Insuring Health vs. Health Insurance

Regardless of whether we are required to purchase medical insurance, know that we can only buy real health insurance in the produce section of the local supermarket.

Certainly, some aspects of medical insurance coverage are in need of reform.  But a much greater need exists – the need for Americans to reform their health by reforming their diets.   -Dr. Joel Fuhrman

I really believe this!   Type II Diabetes is a life-style disease.  Heart disease is preventable and reversible.  Cancer risk is also largely tied to lifestyle. The American Institute for Cancer Research estimates that about one-third of common cancers could be prevented by following a healthy diet, exercising, and maintaining a healthy weight.

Why don't more people do something about it?  Why are Americans so unhealthy?  Are people really so uninformed?

Is it that: 

A)  They think these diseases just happen and there's nothing they can do about it?

B)  They truly don't know what a healthy diet is?

C)  They've decided that it's just too hard to eat healthy food?

D)   All of the above. 

If your answer was A,  You might want to read The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell for research on the connection between what we eat and disease.  I found it very interesting and I wondered as I read it why I'd never heard this stuff before!  Another one that's an easier read is the Culprit and the Cure by Steven Aldana.

If you answered B, you should read Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Eat For Health or Eat To Live.  His focus is on eating the most nutrient dense foods possible and he tells you which foods those are.  I also follow his blog diseaseproof.com

If you answered C, there are a bunch of people who blog about following a healthy diet and they have some great recipes.  Some that I follow: are Green Smoothie Girl, My Green Diet, Unconventional Kitchen, Super Healthy Kids, and WHOLEmade.  It's not hard to eat healthy.  It's kind of fun trying new recipes and using new ingredients.  It also makes it easier knowing you're not the only one.  Healthy eating means different things to different people.  I take what I want from these blogs and ignore the rest.  You do what's right for you, right?

If you're answer was D (like mine) you've got a lot of reading to do!

 

What is Good Real Food?

It seems like we are so concerned with fat grams or carbs or calories that we don't even think of nutrition. OK, so it's low fat and low calorie. Does that mean it's good for you? Not necessarily. What makes a food healthy is the amount of nutrients it delivers to your body.
It's a way of thinking that will take some getting used to.
There are 2 kinds of nutrients: Macro-nutrients and Micro-nutrients and our bodies need them both.
Macro-nutrients are fat, carbohydrates and proteins. Macro-nutrients are necessary, but we should limit how much of them we eat.
Micro-nutrients are vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals. (Phytochemicals are plant based chemicals that have disease preventative properties, like lycopene or beta-carotene.)
For a healthy body, the goal is to increase your micro-nutrients without going overboard on calories. So you need to choose the most nutrient dense foods and limit your macro-nutrients. How do you do that? You eat vegetables and fruits! They are naturally low in calories and saturated fat and contain all kinds of good for you phytochemicals that scientists are still discovering and haven't even named yet.
If you're going to eat for maximum health, you should be eating:
* Lots of high-nutrient, healthy foods like green vegetables, berries and seeds.
* Few, if any, animal products.
* Avoid things like HFCS, sugar, white flour, artificial sweeteners and processed foods in general.
The more I learned about nutrition, the less I focused on losing weight. I became more interested in being healthy and the weight loss just came naturally.
Dr. Joel Fuhrman calls this way of eating "Nutritarian". To learn more about it and to find out which vegetables are the most nutrient dense, read his book titled "Eat For Health".