Hi,
I have been thinking more and more about nutrition and trying to educate myself about what things are best to eat.
It becomes quite frustrating because there is so much conflicting information, but what seems to be agreed upon is whole foods, local or organic, avoid sugar and processed foods. I have also been avoiding use of the microwave.
Processed foods are so changed and have so many chemicals, that our bodies do not even recognize it as food, so although we eat plenty- we are undernourished. The book that opened my eyes to all of this is a cookbook Nourishing Traditions. It is not so much the recipes as the sidebars in the book which talk about big food companies and the government. This was the first step for me, in really seeing and listening to: whole foods, slow foods, eat locally grown and organic was all about
As I've been researching, I've also come across the statement that our digestive processes are weak and that even if we eat the best possible foods, if we cannot digest them, we are not getting the benefits of them.
So this led me to wanting to learn more about digestion :-) It's like an onion, just more and more layers.I have also worked with young children for nearly 25 years now, and it is alarming to me how constipation has become an issue for so many of them, and my own kids have friends who have developed Diabetes. I really feel this is due to our diets~ that it really matters what we eat and that our standard food choices are unhealthy- and it is showing up in the children.
I came across Ayurveda recently, which is a medical science began in India 5000 years ago, and still in continuous use to this day.
This appealed to me because of all the conflicting viewpoints nowadays- so let's go to what's been working for several thousand years.
Now Ayurveda is very in-depth and I have not even scratched the surface on it, but what appeals to me is that it is not one size fits all- there are 3 different body types in fact, Vata, Pitta and Kapha and from there you are a combo of them with one dominating. This life science also takes into consideration seasons and diet and environment~ it is truly holistic.
In my Ayurvedic reading I have also come across Agni- which is the digestive fire. It is the heat which digests our food and turns it into the building blocks of our body- blood, muscle, tissues etc
When we drink ice cold beverages with meals we are in effect putting this digestive fire out, so it is recommended to drink warm/hot water or teas.
Fresh fruit is easiest for our systems to digest, so it is suggested to eat fruit alone~ an exception to this is if the fruit is cooked, then it can be eaten with other foods.
An example given was yogurt with fruit which is very common, but in fact, yogurt is hard to digest and takes longer. Because our stomachs hold all the food in until everything is digested before moving on to the intestines, the fruit actually ferments! This type of thing is called Ama, and is the toxins that build up in our bodies from undigested food.
So I have given you some vocabulary to listen to this radio podcast on this link (99.9% is regular English)
http://wildopenheart.com/living-ayurveda/
It was broadcast last month but I just found it.
I found it very interesting, and it just makes me want to learn more- and so I wanted to share.
Lanie
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