We live in busy times. Food ‘on the go’ is now seen as the norm and a family meal is becoming a thing of the past. However, we are more tuned in to ‘reading the packaging’ than ever before, but have you noticed that once people buy their food they give little thought to how they prepare or eat it?

By taking time to appreciate what you are eating you’ll not only feel better when you’re eating, but you’ll find it easier to control your weight, you’ll feel better after meals and your body will get more nutrition from what you have eaten.

Effective eating

• Do you find time to prepare food effectively?
• Do you eat only when you’re hungry?
• Do you really enjoy your meals?
• Do you eat slowly and chew all of your food well?

Or. . .

• Do you eat ‘on the go’ or in front of the television?
• Do you find yourself wolfing your food down and feeling full or even bloated after your meal?
• Do you try to lose weight with the latest fad foods or combinations?

Here are a few things to do and things to avoid.

THINGS TO DO

• Have a tranquil mind at meal times.
• Chew each mouthful slowly.
• Think about the taste of each mouthful.
• Use your tongue to taste food as you eat it.
• Eat slowly – it’s not a race.
• Only eat when you are hungry.

THINGS TO AVOID

• Watching TV when you eat – turn off the box!
• The ‘diet’ mentality.
• Drinking liquid with your meal – separate liquid intake from eating by 10 minutes.
• Eating while stressed or tired – this inhibits digestion and creates fermentation (yuk).
• Eating while you are ill.
• Overeating – easy to write, easy to read, hard to do – especially when the food is fantastic. So just ask yourself as you are eating, ‘Have I had enough?’ Then listen to your body for the answer.

Food awareness

Food can provide your body with nutrients that cleanse your cells and give you energy and vitality; or food can kill your cells, suck vitality from your life and drain your energy. Sounds dramatic, but it’s true.

However, nutrition needn’t be a minefield and with a little time and thought you can quickly turn things around. The great thing about improved nutrition is that you see the results very quickly too; even after just a few days or weeks you’ll notice differences.

Learn from others

Okinawa is a small island just off the coast of Japan. Its inhabitants, the Okinawans, are described as the ‘longest lived people on the planet’ and boast more centenarians than any community in the world. And it’s not just that they’ve reached a ripe old age either – they’re fit, healthy and agile too.

I don’t know about you, but I’m interested to know what they do and how they do it. Actually it’s very simple. They eat well, listen to what nature is telling them and practise pretty much everything that is in this health section of How to Have a Brilliant Life.

The principles of healthy eating

If you found yourself with low marks for food awareness then these 13 principles of healthy eating should form the foundations of your new approach to food:

1. Eat consciously and remember to breathe while eating.
2. Make vegetables and fruit 60% of your daily food intake. The most important foods to eat are the green vegetables and their juices. Aim to have a vegetable juice daily and vegetables or a salad with every meal.
3. Eat fruit as a snack on an empty stomach. Separate it from other foods if possible due to the fact it digests so rapidly. Don’t eat fruit late at night.
4. Eat and/or supplement essential fats and oils. Have a serving of flax oil every day. Avoid frying with oils and use the best-quality olive oil you can afford on your salad.
5. Discover sprouted seeds and beans. Sprouting soybeans, pumpkin seeds and aduki beans makes them incredibly rich in vitamin C and zinc, and they are also very high in protein. Sprouting is a fun activity to do at home too.
6. Eat at least four servings of fresh fish per week. Fish is rich in Omega 3 oils that are not only amazing for your heart but also for your mind.
7. Choose organic, locally produced meat, eat small portions, and don’t have meat every day.
8. Eat whole grains. Avoid ‘white’ processed grains. Try new grains like spelt, buckwheat, quinoa and different forms of rice.
9. Watch your carbohydrate intake. Choose low GI options, e.g. sweet potato instead of normal potato, spelt pasta instead of white pasta.
10. Eat dairy products and processed meats sparingly.
11. Invest in organic foods wherever possible, and get a good-quality vegetable wash to remove pesticides and chemicals when organic isn’t an option.
12. Learn to reduce or eliminate acid-forming foods in your diet. These include alcohol, caffeine and carbonated drinks.
13. Avoid smoking.

Hydration

Thirsty? Then you are already severely dehydrated. And a slightly more embarrassing question. What colour is your pee?

Water makes up more than half the weight of your body:

• Your brain is 76% water.
• Your lungs are 90% water.
• Your blood is 84% water.

Without water, you would die in a few days. Every cell in your body depends on water for its very function.

Water serves as a lubricant; it forms the base of saliva and the fluids that surround your joints. Water regulates the body temperature. Cooling and heating is distributed through perspiration. If you are dehydrated, you will never be able to function with amazing vitality and energy.

Have I persuaded you to drink lots of water yet? No? Well, here’s one more reason:

• 90% of the world’s population is chronically dehydrated.

Side-effects of dehydration

• Stress.
• Headaches.
• Back pain.
• Allergies.
• Weight gain.
• Inability to lose weight.
• Asthma.
• High blood pressure.
• Alzheimer’s disease.
• An overly acidic body.

So how do you get so dehydrated?

Just through activities of daily living. The average day’s loss of fluid is four litres, which is generally replaced by the fluids we drink and the food we eat. The most common cause of increased fluid loss is exercise and sweating. (I bet just for a second there you thought ‘Brilliant, I’ll stop exercising then!’) The effects of even mild dehydration are decreased coordination, fatigue and impaired judgement.

Do you know if you are dehydrated?

• A dry mouth is the last outward sign.
• If you are thirsty it means your cells are already dehydrated.
• A severely dehydrated body produces orange or dark-coloured urine.
• A somewhat dehydrated body produces yellow urine.
• A well-hydrated body produces colourless urine.

How much water do you need to drink?

• As a general rule, you need to drink at least two litres of water every day – not all in one go! I’d suggest you sip water most of the day, but give your system a rest for an hour or so a couple of times a day.
• You should take in another two litres of water a day in the form of water-dense foods (fruit and vegetables).
• You should start sipping water as soon as you wake in the morning. Treat yourself to half a litre before you leave home. This is when you are the most toxic and dehydrated.