With the increase of fast foods and convenience foods — which not only lack the essential minerals and vitamins needed for optimal cellular function but are also filled with pesticides, antibiotics and hormones, not to mention chemical additives, is it any wonder that people are getting sicker and sicker?

Many people are living fast-paced lifestyles, and have become too accustomed to living in their heads. This means they function from the neck upwards, eating mainly out of habit, and thus fail to see the true impact that poor lifestyle choices, including food and drink, are having on their bodies and ‘energy system’. These people are literally ‘talking heads’, who have lost their body awareness.

The human body is a marvellous machine which is capable of self-balancing for extended periods of time, even when we don’t treat it correctly… this is exactly why we often don’t notice the ill effects of our choices immediately. Sometimes we may have a sudden body reaction like a headache or feeling sick to alert us, but often the adverse effects are not strong enough to ring alarm bells! And, even if the body screams at us, we even go so far as to casually shrug these messages off..

Every moment of every day, subtle changes are happening at the cellular level, and if the body does not get vital nutrients for healing (cellular repair and regeneration), it will sooner or later show this imbalance as the manifestation of disease.  When this happens, its seems as if the illness or disease hit us ‘out of the blue’ but the truth of the matter is that the body could no longer sustain us because we neglected and/or abused it.

Here are 10 key tips to help you choose wisely today, so you can keep your health and won’t have to suffer later on!  If you’re already suffering the consequences of a poor diet and/or lifestyle, this will help you gain a better foothold over your health again. Don’t let the doctors tell you that nutrition isn’t important!

Hippocrates once said, ‘let food be your medicine and let medicine be your food’, and that flash of insight is even more important today than it was during his time!

1. Tune in, don’t tune out!
   How do you feel after each meal? Do you feel ‘sluggish’ and heavy, or ‘light’ yet satisfied? Do you experience any bloatedness or discomfort anywhere in your body immediately after eating certain foods? Are there any of these sensations a few hours later? By regularly taking the time to ask yourself these questions, you will surely begin to notice which foods are healthful for you, and which are not. Remember the wise words of Heather Morgan… “every time you eat or drink you are either feeding disease or fighting it”. When you think of food in this way, you immediately start to become more conscious of what you eat.
2. Keep it simple. Natural, whole foods are best!
   We all know that the less processed a food is, the healthier it will be for us. For example, juicing several apples (preferably organic!) is so much better for you then drinking pasteurised fruit juice from the supermarket, because the pasteurisation process means it gets rid of all vitamins and minerals! You’re just consuming sugar! Eating a fresh salad will be better than eating canned foods or packaged foods – and then having to ‘supplement’ with multivitamin tablets! Why not put your money into buying the right foods in the first place? Additionally, did you know that your body cannot process vitamins and minerals effectively unless they are in their natural form? Synthetic versions of nature’s perfection hardly come close to what we truly need! Don’t let the drug companies tell you otherwise!
3. Watch your food combinations!
   First rule, don’t eat fruit with your meal, and certainly not afterwards!  This is a big no-no!  Fruit will sit in your stomach and ferment, creating noxious gases. You’ll end up burping more, and producing smelly farts as a direct consequence of ignoring this rule! Secondly, proteins and carbohydrates require completely different environments in the stomach. Eating high protein (fish/meat) with salads and/or fresh vegetables will contribute to an efficient digestive process whereas eating high protein with starchy carbs (e.g. potatoes or rice) will lead to ‘confusion’ in the gut, and bad digestion… avoid those “hamburger and fries”, or “fish and chips” combos!
4. Reduce your meat intake and up your greens!
   Contrary to popular belief, we don’t need to eat vast quantities of meat! Men, especially, usually like to think of themselves as ‘lions’ whenever they consume a lot of meat, yet think of the strength, grace and power of an elephant which is a vegetarian! It is now widely recognised that overconsumption of (red) meat creates an ‘acidic’ environment in the body, leading to chronic inflammation in the body, especially the joints, and increases the risk of colon cancer. The human body requires an alkaline environment to thrive, so drastically cutting down your meat intake and upping your fresh vegetable intake is a crucial long-term strategy. Alkaline foods also calm down the mind, and help you destress. Another good reason to go green!
5. Consume ‘high energy’ food and drink
   No, I’m not talking about Red Bull, which is the biggest marketing lie ever. The fresher your foods, the better.. there’s more energy in ‘alive’ foods, than ‘dead’ foods (processed/canned). So try growing your own herbs and basics like tomatoes… next, try to buy from your local farmer, rather than your supermarket, and eat local and seasonal as much as possible.. if your food has had to travel thousands of miles, it probably isn’t the freshest!  The ‘life energy’ will be significantly lower than something you just picked! If you’ve ever had the chance to go forraging for wild berries for example, you’ll know there’s nothing sweeter or more ‘alive’ than picking a berry and eating it then and there!
6. Avoid toxins and eat ‘smart’ by going organic as much as possible!
   People complain “it’s too expensive”, yet buy vast quantities of nutrient-deficient foods. Actually, the human body needs far less when you eat organic, and there are far less toxins that impact your system. When farmers use pesticides, these are ‘systemic’, so they embed themselves into your cellular matrix, and clog up vital organs like your liver and your entire lymph system suffers. When you eat foods that are high in key minerals and vitamins, the body sends the brain a signal to say “I’m full” more quickly than when you eat low energy, nutrient deficient foods. Choosing to eat a lesser amount of food which is better quality, rather than eating a lot of ‘bad quality’ food, will also give you more energy and your health will start to improve.
7. Chew your food! What’s the hurry?!
   Chew your food slowly to release the energy in it (rather than wolfing food down!) and drink plenty of good quality water throughout the day, and just before your meal (about 10-15 minutes before). Water helps release the ‘energy’ in the food, so you’ll feel fuller quicker!
8. Follow your gut!
   Mainstream media is always telling you what you should or shouldn’t eat based on the ‘latest scientific discovery’. Then it will tell you the complete opposite a few months down the road. Has anything really changed in terms of media hype? Use your body’s inbuilt intelligence instead! Discern what information fits by listening to your body response (as I pointed out above). Ultimately, the only way you can really tell what is right for you is by fully listening to your body. Practices such as meditation and yoga heighten your awareness of what foods are good for you!
   
