regular basis.

We fill our plates with rich, greasy fried and fatty foods, sweets for dessert, and wash it all down with sugary and chemical-laden soft drinks or booze, while puffing on an after-dinner tobacco product. In this meal plan, where are the essential vitamins and minerals that are needed by our bodies in order to function properly and keep diseases at bay?

Therein lies the problem: with this much excess, our bodies go into overload and malfunction, resulting in deterioration of our interior systems. We become a sick organism rather than one that exudes vibrancy.

With excess comes health issues: arteries clog, blood pressure levels elevate, constipation develops, weight gets added to our frames. Not a pretty picture, is it? These issues can lead to medical interventions in the form of drugs and surgeries. We eat extremely wrong foods that do not supply nutrition, which causes extremely unhealthy medical conditions, which leads to extreme medical measures to try to clean up all of the damage.

Before it gets to the point of having as your only option such drastic measures as pills and surgery, try some softer remedies now. For excess, the main remedy is cleansing and purging. Bitter foods and herbs are used for this purpose. Foods such as legumes and grains, and vegetables such as radishes, horseradish, hot peppers, onions, leafy greens, mushrooms, asparagus, bell peppers, and celery, and some fruits such as citrus and bananas, can accomplish this cleansing. Eating these foods raw or lightly cooked is the most effective. For herbs, Echinacea and chamomile can contribute to the cleansing process. These herbs can be used as teas. For purging, add generous amounts of fruit to your diet and drink at least eight glasses of water a day. Most importantly, remove the causes of excess from your daily meal plan!

When excess has led to deficiency, you need to work in building with the cleansing, a process that takes a little time, but the reward is strength, stamina, and energy. If you feel run down, lethargic and just generally “not yourself”, you are in the zone of deficiency. To climb out of it, incorporate less bitter foods after using them to cleanse in exchange for foods such as brown rice, oats, millet, barley, soy, black beans, parsnips, rutabagas, winter squash, and add in nuts and seeds in moderation. For building strength, try sweet foods such as dates, yams, and molasses.

While the capability is in your hands, take the initiative by taking the measures needed to turn your plate around. Get rid of non-nutrient foods – they are not a friend to your body. Get acquainted with and embrace nutrient rich foods – they are like family to your internal organs.

Copyright 2006, Debra Augur, http://www.eat-well-to-be-well.com

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Do you Squidoo?

I have set up several Squidoo lenses, one of which is "Eat Well".

Please visit!

Monday, July 10, 2006

Life Span Show Stopper

If you take 100 Americans and put them in a large room, it is likely that approximately 33 of them have high blood pressure.

Blood pressure is a measurement of the force of blood flow against the walls of your arteries. When blood pressure is taken, there are two numbers. The top number is the "systolic" pressure, which is a reading of the force the blood exerts on the arteries when the heart contracts. The bottom number is the "diastolic" pressure, which is the reading of the force of the blood between heartbeats, when it is at rest. A consistent reading over 140 systolic and 90 diastolic is considered high blood pressure.

High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke. It is a despicable adversary, working in silence to undermine our health and shorten our life span, oftentimes with no warning signs. Some of its acts of aggression include:
  • Degeneration of blood vessels
  • Thickening of the heart muscle
  • Scarring and shrinking of the kidneys
  • Damage to the retinas of the eyes
  • Leaking, clotting, or bursting of blood vessels in your brain

Though some incidences of high blood pressure are hereditary, there are also controllable risk factors for high blood pressure:

  • Diets high in fat
  • Diets low in fruits and vegetables
  • Not enough potassium and too much salt intake
  • Inactive lifestyle - too much sitting around!
  • Stress

Knowing that there are controllable risk factors means there are options for you to take advantage of to help prevent this killer from undermining your good health:

  • Lower fat intake in the diet
  • Load your plate with fruits and vegetables
  • Get moving! Take a walk, turn up the radio and dance, go swimming
  • Lower stress through relaxation methods that have proven effective: meditation, yoga, aromatherapy.

It is something that humans know how to do instinctively to keep themselves out of harm's way. We learn that if we touch a burning stove, we will get burned. We know that if we step in front of a moving vehicle, we may get very seriously injured. These are things that we know, and it wouldn't occur to us to do them anyway. So how do we get so far off track in our diet, eating things we know are not so good for us? Maybe it is because we can't actually see the damage we are doing, until the symptoms of damage come back as evidence. If we had a window we could see through into our bodies and could actually get a visual on the damage that the unhealthy things we eat does, maybe we would be very conscious of what we feed our bodies.

It is essential to good, vibrant health that we stick to the basics, what we know works: whole foods. This includes whole grains, fruits and vegetables, lean meats, and healthy oils. Moderation in all things, the wise saying goes. So help yourself to a moderate amount of the good things to fuel your body and protect it.

Your body will work to be good to you if you are good to it!


More information about High Blood Pressure, how your diet effects your health, and holistic nutrition.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Rock Cornish Game Hens Recipe

Rock cornish game hens are delicious and served with mandarine orange rice makes this dinner even more spectacular. Some say that game hens taste exactly like chicken, but we believe it has a unique flavor only similar to chicken. They are plump little birds with all white meat and a delicious gamy flavor. Tyson crossed cornish game hens and white rock hens back in 1965 to come up with this specialty food item.

Healthy Recipe of the Week
will give you some great ideas for meals.