Diet is one of the most important contributions to your health. It is up to us to eat to keep us healthy. Nutritional deficiencies are linked to many of today’s chronic degenerative diseases such as heart disease and even cancer.

Unfortunately today our food is of a lower quality than it was even 20 years ago. It is less natural and more adulterated with harmful chemicals. This means that we may not be getting what we need from our food, and getting too much of what we don’t need e.g. sugar, salt, additives, pesticides and herbicides.

Below are some basic guidelines to help understand what is best to eat.

Avoid or Limit

• Packaged and processed foods as they will contain unnecessary sugar, salt, hydrogenated fats, preservatives etc 9and will toxify the system).

• Smoking and alcohol, more than two drinks a day destroy vitamins and minerals.

• Tea and coffee, they deplete vitamins and minerals and stress various organs.

• Sugar and refined carbohydrates e.g. biscuits and cakes.

• Excess salt upsets the balance of electrolytes and leads to high blood pressure.

Do

• Have at least 5 portions of fresh fruit and vegetables a day – preferably some of it raw, ie, “Five Alive”.

• Only cook with butter or good quality olive oil, coconut oil is great for cooking. Other vegetable oils change their chemical composition when heated and become potentially harmful.

• Cut out margarine made with hydrogenated oils. Use butter instead, despite what the margarine advertisers tells us – used in small quantities butter is better.

Consume essential fatty acids, of which there are two kinds:

• Omega 3 found in oily fish eg, salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring and sardines. These fishes should be eaten twice a week. If not then linseed oil should be eaten every day.
• Omega 6 found in good quality safflower and sunflower oil and evening primrose oil.

Also follow these steps:

• When possible eat organic fruit and vegetables and free range eggs, meat and chicken.

• Drink and cook with filtered water.

• Reduce dependence on dairy products. They are not natural in the adult human diet and are difficult to digest. Try goat or sheep products as these tend to be less processed and more readily digested.

• Watch your consumption of wheat. Quite often a typical diet can consist of too much toast, sandwiches, and pasta. Use whole wheat products and think about brown rice, rye, corn, oats and potatoes as alternatives.

• Don’t be faddy or restricted, eat a large variety of foods and try new ones. For example pulses ie, lentils, chickpeas and kidney beans are full of minerals, especially magnesium which is very easy to become deficient in. Pulses also become a complete protein when mixed with a grain eg, rice or wheat. This is especially important for vegetarians and vegans.

• Give up dieting, it does not work, it can even make you fat. Following the above guidelines will be more likely to help you maintain your weight than counting calories.

Vitamin and Mineral Supplements:

• Good quality products should always be used, it’s worth the extra price.

• Rather than self prescribing get the advice of the chiropractor, we are pleased to help.

Vegetarians and Vegans look out for:

• Omega 3 essential fatty acids, linseed oil must be eaten if no oily fish consumed.

• Iodine should be supplemented in the form of kelp if no sea salt or fish is eaten. It can also be found in seaweed.

• In vegans B12 and folic acid should be supplemented. Marmite as a source is too salty to rely upon.