Читать книгу Eat Clean: Wok Yourself to Health - Ching-He Huang - Страница 6
ОглавлениеThe word ‘clean’, as described in the English dictionary, states ‘free from dirt, stain, impurities, pollution or contamination’. How can one possibly eat clean? Why do we need to eat clean?
When I started on my journey of eating clean, I did not expect to uncover the ‘dirt’… The chances are that if you eat processed foods, drink, smoke, eat a high-sugar and high-fat diet, your body is suffering from toxic overload and is unable to function at its best. You may not be suffering any physical symptoms or illness, but the long-term effects of this accumulation are not good. Daily accumulated damage to your cells and body can lead to serious irreversible damage that could be detrimental to your health. In the present day, there are so many auto-immune diseases and illnesses that doctors do not have the cure for and while there is no direct conclusive proof that diet affects health, you cannot help but see the truths that are right in front of us. Do people who smoke long term suffer lung damage? The answer is yes. Do people who drink excessively suffer liver damage? The answer is yes. Are people who eat a high-sugar diet more likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes? The answer is yes. My mother had type 2 diabetes and she reversed it by adopting healthy, clean eating more than 15 years ago.
What you put into your body directly affects your health and state of mind. Even a simple cup of coffee gives me a head rush, or a glass of wine makes my face flush. In other words, whatever we put into our bodies, there is an effect as a result of that action. Some effects from food can be more subtle and therefore deceptively harmless, so we often fail to recognise the signs and continue to pollute our bodies until they can’t take any more.
It isn’t as simple as eating healthy foods, either. It used to be. We have lost control of our food manufacturing and therefore we understand less about the processes than our grandparents did when they used to grow more of their food. Nowadays, 90% of the food found in the supermarket comes from a packet. In the past, most of the food came unpacked – either from a market or local shop or home grown.
If you truly look at wholefoods – defined as foods found in their natural state – only 10% of the foods found in the supermarkets can really be called ‘whole’ – and that is from the fresh fruit and vegetable counters. And yet within that section, only some products are labelled organic. Shouldn’t all foods be organic, as they once were? What is wrong with the inorganic stuff? What do we not know? Why is there a difference?
The way our food is produced is no longer simple. Complex food-manufacturing systems dictated to us by fulfilling economic efficiencies means we have lost our primordial ways of living and therefore eating. This balance has to be restored – but because of the complexity of the way our food is produced, we must work harder to seek out the best ingredients – if best means the most nutritious, and ‘nutritious’ being ‘clean’. Knowing where your food comes from and cultivating it as much as you can is difficult in the times we live in, yet, if everyone grew their own food or slaughtered their own animals, we would be a lot ‘cleaner’ and healthier, and we would have much less food wastage.
Through my own journey, I realised that the food allergies I suffered from were due not to the ingredients themselves, but to the additives the ingredients were combined with. For example, I noticed that when I consumed frozen shellfish, I would sometimes have an allergic reaction. However, on one occasion in Macau, I visited a seafood market where the catch was extremely fresh and the prawns hadn’t had time to be preserved. I didn’t have any allergic reaction at all; I ate six gigantic prawns with no effect, whereas previously any slight contact would have made my face swell in a second. I was in heaven.
This is when I started to notice a pattern. At first I thought the allergy was just with prawns, but when I consumed pizza dough, nuts or wines, the hives would resurface. My system must have been experiencing a toxic overload whereby any chemicals consumed would give rise to these allergic reactions. It was my body’s way of telling me that I had reached the limit and something drastic had to be done. I didn’t look unhealthy, but internally my body was not happy.
The body’s natural rhythm and metabolic function is affected by what we consume. If this is disrupted by ingesting high amounts of pollutants and additives, the body will struggle to reach its natural equilibrium. If the metabolism is affected, so is the body’s ability to burn fat. By eating clean, the body will stay clean and, ultimately, it will also be lean.
Why eat organic?
I’m a great fan of organic foods and believe that organic produce is healthier, as it is less exposed to artificial chemicals and fertilisers. It has a lower environmental impact and may have a higher nutritional content, too. Organic foods are more expensive to buy, but because of the benefits I really believe they are worth the extra money, so I choose to buy organic fruit and veg, dairy products and fish where possible.
I also exclusively choose organic meat. This is because I care about animals and their welfare. Organic livestock are given access to the outside, are fed organic food and are not allowed to be given hormones or antibiotics. This is obviously a much more pleasant environment for an animal to be raised in. And even if you are not concerned about animal welfare, eating organic meat makes sense because it means you get tastier cuts of meat that are free from chemicals and artificial drugs.
