Tag: nutrition and diet

I used to shop at the only organic food store in the vicinity of where I used to live. They certainly had quality fruit and vegetables for the most part (most of the time, at least), and I was thankful to have such a place to do my shopping (at a time my health was not right, and I needed a reliable source for quality produce). But, I spent far too much money on simple food-shopping, and was essentially pauperising myself in order to eat healthily. Eventually, after one too many sub-standard five euro cauliflowers, I decided I could not afford to shop there any more. And, after discovering a new methodology around which I could organise my eating and shopping habits (to be further elucidated at a later date), I figured it was not a good idea to waste money on overpriced goods when I could shop elsewhere, eat just as healthily, and spend much less on food of a similar quality than I had previously been doing. The evolution of the stocks of Supermarkets in my locale corresponding with my need to not pay the extortionate prices often charged for fresh produce in health-food stores was just a happy coincidence.

Another life-saver for me in my attempts to live a more frugal healthy life has been the resurgence in the popularity of Farmer’s Markets. The Farmer’s Market is great because I can get the best quality, freshest produce, but at a better price than I am getting at a health food store – generally by a considerable enough margin – because the costs of running a stall at a farmers market are a fraction of the cost of running a fixed location business in the city center, or any built up area for that matter. One thing I really appreciate about the Farmer’s Market is that you are often dealing with individuals who run their own businesses. People running their own small business appreciate regular customers. If you are a regular with someone at a Farmer’s Market, it is not uncommon to get favourable treatment, and even discounted prices. If are a regular customer in a regular shop, you generally get treated like everybody else. And, special treatment aside, pricing is generally far better at the Farmer’s Market. And, even though the Farmer’s Market wont usually beat the Supermarket for price, the quality is almost always the very best you can get.

For me, it is all about finding the best quality for the best price. For example, the avocado that cost almost two-euros-fifty in the health-food store I used to shop at will cost a maximum of one-euro-fifty at the Farmer’s Market, and will be as good, or superior in quality. But, I can get an even cheaper avocado in Tesco, for about one euro, that will be of good quality, but just not as good as the quality generally available from the other places I can get my avocados already mentioned.

There is much to consider in regard to our dietary choices, which which very clearly impact our financial and physical health. It is up to each of us as individuals to decide what exactly it is that we deem most important: Quality, or cost. Why not get the best of both? Eating sensibly should not have to cost an arm and a leg. Shop smart – and it doesn’t have to!

– Sage

When we are attempting to pursue a health-conscious life, there is much to consider! What we are eating is always the most important consideration to pay mind to, but there are many other things we need to keep in mind. The focus of this article is: where we get our food.

It is easy to eat well when you know the right places to shop. Some businesses are simply more attuned to quality than others; this goes for restaurants, as well as grocery stores. Finding quality is one thing, but knowing where to get quality goods without getting ripped off or overcharged is another thing entirely! I went from being a child with absolutely no knowledge of food other than I really liked sweet things, and was not so fond of vegetables. To, later in life, knowing that I should probably eat more vegetables. And, to the point I am at now: understanding food and good nutrition are the foundations of good health, and should be primary concerns given great attention.

I went from a diet largely consisting of penny jellies, to eating avocados that cost almost two-euros-fifty each. While the latter is clearly the better choice when one’s compass heading is set good health, the extortionate pricing on some items, and charged by a lot of ‘health-food stores’, is superfluous cost that is simply beyond necessary, even problematic, for most of us. Granted, if we want to eat in way that will encourage a vibrant state of health, we will incur certain costs that those living off of a diet of white bread, sugary cereal, and instant coffee will not. But, apart from the inherent level of dignity that is imparted to one that chooses to eat foods for reasons other than the satiation of hunger, there are many benefits besides to hunting down high quality produce. Some foods encourage, and even lead to a degrading state of health, other foods encourage the healthy functioning of human body, and lead to the accumulation of good health. And, even though the ubiquity of unhealthy food has hampered the health of the people in countries such as Ireland in recent history, eating healthy is becoming a more and more popular idea; and business is catching on.

Supermarkets have growing organic produce sections and stocks, and the availability of preservative-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, non-GMO goods is also trending upwards. I remember how not much more than five years ago I would be looked at as if I had two heads if I asked about hemp seed, stevia, acai, or coconut oil in a supermarket. It was a weird, award experience, and I felt like the staff didn’t even believe these things existed, let alone that they were in stock…. But, now I see organic produce in literally every supermarket I visit. I can get organic, cold-pressed coconut oil  for less than three euros in lidl, and they have hemp seed in Dunnes Stores and Tesco; even cheaper than the health food stores I had to go to for a decent chunk of my shopping since I began my journey into hardcore health-consciousness. Nowadays, I can get essentially everything I need to eat healthy in a supermarket; even when I am on one of my more strict regimens. I could not do that and truly eat well  up until very recently, given my dietary particularities.

 I used to shop at the only organic food store in the vicinity of where I used to live. They certainly had quality fruit and vegetables for the most part, most of the time at least, and I was thankful to have such a place to do my shopping (at a time my health was not right, and I needed a reliable source for quality produce). But, I spent far too much money on simple food-shopping, and was essentially pauperising myself in order to eat healthy. Eventually, I decided I could not afford to shop there any more, and after discovering a new methodology around which I could organise my eating and shopping habits, I figured it was not a good idea to waste money on overpriced goods when I could shop elsewhere, eat just as healthily, and spend much less on food than I had been doing.

