Healthy Eating- You are what you eat, so eat right.

16 NOVEMBER 2020

What motivates us to eat what we eat? Indeed, why do we choose a cookie over an apple, or a salad over a burger? Ahhh. The conversation is a complex one, because as we continue to discover, many factors contribute to our food choices.

Where were we raised? What did our families eat? How about our friends? Certainly, what does the media, indeed even our doctors tell us is good for us to eat? Socio-cultural conditioning plays a giant-size role in why we choose to eat, what we choose to eat, and unfortunately, our choices are impacting the quality of life for many of us in profound ways. With the World Health Organization reporting nearly 60% of the world population as malnourished in 2011, the largest number of malnourished people ever in the history of the Earth (including developed countries like the United States), surely exploring the conversation of what healthy eating means emerges as an important matter for us all to consider.

Nutrient-dense, alkaline-rich and live-foods are buzzwords for us here at What is Healthy Living, because as we have learned, all disease begins in an acidic interior environment. And yes, because this means headaches as well as cancer, acid-reflux as well as cardio-vascular disease, then surely we must be experiencing some level of down-turn in our energy and vitality too, since energy is produced in our cells. That we are committed to being our very best selves, we propose a nutrient-dense, low-fat, whole foods, plant-based diet here at What is Healthy Living (though we remain open to partner with you with you wherever you are on your journey, as you lean into a plant-based diet). Why? Because a high protein, animal-tissue-based diet acidifies our bodies (cancer and disease love an acidic body!) and dairy produces excess mucous, we advocate a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes and whole grains, which are a life-force-laden-balance of vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, plant-based fats, phyto-nutrients and the Holy Grail, enzymes, that, and this is what is most important, work synergistically together to offer us the perfect balance of what the human body needs to thrive.

And did you know that the gut has more nerve endings than the central nervous system, and that the neurotransmitters that send signals throughout our brain are also found in our gut? What is important to note here regarding your food choices, and the gut-brain connection is this, the neurotransmitters in the gut are responsible for producing 95% of the serotonin, the ‘happy hormone,’ that is produced in our body. According to Dr. Michael Gershon, researcher at Columbia University and author of “The Second Brain,” says that it stands to reason that if we experience any digestive problems in our gut, we likely are experiencing some measure of mental or emotional problems as well.

In order to reclaim the quality of our lives fully, to elevate our energy and vitality in ways we never thought possible, to create success, love and joy beyond our wildest imagination, to turn our brains and bodies on in new and extraordinary ways, we have learned that scrutiny about preconceived ways of doing things serves us best. And this is all that we ask of you here at What is Healthy Living, to be open, with a Spirit of fun and adventure, with a Spirit of “Wow, this is what I get to do,” rather than, “really, I can’t do this, I can’t eat that” to create a new pathway to living your life fully through the food choices you make! We will offer you recipes for all sorts of delicious meals, some may require a bit of preparation, some may be just a reminder that Nature offers us delicious little gems of “candy” like blueberries, strawberries and cherries, as well as perfect fast foods like oranges and bananas (already wrapped!) However your journey unfolds, within the larger matrix of support, information and ideas we offer you here, we do know this for sure, your food choices make all the difference in the quality of life you are living right now!