The general belief is that animals are not as evolved as humans. They hunt and follow their instincts blindly. However, I believe that as humans we have been blessed with greater consciousness and thus responsibility. Regardless of our instincts, we can consciously choose which actions we take, and by these actions are we defined as people.
At one time, of course, all foods were organic and I hope that we can return to this state of being again some day.
Seasonal, local food
Shopping for seasonal, local fruits and vegetables is something that I’ve been doing for a while; eating within the seasons ensures that produce is at its best both flavourwise and nutrientwise and is in abundance at the time. Eating seasonally is also better for the environment and produces fresher, cheaper ingredients.
To go one step further is to grow some of your own food. Recently this has become popular in cities where people are utilising any outdoor space to grow vegetables, berries and herbs. What could be more local than that?
From first-hand observation, my grandparents seemed much healthier than many of my parents’ generation and lived illness free until old age. They were farmers and lived off the produce from their land by necessity, not having access to processed foods. They were more active, too, and ate whole, organic foods within the seasons. Their generation probably had a lower life expectancy than elderly people now, but they lived until their late eighties. My point is that they lived until that age without heart disease, cancer or diabetes and died of old age, not disease. Of course, most of us don’t live on a farm – but we can still be in control of what we eat by choosing wisely.
Why no alcohol?
Limit alcohol or just quit drinking altogether. If you enjoy wine, look for wines with ‘no added sulphites’. Sulphites occur naturally in wine so no wines are actually sulphite-free; they just contain little enough that it doesn’t need to be declared on the label. Sulphites are one of the biggest causes of allergies (see here for more information). They are also regulated food additives that are used as preservatives to maintain food colour and prolong shelf life, prevent the growth of micro-organisms, and maintain the potency of certain medications. Sulphites are used to bleach food starches (such as potato) and are also used in the production of some food-packaging materials (such as cellophane).
The sulphites that can be added to foods are potassium bisulphite, potassium metabisulphite, sodium bisulphite, sodium dithionite, sodium metabisulphite, sodium sulphite, sulphur dioxide and sulphurous acid. You may also see them described as sulfites, sulphites or sulfiting or sulphiting agents.
Why no caffeine?
Caffeine is a stimulant and can wreak havoc with the body’s own natural metabolism, as it impairs the metabolising of glucose in the body which could potentially lead to weight gain. It is known to raise blood pressure in some people suffering from hypertension. It may cause insomnia, increase allergies, and cause indigestion, severe headaches, migraines and forceful heart contractions. This stimulant interferes with the body’s natural ability to regulate itself, so it is best to limit coffee and chocolate intake.
Why no GM products?
Genetically modified (GM) foods are derived from organisms whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering – for example, through the introduction of a gene from another organism. The human species has evolved over thousands of years by adapting slowly to its natural environment. Originally all foods were organic, yet in the last 20 years the human diet has changed. The biotech industry has targeted two of the most commonly eaten foods – corn and soy – and has altered them to ‘living modified organisms’. Now several countries in the world have banned GM foods because the impact and true cost to humans and the environment is unknown. This tampering with nature’s genetic code could have detrimental effects on human health. There have been several independent studies that show that GM products give rise to tumours in rats, produce smaller animal foetuses and contain high levels of the toxin ghlyphosate, which is linked to birth defects and illnesses. GM foods also cause severe inflammation of the stomach and enlarged uteri in pigs (whose gastro-intestinal tract is similar to that of humans).
I believe that not enough research and government regulation has gone into protecting our food sources and it is best to stay away from GM products. GM crops can also pollute other crops and many studies report that the world’s natural ecosystem could be destroyed by GM crops, which can eliminate their competing species in the wild, rendering many original life forms extinct.
We do not know the damaging health effects of consuming GM products either, and with an increase in gluten intolerances, coeliac disease, auto-immune diseases and cancer I think it is best not to take any risks, especially when there has been no conclusive evidence that GM foods are safe.
To read more, please see www.collective-evolution.com
Why low sugar?