9. Relax… make key changes over time!
   Begin to make changes now, remaining flexible and open to change. I find that smaller, more regular changes have a big impact on one’s health and vitality, rather than following a whimsical fad diet and then defaulting right back where you started! Allow your body to lead you in your food choices rather than over-thinking things. Your preferences may change as you get older… what agrees with your body today may not be the same in the future. As you start to become more conscious about your diet, you will reduce and then eliminate food and drink that is energy depleting and potentially harmful. Indeed, you may not be able to tolerate some of the foods you currently like today. This is no bad thing, unless you are attached to your preferences! I can hear some of you saying, “oh, but I love…”, or “I don’t want to give up…”! Just be open to change!
10. Go on a cleanse!
    It’s beneficial to go on a body cleanse to start with, so cut out all refined sugar and processed/convenience foods to allow your body and energy system to recalibrate. When you reintroduce healthy wholefoods after a cleanse or mini-fast, you’ll feel the difference as your body will be able to absorb the nutrients so much more easily! (Please don’t ‘detox to retox’… this is playing dice with your body and health, and doesn’t serve you! If you are cleansing your body just to put poisons back in it, then why bother?)

If you suddenly get ill when you switch your diet…

…it’s not the fault of your ‘healthy choices’!  Typically, if you start to eat more consciously, and you’ve been used to hammering your body with junk, you will most likely get sick. This is normal. When those around you laugh at you (and they will), just shrug it off… your body’s reaction to your new chioces will be a consequence of having embedded toxins in your system. Your intelligent energy sytem will want to red rid of all the crap and this means it will need to release it into the bloodstream and then push it out through the lymph and skin (by sweating it out with a fever). You may feel terrible for a while and even get ‘flu like’ symptoms… it will pass. Keep going! After the storm, comes the calm… and the sunshine will be worth it!