TBC

Sage

When considering what to eat, one of the more important things to be mindful of is: the ratio of macronutrients we are consuming. ‘Macronutrients’ are fats, proteins, carbohydrates. Most in my part of the world have very carb-heavy diets. High-protein diets are also very common in a country like Ireland. But, often stigmatised unfairly are diets that are unusually high in fat; saturated fats in particular.

Although we always want to be calculating in how we organise the dietary aspect of our lives, and to enjoy everything in moderation, some of the things we might have thought of as unhealthy foods, when we were young and naive, might actually be one of the cornerstones in assisting us in reaching, and maintaining, a salubrious state of well-being. The demonisation of saturated fats is one of the ill-considered notions that has been bandied about too much in the world of pseudo-nutrition the past number of generations. But, more are now coming to understand the avoidance of dietary fat as a cause for health problems, rather than the solution it was so
zealously touted as in recent history.

“…new research clearly shows us that individuals eating more of the “dreaded” fat actually have a substantial risk reduction for becoming demented while those with diets favouring carbohydrates the risk for dementia dramatically increased” (1)

I was raised on a diet composed predominantly of bread, potatoes, meat, and sugar. There was fat too, but fat was always the one that seemed to give the family the most pause for thought of consideration of future degenerative health disorders. ‘Don’t use too much butter!’ ‘Don’t eat so many eggs!’ Looking back, I know that this was just my misinformed family attempting to be healthy in the wrong way.. Nowadays, I feel great when I eat a lot of fatty foods. And I know from my own experience of eating a diet high in saturated fats, that once the fats are healthy fats (such as those in eggs, coconut oil, butter, avocados, so on), and eaten with a lot of nutrient dense, unprocessed foods: they themselves will not be responsible for abnormal levels of weight-gain. Fat is the most wholesome and nourishing of all of the macronutrients!

I do not enjoy fat in my diet without shame simply because the physical brain is constituted from cholesterol, or simply because healthy brain function depends on adequate amounts of dietary cholesterol, or that the healthy function of the endocrine system also depends on adequate
dietary fat intake. But, also considering what I was told for most of my life by ‘the experts’, who would have guessed that heart health is contingent on eating enough saturated fats in your diet?

“It’s true that some studies show that saturated fat intake raises blood cholesterol levels. But these studies are almost always short-term, lasting only a few weeks. Longer-term studies have not shown an association between saturated fat intake and blood cholesterol levels.”(2)

The essence of this article is essentially to let those that might be unaware, or uncertain, know that: having a considerable amount of fat in your diet is OK. What matters much more is having healthy ratios, healthy combinations of foods, and, most importantly: that the quality of the foods you ingest are to a respectable standard. You are what you eat; eat well, feel well.

1. http://www.drperlmutter.com/dietary-fat-brain/
2. http://chriskresser.com/the-diet-heart-myth-cholesterol-and-saturated-fat-are-not-the-enemy/

-Sage

I have found myself in many conditions over the course of my life: obese, underweight, sickly, vital. From the time I found my way into this world, I seemed like a passenger in many senses, being a passenger to my state of health was one of them. It seemed to just happen, how I felt. As a child, I assumed I didn’t have a lot to do with it. I figured my state of well-being was essentially random, entirely defined by chance, and, if there was a problem, that “the doctor” surely would handle it.

As I have grown older and wiser, I have come to believe that this is actually not the case. As I aged, young me became more and more sure that how I spent my time, and even more so what I ate, might be affecting my health in much more profound ways than pure chance. But, even more than that: the strange smelling, foul tasting fluids the doctors was telling my mother to buy for me when I was feeling unwell may not have actually be the best remedy for the problems at all. Young me would have been surprised to know that if I just paid more attention to what I was eating, there would not have been need for all those pharmaceutical nasties my mother had to spend so much of her and my father’s hard earned money on. I would not have believed you if you told me the best medicine is the delicious food I ate every day to sate my hunger.

Some people eat just for the enjoyment of the sensations certain foods give them over the course of eating them. But, eating with only sensory pleasure in mind is going to probably end up with a greater possibility of health problems later in life. I could eat sweets, literally, all day when I was a child, and did! It was fun for a while, but all that lousy eating caught up with me fast, and I truly believe that my terrible eating habits learned early on in life set the stage for the endlessly mercurial state of ill-health that I have been grappling with for most of my time on this Earth. Learning that feeding ourselves is more than simply about enjoyment is key. Hunger is not supposed to be entertainment, or simply about sensorial pleasure. Nor is it simply about sating hunger. We must learn to nourish ourselves. We must always consider what is going to do our bodies the most good. But, figuring this out takes a lot of hard work! Learning to eat intelligently is a complicated journey, and it is a trail fraught with difficulty, and much room for error. The bottom line is: we need to educate ourselves, and learn how to feed ourselves correctly. That must be decided, first and foremost, by you.

Recognising the importance of eating healthy is everything to me nowadays. It seems sometimes that most people do not know much about food, other than how to get it from plate to face. Which, when you consider how central food is to the life of every human being on the planet, is rather bizarre… But, there is hope!  This is the first in a series of articles that will be written with the aim of giving those that are not quite sure how exactly to eat healthy some strategies on how they might begin to approach doing so. We hope this will lend a hand in assisting all our readers, students, and subscribers in their pursuit of living a happy, healthy life. This is our mission here at Inner Light Yoga.

Namaste!

-Sage