Sugar is highly addictive. It can cause stress to the adrenal glands that regulate your metabolism and can put your system on a sugar high followed by a sugar low, with accompanying mood swings. Some experts suggest that ingesting excessive amounts of sugar is proven to lead to type 2 diabetes, which is reversible through a low-sugar diet. Sugar is present not only in the diet in the form of granular sugar, syrups and fructose, but also in carbohydrate-heavy starchy foods (including wholegrain varieties) such as rice, pasta, noodles and bread. Once digested, these sugars are turned into glucose, and this type of sugar can spike insulin levels and cause havoc with our body’s ability to naturally regulate itself.
The main problem is that many of the foods we consume today are high in sugar. A person may consume a sugar-laden smoothie or cereal for breakfast, followed by a large pasta meal at lunch and then a starchy rich meal for dinner, including a sweet dessert. A high-sugar diet also feeds the bad bacteria and yeast, such as candida, in our body, an overgrowth of which leads to all sorts of problems, including from skin rashes, heart palpitations and leaky gut syndrome (where the bacteria has eaten away at the walls of the intestines and bacteria and toxins from bacteria waste leak back into the bloodstream). In fact, a candida overgrowth as a result of too much sugar is a silent killer that scientists are only sharing with the public now.
Some doctors prescribe a strict no-sugar diet to limit the growth and spread of cancer cells within the body. Sugar is also incredibly ageing, as glucose in the cells shrink the cells; in the same way that salt is highly dehydrating, so too is sugar.
Sugar from seasonal fruit is a better, natural source. Combined with the naturally occurring fibre in fruit, this type of sugar provides slower-release energy than sweet drinks or sugary snacks. It is also less likely to upset your insulin and natural metabolism levels. Ideally, we should be eating less than 5g of sugar per day per 100g of food. I have included a glossary at the back of the book that details which fruits are in season and their respective calorie content.
As mentioned, bread and pasta spike your insulin levels and increase the glucose and sugar levels in your body, making vitamin absorption difficult. Surely these are more than good enough reasons to reduce one’s sugar consumption? The recipes in this book contain some sources of complex carbohydrates, such as brown rice, quinoa or noodles, including some sugars in vegetables such as carrots. However, limiting the frequency of eating these and their amounts, keeping their consumption in balance throughout the day, will limit the amount of glucose in the bloodstream.
Why reduce wheat?
It is also wise to reduce wheat consumption and ingredients that contain gluten, as gluten not only increases glucose levels but is also responsible for gastrointestinal issues, autoimmune diseases and thyroid problems.
Why no smoking?
Give up smoking! Did you know that along with nicotine (used as an insecticide), cigarettes also contain cadmium (used in batteries), stearic acid (used in candle wax), toluene (used as an industrial solvent), ammonia (used in toilet cleaners), paint, methanol (used in rocket fuel), arsenic (used in rat poison) and hexamine (used in barbecue lighter fuel)? Smoking also creates gases such as methane and carbon monoxide – more toxic chemicals. It is widely known that long-term smoking causes lung cancer.
Alkalinity equals balance and low inflammation and toxicity
Alcohol, sugar and caffeine, as mentioned before, are all acid-forming foods that increase the pH of the body. The body’s desired state is an alkaline state. You can check your alkaline levels by putting a strip of litmus paper on your tongue to test your saliva. Healthy saliva gives a reading of pH 6.5–7.5, meaning it is in an alkaline state. It is important to make sure that the body is not in an acidic state, as acidity increases inflammation of the body, leading to acid reflux, digestion problems, allergies, indigestion, bloating, heartburn, fatigue and mood swings. The long-term health problems of a body in a constant acidic state can lead to serious and more chronic illnesses.
Food provides sources of both acidic and alkaline properties, and by eating the right foods, the body can maintain a healthy balanced state of alkalinity. I have created recipes with this balance in mind. Most foods, such as meat, fish, dairy, grains, most nuts, sugar, shellfish, soft drinks, processed tomatoes, corn, beans and sweet potatoes, are acidifying. Whole fruits and vegetables, barley, buckwheat and Brazil nuts are alkalising. It is important to be aware of the pH of the food you are consuming, together with food ingredients, so that you can keep the body in balance. By limiting alcohol, sugar, caffeine and dairy products in your diet, your body is on its way to a low acid state and so low toxicity. By eating the right foods, the body has a chance of healing and re-balancing itself.
Routine is Good For Health: Cleanse Every Day
Back in our primordial days, we slept when it got dark and we woke with the sunrise. There were no in-between snacks or munchies at midnight, and so our body had a long rest period from eating. This is a period of natural fasting when the body has a chance to renew itself and the digestive system gets a break. So when we wake, we awake hungry and ready for food, hence why we break-the-fast. Breakfast is considered to be the most important meal of the day, setting you up for the day to come.
