My approach to nutrition focuses on eating real foods in their most natural state (unless required to be altered for food safety) that are nutrient dense and support the functions of the body. What you eat should fuel you throughout the day, keeping you in balance. Real food is considered to be all those foods that have not been industrially processed or foods that have not had their natural qualities interfered with or the quality of their composition reduced. Real food is food that nourishes your body and provides your system with the nutrients in needs to stay supported each day.
My approach doesn’t focus on fad diets or popular or short-lived, hard to follow eating methods and strategies. In fact, I don’t subscribe to diets at all. Food is a source of health, healing, comfort, tradition, nostalgia and pleasure. The idea is to find the types and amounts of foods that work for your body throughout the day to keep you feeling good in balance and energized.
These are examples of real food:
- Fruits & Vegetables: local, seasonal and/or organic when possible.
- Meat & Seafood: wild, grass-fed, pastured and/or humanely-raised without hormones or antibiotics when possible.
- Dairy & Eggs: full-fat, grass-fed, pasture-raised when possible (raw and/or unpasteurized preferred).
- Whole Grains: must be 100% whole grain; ancient, gluten- and wheat-free grains preferred.
- Beans & Legumes: including green beans, snap peas and lentils; soaking helps with digestion, BPA-free cans when possible.
- Seeds & Nuts: raw, unsalted, unsweetened and/or organic when possible (sprouting helps with digestion).
- Spices, Herbs & Seasonings: fresh/dry/ground; minimally processed and organic when possible.
- Unrefined, Virgin, Cold-Pressed Oils & Fats: coconut oil, olive oil, grass-fed butter, ghee, palm shortening and rendered animal fats, like tallow and lard.
- Natural, Unrefined Sweeteners: honey, maple syrup, coconut palm sugar and dates (raw when possible).
Source: Root and Revel