The Healthiest Diet – Fresh and Blessed – Mindful Eating

We’ve all heard of the fad diets that proclaim to reduce our bulging waistline the fastest: The Atkins Diet, the South Beach Diet, Weightwatchers, Jenny Craig, and so many more. They rely on a range of strategies including reducing carbohydrate consumption, group support, calorie counters, low fat diets, eating like our ancestors, eating just fruits, fasting and other popular plans. They vary in their effectiveness and ability to be sustained. It seems we have all gone on a diet before summer to be able to wear that slinky swimsuit and charm the guys, or gals. Then the seasons change, it’s cold outside, winter and new year’s celebrations are upon us and we can’t get enough of that special holiday cake, pie, candy and cheer.  It’s a predictable cycle. No one escapes unscathed!

Maybe it’s OK and natural to have these swings, I rather think it is. But first one has to develop a Mindful Eating regimen that does not include fast foods, highly processed foods, carbonated soda drinks, microwaved dinners, and other high caloric non-nutritional foods.  This country has became a nation of diabetics who are grossly overweight, suffering from high blood pressure, heart disease, lack of energy and other various ailments directly because of our fast food culture. I recently saw a video presented on Ted.com by Jamie Oliver that was quite moving. I have long been a believer in having nutrition be our first defense against disease and ill-health and this video really ranted about our lifestyle and how we feed our children.  I highly recommend you view it below. If you’ve seen Food., Inc. or the Future of Food or Supersize Me, Fast Food Nation, Junk Food or Food Matters you’ll know just how dire the situation is here. When fried potatoes are the only vegetable many children will eat, we are failing in our attempt to remain a strong people.

In one segment of Jamie’s video he goes into an elementary school in some big city, America, and shows the children various vegetables. They can’t identify an eggplant, or a celery stalk, cabbage or cauliflower. It is shocking. Too few parents have the time or the ability to prepare wholesome meals so children are fed convenience foods that fill them up but leave them starving nutritionally. It is really so sad. On top of that, we have gotten so far away from our roots – big corporations control our meats and produce. Even when we take the time to cook fresh vegetables and meats, we are getting far less nutrition than even twenty years ago due to pesticide use, steroids in feed and GE foods that Monsanto is pushing on us. The world is really changing, and unless we make some drastic changes soon, most children born today  won’t have a chance to live long lives as we have. Watch Jamie’s movie.

My parents were both raised on farms in the Midwest. They butchered and smoked their meat, milked cows, grew vegetables and cash crops for sale. My mother remembers picking cotton in the hot days of summer, tearing up her hands and sweating in the heat. My dad really did walk 5 miles to school each day after getting up at 4 in the morning to do his chores – feed chickens and hogs and milk the cows. In the 50’s when processed foods and TV dinners showed up in the stores, they were happy to have a break from the daily grind of cooking. By then they had both moved to the city, and the farm was a bittersweet memory. More and more canned vegetables showed up on our plates. It was so much easier! But decades later we’re finding out that this food is really unsafe, the cans lined with BPA now considered a health hazard. All of our modern products have become more streamlined, mass produced and less healthy. What is one to eat, after all?

It is a dilemma. I can’t afford all organic produce, nor do I believe it is all pesticide free even when labeled so. Is that free-range chicken really free range? Chickens are one of the most abused animals that we grow to eat. I won’t get into the horror a chicken sustains when it is hatched on a corporate chicken ranch. We tend to forget that the meat we see wrapped so neatly in the plastic packages was once a breathing living animal, with feelings and intelligence! I am not a vegetarian although I prefer to eat lower on the food chain. But I do insist on BLESSING all the food I eat. This is most important for our health. The vibration we instill in food that we bless offers tremendous benefits to body and soul.

So, the healthiest diet is one mirrored in the Mediterranean Diet, in my opinion and experience. It’s not really a diet, but more a way of life and eating. It is a natural, MINDFUL way to eat. It’s best to eat most food prepared fresh at home. Any food eaten out is subject to mysterious origins and preparation. The food handlers may not be as safe as they should. They may not know if the spice they use has MSG so even if you ask, it may appear in your food anyway. Produce should be as fresh as possible using local farmer’s markets if available. Buy the best quality meats you can afford, and stay away from the fatty hamburger meat. We all need protein, but that can be found in other products like nuts, eggs, dairy, grains, seeds and legumes. Drink lots of purified water, stay away from all carbonated sugary drinks. Juices are very high in sugar and should be consumed in moderation. Supplement with vitamins and minerals, especially Omega 3 fatty acids and Vitamin D. Forget about sugar – really – give up the doughnuts, cookies, cakes and candies. This will go a long way in helping energy levels and insulin levels.

Exercise – walk – eat together with the family at least once a day. I lived in Italy where I learned to eat this fresh food diet along with lots of extra-virgin olive oil as the oil of choice, for everything. A delicious treat is to eat fresh (have I said that enough) hot homemade bread dipped in a cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil. Now that’s delicious. The most important part of the meal is the blessing. Masaru Emoto is famous for his experiments with water crystals and how they react to various emotions. You can view a beautiful video about his work below. The same principle applies to food. The molecular structure of all matter reacts to vibrations. I’ll share the blessing I say every night when my partner and I sit down to our home-cooked meal.

Bless this House
Bless this Food
Bless Mikey and me
Bless all our friends and family
Bless those less fortunate than us as there are WAY too many
We thank you for all we have, and all that is to come

Gratitude goes a long way to making our lives more fulfilling. I definitely recommend a large dose of gratitude each and every day to balance our bodies, minds and spirits.

Happy Mindful Eating!