However, many Chinese practitioners recommend drinking a glass of body-temperature water (also known as the ‘life-saving first drink’) before breakfast, because it helps to rehydrate the body after a long night’s fast. It also cleans the gut so that it can work most efficiently and absorb nutrients. Many health books recommend drinking up to 1 litre of warm water first thing in the morning and then waiting 90 minutes before eating, to help flush out all the toxins. Toxins also build up in the saliva around the teeth at night, so it’s important to get up, clean your teeth and then drink warm water, otherwise you are flushing the toxins that have collected in your mouth right back inside your body, meaning that it has to work harder. During the 90-minute wait it is recommended that you try to go to the toilet so that any waste matter can be expelled.
If you have trouble going to the toilet, you can try 1 tablespoon of organic castor oil mixed with the juice of 1 large orange. Wait 90 minutes and drink a cleansing herbal tea during this time until you get some bowel movement. This can be done once a month to keep the system cleansed. Personally I find it is not as harsh on my system as other detox pills and methods.
4 Drinks to Help You Break-The-Fast
1. A litre of warm water from the kettle
Drink and wait 90 minutes before eating solid foods.
2. Organic castor oil and orange juice (once a month)
1 tablespoon organic castor oil
juice of 1 large orange
Mix together and drink on an empty stomach. Wait 90 minutes, during which time sip herbal tea before eating solid foods.
Note: If you are pregnant or have bowel disease, please consult your doctor about taking castor oil.
3. Organic cider vinegar drink
1 tablespoon organic, unfiltered, natural fermented apple cider vinegar (look for ones that contain ‘mother’ – strands of proteins, enzymes and friendly bacteria)
250ml warm water
1 teaspoon organic manuka honey (optional – leave it out if you are diabetic)
Mix all of the above together, stir and drink on an empty stomach. Wait 30 minutes before eating solid foods.
4. Lemon juice warm water
juice of ½ organic lemon
250ml warm water
Combine the two, stir and drink on an empty stomach. Wait 30 minutes before eating solid foods.
It is important to get the body into a routine. Breakfast doesn’t appeal to many people and it is to do with lifestyle. For example, if you eat late at night, the body won’t feel hungry until midday the next day, especially if you have had a heavy meal, although the length of this time can vary from person to person depending on their digestion. So it is no wonder that some people don’t care for breakfast and usually skip it.
Some health experts say just eat when you are hungry and listen to your body, and this is true – which is why most late-night eaters would say that breakfasts are not for them. It works, too, because the body naturally adjusts and works around your lifestyle. However, this puts a lot of stress on the body. The body has to work harder to adjust; it has so much waste to eliminate, with thousands of chemical reactions taking place every day, trying to get clean air and supplies all around the body, why shouldn’t we make it our priority to give it a helping hand?
The least we can do is try to follow a regime. This may require a huge change in lifestyle, but a commitment like this is for life if we are to live a healthy long life and make the best use of our bodies and our time on Earth. Personally, when I have a routine I find my sleep patterns are more regulated, I sleep more soundly and when I am fully rested I don’t need an alarm clock to wake me up in the morning – I awake naturally. This is correlated to the time of your last meal: for example, if you wake up at 7am, work back 12 hours and you will notice that a meal that ends at 7pm the night before will mean you will wake up by 7am the next day, because the hunger pangs will naturally awaken you. There are many studies that report that our liver will detox best while we sleep and ideally if we are asleep before 1am. It takes a couple of hours to reach a deep sleep, so the optimum time to get to sleep is around 11pm. As it can take 3–4 hours to digest food, by the time you sleep, the body will be ready to heal itself rather than having to concentrate on digesting food, because the gut will have had time to heal any inflammation it may have.
So try to make a routine and stick to it. By eating a sensible and balanced diet and taking regular exercise, this natural rhythm of fasting and giving your digestive system a break will allow you to keep your weight in check. This is because your body will have the chance to rest, and if we need mental R & R, so does the gut.
The best way to ‘break-the-fast’ is with nutritious, low-GI foods (foods that don’t spike blood sugar levels) that make you feel satisfied and energised for longer.
