Here is a short story on (in my opinion) better eating, feeling better – with the right amount of detail: what to eat, how to eat, some recipes even.
Why?
(if you don’t care why, just skip to The Rules section)
Why do I eat like this? Is it to punish myself? Maybe to get a pat on the back from others? Because it’s “bad” to eat those things supposedly bad for you and I feel guilt?
No.
Feel good vs look good
At first I was focussed on loosing weight to look good.
But nowadays I worry much less about how I look in the mirror and much more how I feel. Walking around, rock climbing, at work, at home. Do I have enough energy? Am I happy?
I eat this way because I feel good inside as a result.
I mean this on a number of levels.
1. I don’t feel stodgy, bloated or heavy from eating like this. Even very soon after eating I am always ready for sports or any kind of activity.
2. I seem to be ill less. Even flu. When I get it, I seem to have it with lower intensity.
I still get a long bout of something about once a year but other factors come into play, such as stress, weather, sleep and many other things.
3. I have a fairly constant supply of energy. No ups and downs and highs and crashes. Just a consistent flow.
4. I feel good about what and how I eat because of my “footprint” on the environment. It actually makes easier to resist the impulse to eat various “tasty” things as a result – for the long term reward of “doing good and feeling good”.
Sport
I do a fair amount of sport.
10 minutes of Yoga in the morning.
5-7K run once or twice a week.
Rock climbing (in door sport) 3 times a week, 2 hours at a time.
Some general fitness here and there (push ups, dips, rings, TRX, etc).
A lot of people told me I would not last the distance on this sort of low carb diet, but beleive me, I get and have lots of energy and then some.
I will eat 1-2 bananas before a hard session and sometimes another one mid way.
Aside from this – everything else as normal: fruit in the morning, salad for lunch, another salad or veg dish (e.g. curry) in the evening.
The rules
I’ve tried many diets and have come to the conclusion, that, like everything else in life, it’s best to stick to these 5 simple rules:
- ease into a way of eating gradually and allow time to adjust
- don’t be religious or obsessive about it, just do the 80/20 rule
- just try and eat the same way all the time, no period fad diets
- tweak the diet as you go: it’s an evolving thing and everybody is different
- allow yourself to eat bad stuff sometimes
Common sense
Eating and food is all about nutrition extraction.
I believe that there is lots more we’ve yet to learn about our bodies, plants, nature, organic energy and other topics linked to nutrition.
My current main rule is to eat as much fruit and vegetables raw as you can.
When you cook food – especially vegetables, vitamins, nutrients and plants’ living energy gets killed. So avoid cooking it, if you can.
I also try to buy as much local as possible and avoid out of season if you can – e.g. asparagus in the UK from Peru is not really very environmentally friendly. Food that’s been travelling for a while and quite far probably does not have many nutrients left – at least not as many as food that came from around the corner.
My main nutrition principles
- Raw as much as possible
- No processed food (no ready meals, no “chocolate” bars, biscuits, sausages, etc)
- No refined sugar
- Low carb (no rice, potato, bread, pasta etc)
- Low dairy (I eat a fair amount of cheese, goat/sheep mainly)
- Fat is OK (good actually – oils, especially coconut)
- Little meat and fish (mainly veg)
As I said you have to allow exceptions – so I don’t eat the above as a rule, i.e. 80%+ of the time, but I do eat some of the above – sometimes.
Food groups
I try to make sure I eat a number of different food groups and various known beneficial species from each. I won’t go into each one and why it’s good for you – there are plenty of information about it on the internet and I want to keep this article concise.
- Nuts:
- Almonds
- Walnuts
- Hazelnuts
- Brazil (3-4 a day max)
- Pistachio (raw, unsalted)
- Seeds:
- Chia
- Hemp
- Poppy
- Quinoa
- Spices and herbs:
- Cumin
- Paprika
- Cayenne pepper
- Turmeric
- Sage
- Rosemary
- Basil
- Vegetables:
- Sweet potato
- Kale
- Asparagus
- Cabbage
- Peas (frozen)
- Tomatoes (technically a berry)
- Courgette
- Aubergine
- Cucumbers
- Spinach
- Beetroot
- Avocado (also a berry)
- Okra
- Kohlrabi
- Plantain
- Garlic
- Onion
- Fruit:
- Bananas
- Apples
- Pomegranate
- Pomelo
- Kiwi
- Peach
- Pears
- Mango
- Papaya
- Coconut (pure juice (no added anything), dried or just fresh chunks)
- Berries:
- Raspberries
- Blueberries
- Goji (dried)
- Chocolate (raw (not heated above 80°C), nothing added – yes, very bitter)
- Coffee (well I don’t eat it, but I do drink it)
- Rosehip (dried, picked in the wild or garden, soaked in hot water)
- Maqui (dried, drunk with water, see below Supplements)
- Supplements
What?! Supplements?! But you’re all about raw and natural?!
Calm down.
When I say supplements, I mean dried grasses and roots. I stir these into water and drink once a day. They are:
- Broken cell chlorella
- Barley grass
- Lucuma
- Camu Camu
- Baobab
- Ashwagandha
- Spirulina
- Maqui berry
- Foti root
- Siberian Ginseng (different from the standard type)
- Other:
- Ginger
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Mushrooms
- Cheese – I eat a fair amount of this but try and stick to goat/ewe/sheep
- Coconut oil – I cook many things using this, including “nut and egg” pancakes, plantains, etc
- Collagen Protein (I have a table spoon of this once a due to heavy finger joint strain and stress I get from rock climbing – I’ve not yet found a natural compound to help with this)
Don’t obsess over it!
As I said I try to eat as much raw as possible but I do also cook some things, mainly for variety if anything.
Some exceptions exist – e.g. nutrients from kale and broccoli get absorbed better when lightly steamed.
Sometimes I will eat a big brand “chocolate” bar or some Hungarian salami (the best in the world) or a steak or a cake. But it’s rare and I actually – ALWAYS – feel worse for it afterwards (physically, in my gut).
As I do it pretty rarely, I don’t stress or upset about it.
Recipes
I love kale done the following way:
- fry some garlic in oil until starting to turn golden
- throw a few tablespoons of water into the pan
- add kale
- lid on
- steam for a a minute
- done
You can also sprinkle in some Chia seeds and our some scrambled eggs over it to make a great omlet).
For salads, here are is quick and simple Spinach and beetroot one:
- Spinach
- Raw beetroot, thinly sliced (with a potato peeler) or grated
- Courgette (grated)
- Avocado – cubed
- Tomato
- Chia seeds
- Hemp seeds
- Olive oil
- Pepper
- As an option you can also add slightly steamed kale to it or replace spinach with kale
Lastly, here is a super easy vegetable Thai Green Curry recipe:
- Peel and boil sweet potatoes for 10 minutes and cut into big, thick chunks
- Heat some coconut oil in a pan
- Fry garlic, onion, cumin, ginger and chili for 1 minute
- Put in a can of coconut milk
- Add okra, courgettes, peppers and romanesco, cut into big chunks
- Throw in 3-4 kaffir lime leaves
- Peel 1 lime’s zest into the pan
- Simmer for 10 minutes
- Throw in a large bunch of chopped fresh coriander and stir
- done
Closing words
Enjoy food.
Focus on feeling good after you’ve eaten.
Recognise how you progressively feel better as you eat better.
Enjoy living better as a result.
Mind Iterations 