Nourishment  

Food served in our post-modern world comes from way too far away from your kitchen, and way too far away from the land, to have retained much of its healthy essence.  Some is outright poison.

The key to a healthy diet is to eat plenty of fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables, organic whenever possible.  The most practical ways to do this are to:

• grow a vegetable garden  (and build a compost pile)
• be a member of a "share farm"
• purchase them from your local co-op

Fruits and vegetables taste the best, and are the most healthy for you, when they are perfectly ripe.  Learn how to select your produce.

How to eat healthy

(Summary of reasons)

Be very picky about your fat; it is integral to the walls of every cell in your body.  Also, fats tend to accumulate pesticides and, with animal fats, antibiotics.

• Fry in olive oil; it survives high temperatures with relatively little transformation into trans-fatty acids. Canola is the best choice for salad dressings and other low-temperature situations, it is the least saturated.
• Avoid hydrogenated fats, especially margarine and vegetable shortening, they have the most trans-fatty acids, and will one day be linked to coronary disease, obesity, chronic pain and inflammatory diseases.  It is far better to eat a few butter cookies than a similar product made with shortening.
• Greatly reduce or eliminate meat from your diet:  If you must eat meat, use organic meat and dairy; especially butter.  Buy organic free-range / vegetable-fed poultry and eggs.

Slowing down can help you stop eating before you are bloated.  Chewing your food thoroughly helps slow you down, and greatly increases digestibility and nutrient absorption.  If you are a fast eater, try putting your knife and fork down between every bite.

Combine foods correctly.  Foods should not be eaten all at the same time.  The science of food combining is called trophology.   Bad food combining causes gas, nausea, lethargy and decreases absorption of nutrients. It is also the cause of that "stuffed" feeling so many Americans seem to actually like!  For an excellent discussion of trophology, consult Dan Reid's The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity" or "Fit for Life," by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond.

Eat small portions of meat, if meat agrees with you, but be picky about the meat you eat.  Be suspicious of anything with a long shelf life; it is loaded with dangerous preservatives, such as sodium nitrate. Factory farms grow most of the cows, pigs and chickens in our supermarkets, and do so with tons of antibiotics and additive-laden feed.  If you think none of this garbage gets into the meat, you are deluding yourself.  Always buy meat from a trusted source.  Buy locally produced, organic or free-range meat whenever available.  Fresh raw fish is one of the highest quality sources of protein.

Eat fewer carbohydrates: The carbohydrate-heavy diets of bread, pasta, cookies, crackers and cakes touted for years by the Western medical establishment tend to plug up the digestive system.  Wheat is a relative newcomer on the human dietary scene and few people digest it well. That is why things like the low-carbohydrate Adkins diet seem to work so well for many people. Chew carbohydrates a long time to allow them to fully dissolve in your saliva; do not eat them with meat.

Milk is for baby cows.  Much better sources of calcium include broccoli and cauliflower; a better source of Vitamin D is the sun.  Cheese and yogurt are less distressing for the digestion than milk.  Go for quality; it is better to eat a little bit of expensive Brie or Parmesan than a big gooey heap of tasteless, high-water-content Monterey Jack.  Similarly, it is much better to eat a pint of Haagen Dasz than a gallon of Dreyer's, and just as satisfying.

Avoid drinking fluids with your meals.  It dilutes the gastric juices and retards digestion.  Acidic fruit juices and sugary-sweet sodas are among the worst offenders.  A glass of wine or beer is best.

Alcohol is healthy in moderation.   But the alcohol molecule is fattening.  Alcohol also causes dehydration; most hangovers result from dehydration.  Always drink plenty of water before, during and after alcohol consumption. 

Stay away from fast food.  Most fast food is garbage.  It holds heaps of  fat, mountains of salt, and may harbors any number of contaminants from antibiotic residues to e-coli bacteria.  Most fast food comes loaded with buckets of dangerous hydrogenated fats.  The fast food culture and industry destroys people's bodies and their communities, and results in great cruelty to animals.  Read about all of that in the runaway best seller, Fast Food Nation.

Finally, but most important: Don't eat so much.  Overeating is like digging your grave with a knife and spoon. Maintain control over your diet.  No one really likes the feeling of being so full you can burst.  Stop before you get to that point.

To summarize:

• Eat plenty of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.
• Eat fruits and vegetables at the peak of their freshness and ripeness.
• Avoid hydrogenated fats.   Know your fats.
• Avoid preservatives like nitrites and nitrates.
• If you must eat meat, eat sparingly and eat organic/free range/humane.
• Limit your intake of dairy. Adults should avoid milk.
• Limit your intake of starches, especially wheat flour.
• Don't eat everything all at the same time. Combine foods correctly.
• Reduce your liquid intake during meals.
• Go organic, for fruits and vegetables, and especially for meat and dairy.
• Avoid fast food.
• Eat less.  Eat slow.  Chew well.

Share Farms:  A share farm allows the home consumer to take part in the workings of a real farm.  For a set price, a customer buys a share of a farmers annual, quarterly or monthly output.  The total bounty is divided among the shareholders, and the farmer earns a living wage.  If there is a crop failure, all shareholders bear the loss.  Work days and other special events help produce consumers feel close to the land.  Share farms may also be known as "community supported agriculture.  Most share farms are organic.