Calories, Nutrition and Yíngyǎng
For men, nutritionists recommend a guideline consumption of 2,500 calories daily, and for women, 2,000. However, even these values can vary depending on age, metabolism and levels of physical activity. Calories are used to measure how much food you are consuming and it is relatively easy to understand if you are on a weight-loss programme. Of course, it’s simple to say and assume that if you consume more calories than you burn, you gain weight, and if you consume less than you burn, you lose weight.
However, this shouldn’t be the only way to measure food, because it is misleading. Dieticians in the West and Chinese food therapists also think in terms of nutritional value – Yíngyǎng. They think of the food in terms of its nutritional content: fast food has no yin-yang and fresh food has lots of Yíngyǎng. Thinking of the nutritional value of the food, as opposed to its calorific content, helps with your food choices. When we use the term nutritional content or value, we mean in terms of nutrients. So, for example, is the dish or ingredient rich in vitamins, amino acids; is it acidifying or alkalising?
Is the ingredient yin or yang; does it impart a warming quality or a cooling effect on the body? These principles are what differentiate the Eastern and Western approaches to nutrition and therefore to diet and dieting. Having lived in the West on an Eastern diet, I am fascinated by the amount of people who comment on the healthiness of Chinese and Asian cookery – although this is dependent on the quality of the ingredients, the way it is cooked and what with!
Of course, most Chinese and South-East Asian diets are mainly based on fresh ingredients – vegetables, rice, grains and little meat – but they can also be high in sodium and sugar. Yes, we don’t use butter – but we do cook with a lot of oil and sometimes MSG. In the same way that Westerners have introduced the concept of eating salads (via Pizza Hut salad bars) that are deemed healthy to the Chinese and Asians in their respective countries, I have come to realise that a combination of the two disciplines, an East–West integrated approach, may be the way forward for people striving to achieve a balanced healthy diet and a healthy weight that can be maintained in the long term.
There are many different approaches to diet and dieting. Some people suffer terrible allergies to specific foods and therefore have to eliminate certain ingredients from their diet – for example, nuts, shellfish, meat or dairy. Some people have so many problems that they need a drastic overhaul of their diet and so turn to raw veganism, and some are pescatarians. I believe there is no need for drastic measures but rather for a balanced way of eating that combines a little bit of everything, that contains the highest amounts of Yíngyǎng and ‘clean’ ingredients. Here are a few simple truths – and some of them might even challenge your pre-conceived ideas of optimum nutrition and health!
Did You Know?
1 Juicing is a good way to get a large hit of the vitamins you need in a handy glass, but it contains little fibre. Be aware of smoothies and juices: they can spike your insulin levels, as you are basically drinking liquid sugar. Instead, eat five portions of vegetables a day and limit yourself to one portion of fruit at any one time. It is worth noting that eating fruit as part of a meal will stop the sugar from being absorbed so quickly. Or choose low-GI (glycemic index – see here) fruits such as apples).
2 If you do juice, don’t just juice fruit, juice vegetables as well – for example, broccoli, kale and cabbage, with lime or lemon juice. Be sure to buy organic fruit and vegetables (or grow your own), otherwise you are drinking juice plus pesticides.
3 If you can stomach eating the peel and seeds of fruit such as oranges and lemons, do chew well. Papaya seeds are known to be healthful cures against parasites and harmful bacteria. You can grind these and add them to shakes or porridge. These are nature’s natural detox cleansing pills. Consult a herbalist, as some fruit seeds can contain toxins, but from my own experience, fresh seeds from grapefruit, lemons, oranges and papaya seeds are OK. Of course, dried seeds from watermelons, pumpkin and sunflowers are all good nutritional mineral sources, too.
4 Traditional Chinese medicine (similar to Indian Ayurveda) advises that you should eat the five tastes every day – sweet, salty, bitter, spicy and sour. Bitter is perhaps the hardest to take in daily, but teas and spices deliver on this. It is most important to look for natural ingredients, such as wholefoods, that contain these tastes.
5 Be aware of too many soy products. Buy organic or non-genetically modified sources of soy. Some studies have proved that soy can lower testosterone, block essential minerals from being absorbed and cause gastro-intestinal problems.
The Chinese philosophy states the 7 daily essentials: firewood (as a heat source), tea, rice, oil, salt, vinegar and sauce (natural fermented pastes that contain healthful bacteria). Oil and salt are good for you as long as they are from natural and ‘clean’ sources – free from as many pesticides and chemicals as possible. Salt should be from mineral-rich sources such as rock salt or sea salt, although conventional medicine would recommend avoiding added-salt and high-salt foods. Generally, our modern diets mean we consume more salt than we should.
6 Sweat – go to a sauna once a week and drink plenty of water. All the toxins collect around our cells and one way to help expel them is to exercise and sweat. Our skin is the largest detox organ found in our bodies and we never think to make full use of it. We think of sweating as gross and do all sorts to block sweat, but we are hindering our body from working at its optimum level. Anti-perspirants are full of chemicals that are absorbed directly into the body. If you are sweaty, then sweat! It is the body’s way of clearing the toxins.
7 Drink more water, especially in the morning. Drinking water on an empty stomach helps to cleanse the colon and gut, thereby increasing its ability to absorb nutrients. It also helps prevent constipation, increases the production of new blood and muscle cells, helps with weight loss and can boost the metabolism. Chinese dietary practices believe that water should be drunk at room temperature or body temperature, which is 37.5ºC. Ice-cold water can ‘shock’ the stomach into inactivity. Drinking water helps improve the skin, gets rid of toxins from the blood and keeps your skin clear and glowing. Keeping hydrated also balances your lymph system, which helps perform daily functions like fight infection. Water also helps your skin look plump and youthful, so you stay looking younger for longer. And who doesn’t want that? Just make sure you buy a good filter to filter out any pollutants or chemicals found in tap water.
Clean Eating = Good Health = Lean and Slim
If you have picked up this book in the hope of getting lean, then unsurprisingly the answer is clean, consistent eating. Consistently choosing the right foods over time WILL deliver results. This is hardly a revolutionary idea. However, the clean recipes in this book are so easy to cook and taste great that it makes being consistent that much easier.
If you are currently at a body weight you are unhappy with, it’s important to recognise that you did not get that way overnight. It was most likely gradually crept up on you. The same goes for losing weight – it’s a slow journey that takes time. Consistent actions will produce lasting results.
Weight loss is not about starving yourself but rather about feeding your body with all the precious, essential nutrients that will help build the body of our dreams: by looking good, we feel great and by feeling great, we look good. This is the balance of yin and yang (light and dark), energy and matter, body and mind, soul and spirit, conscious and unconscious.
Eating to sustain the body is crucial for our well-being, but we have lost our way and people now eat ‘emotionally’ to fill a void. When we eat to fill an emotion, it often leads to disaster! We make poor choices and we don’t eat to fill the body with nutrients, and often we put more stress on it by eating the wrong foods. This balance needs to be tipped as obesity numbers are rising faster than ever.
The world works in perfect unity – from warm to hot to mild to cold. Just as our planet needs our love and care, our body is our world and its ecosystem is regulated by how much we nurture it with love and nutrients. This connection between all things and all emotions is the key to what you desire.
This mindset is important, because the desire to achieve your full potential will drive you to understand nutrition and to learn how to cook and eat so that you can get those results. Having this knowledge will empower you to make positive changes to your diet.
So every time you reach for something to eat, ask yourself if you are truly hungry. And question why you are eating. This is the first step to being honest with yourself and fully aware of your habits so that you can avoid emotional eating and therefore overeating! Keeping a diary, being on track of what you eat, is not an obsessive thing to do – in fact, it is an obsession we should keep. Our bodies have to function every day for the rest of our lives, so why shouldn’t we be obsessive about keeping them strong and healthy?
The Science Behind Our Food
Macro-nutrients
The foods that we eat are primarily comprised of three different macro-nutrients. These are fats, proteins and carbohydrates. We need a balance of all these nutrients in order to have good health.
Fats
Although fats have got a bad name in the past, it is now clear that they are very important for humans to maintain good health and metabolic function. It’s more about the kind of fats that you are consuming.
Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats are better for you. These are usually liquid at room temperature and when eaten in moderation reduce blood cholesterol and thus diminish the chance of heart disease. Omega-3 fatty acids are a type of polyunsaturated fat and are extremely good for heart health. The best source of omega-3 fats is oily fish; some plant foods such as walnuts, flaxseeds and their oils also contain some.
Try to stay away from saturated fats from animal sources, as these raise cholesterol and increase the risk of heart disease. However, saturated fats from plant sources, such as coconut oil, may not have this problem and some experts believe they may actually contribute towards heart health. Trans fats or hydrogenated fats are also ones to avoid. These are oils that have had hydrogen chemically added to them. These fats cause a rise in cholesterol and significantly increase the risk of heart disease.
Protein
Protein is vital for the growth and repair of muscle, ligaments and tendons, DNA replication and cell regeneration.
Proteins are made up from chains of amino acids. These can be non-essential amino acids, meaning that the body can manufacture them itself, or essential amino acids, meaning that the body cannot synthesise them and they must therefore be consumed from food. There are nine essential amino acids, and proteins containing all nine are called ‘complete’. Those that don’t contain all nine are thus termed ‘incomplete’.
There are abundant sources of complete protein in meat, eggs, fish, dairy and quinoa. Protein is also found in beans and grains, and although they are classed as incomplete, two or more groups of these foods (for example, black beans and rice) can be combined to create a complete array of amino acids.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are used as a primary energy source within our bodies. Sugars and starches are both made from sugar molecules, and after these enter the bloodstream, insulin takes the sugar into the body’s cells (including the brain, liver and muscles) to provide energy or fuel for the body. If there is an excess, it is stored as fat.
When we eat simple carbs, our bloodstream is flooded with sugar due to this simple chemical structure being digested quickly. The body cannot deal with this sudden rise in blood sugar, so the body processes it quicker by releasing insulin, and any excess sugar not used immediately by the body as fuel is stored as fat.
Complex carbs or starches, on the other hand, are comprised of many sugar molecules joined together in long chains and are usually found in wholefood sources such as sweet potato. These long chains take much longer to be digested and therefore release energy slowly over a period of hours. This gradual release does not greatly spike insulin levels and therefore doesn’t trigger fat storage. These carbs tend to have a much lower rating on the glycemic index (GI). The glycemic index is a system of rating how fast carbohydrates are converted into glucose in the body. The higher the GI number, the faster the glucose levels rise in the body. Another benefit of eating complex carbs is that they usually come with lots of fibre, too. Fibre will make you feel full, so that you are more satisfied and therefore less likely to over-eat unhealthy foods. It also keeps your digestive system working correctly and can help to lower cholesterol.
It will come as no surprise, then, that I advocate sticking to carbohydrates from complex sources as much as possible, as it will help you become heathier and leaner. In fact, if you never consumed a simple carbohydrate during your whole life you would be just fine! One exception to this is eating fruit. Fruit contains fructose which, even though it is a simple sugar, does not have a high impact on blood sugar levels due to its fibre content and because it is metabolised differently in the body. However, eating too much fruit, like anything else, will lead to weight gain, so consume in moderation. It’s also best to try to avoid any processed food containing fructose as a sweetener as it is extremely concentrated and goes straight into the liver, which can cause toxicity.
Tracking macros
An extremely useful tool for anyone wanting to get lean is to track your macro-nutrients (carbohydrates, fats and proteins). The premise is that to gain or lose weight you need to consume a certain number of calories every day. These calories are made up from carbohydrates, fats and proteins in differing amounts. By tracking them, you can see how much of each you are consuming daily and easily hit your target for each macro.
There are lots of macro-nutrient calculators online that will tell you how much of each macro-nutrient you should be consuming per day based on your goal, height, weight, sex and activity level. These are useful as a starting point but everybody is different, so it requires some trial and error to find out which amounts make you lose/gain weight. Keeping a daily record allows you to figure out how many calories you need to consume to lose weight and what those calories should come from.
Although this approach requires some effort, it is well worth trying. Logging your food is easier then ever – I can recommend this online calculator as a good starting point: www.healthyeater.com/flexible-dieting-calculator. Or if you have a smart phone, Calorie Count is a very handy app to track your macros. Tracking macros also has the benefit of reducing hunger pangs greatly. This is because when focused on hitting the macro targets people tend to eat more regularly, are less hungry between meals, and thus avoid snacking. The result of this is that for most of the day you are full up with healthy food and junk food cravings are greatly diminished.
All of the recipes in the book have both the total calories and the macro-nutrient breakdown to make it easy for anyone following this approach.
A deeper connection through choice – choose clean eating, choose health
This book was born out of my desire to eat and live better. I was creating recipes as a chef and thought my food was healthy, but I wanted to really know, have a deeper understanding of and monitor the nutrients that my body consumes. As I age, I want to be healthy and fit, I want to be in the best shape I can be. I want to enjoy food, eat well and I want to be aware of what I eat. While researching for this book, what I found was a revelation – that most ingredients in their pure unprocessed state are full of goodness. It’s not difficult to eat healthily, it’s about making healthful food choices, about being mindful in choosing to eat well. On the whole, our body is ingenious, here to protect and take care of us if we feed it the right nutrients to allow it to work efficiently. By feeding it the right fuels, maintaining one’s natural slim waistline without overly exercising is within reach.
I wanted to find a way to break all this down to serve as a reminder to help us to eat consciously. We can choose to be happy or healthy or both. It comes back to a state of mind. We can choose to be responsible for our lives and the environment we live in, or we can choose to be ignorant. There is no right or wrong, no judgements made; however, your choices reveal who you really are and who you want to be. Are you conscious or unconscious? Are you open- or closed-minded? Do you choose love or fear? Wellness or illness? This may seem rather extreme – and it is! But being true to yourself is the root of good emotional health and translates to good body health. Hence the term body, mind and spirit. Only you have yourself to answer to!
The future of food – a revolution in ‘thoughtful’ eating
My comparisons are extreme, but there is food for thought here. The world is overpopulated, yet if we really wanted to save our oceans and stop the killing of animals, we could – but we don’t. Could the world’s population stop eating fish for 10 years and wouldn’t fish stocks be restored? If we all stopped eating processed foods for 10 years and only ate a diet of wholefoods, wouldn’t we be in the best health of our lives? I don’t mean to be preachy. I think we should spend more time caring about what is truly important in life – food, water, love, care and respect for the environment. If we all cared and shared the same values as human beings, perhaps we would be one step closer to solving the world’s problems together. And what is more important than securing sustainable sources of healthful, pure, clean foods?
I do not have the answers to all questions, because I am on my own journey to understanding all the complexity that surrounds our current system. The world produces more food than ever before, yet we have more complex diseases than ever. This is rather worrying, as food is supposed to sustain us, not cause us illness! Our health depends on the cleanliness and health of our planet. We could all do with cleaning up our acts individually and collectively for future generations. For me, if this means sacrificing my palate, then so be it. I know I am not alone in this quest. Cultural beliefs and eating habits will ultimately change as we will fight together for change for survival.
A Cook’s Notes
• All recipes serve 1, unless otherwise stated.
• Use organic ingredients where possible.
• There are specific egg brands that are organic; the hens are fed a special diet, so have increased sources of omega 3. Look out for these as they have a higher nutrient content.
• I prefer to use a combination of organic coconut oil and rapeseed oil. For those wanting a lower calorie and fat content, substitute 1 tablespoon of coconut oil for half a tablespoon of rapeseed oil or 1 teaspoon of coconut oil with ½ teaspoon of rapeseed oil. This will reduce the amount of fat, saturated fat and calories.
• No processed ingredients – all in their natural state where possible.
• Avoid ingredients in metal packaging (such as tins) where possible.
• If you are consuming papaya seeds as part of a detox programme, look to buy non-genetically modified papayas from Mexico or South America. Take no more than 1 tablespoon a day. If you are pregnant or trying, don’t eat papaya seeds.
• Some Asian food recipes can be high in sodium, so try to eat these recipes with other low-sodium meals to balance sodium levels on any given day. The recommended daily limit for sodium is 2400mg per day.
• For those who need more protein, add one more medium egg to any breakfast meal; the nutritional values for one extra egg are:
• For those who want to increase their protein intake, add organic whey powder to your meals.
• For those wanting to reduce their sodium intake, halve the amount of low-sodium light soy, tamari, salt or stock used. For low-sodium light soy, make sure it is made from gm-free soya beans.
• As a substitute for rice wine, enhance the umami or savoury flavour by adding a tablespoon of vegetable bouillon stock in liquid form. Or use 1 tablespoon of water to create extra liquid or steam.
• Drink plenty of filtered water – aim for a maximum of 2 litres per day.
• In this book, all ingredients purchased were from organic sources where possible, but inevitably not every food is easily available in an organic form.
• There are a few recipes that require a grill pan.
• Limit sugar. Where I have used it in the recipes, I have chosen organic soft brown sugar or caster sugar for natural goodness, and only a small pinch.
My Top 20 Essential Everyday Ingredients to Help Eat Clean
1 Organic coconut oil – unprocessed, unrefined, pure coconut oil. Solid at room temperature, but melts as it hits the wok. Coconut oil is a stable fat and the latest unconventional nutrition experts advocate using coconut oil, stating that it is good for the heart, reducing the risk of heart disease by lowering cholesterol. (Source: Coconut Cures, Bruce Fife N.D.)
