In the first HEALTHY EATING blog, it was emphasized that your body, though fearfully and wonderfully made, still needs time when it is not constantly busy with  digestion.  There needs to be time for focus on other goals.  After all, there is a lot of machinery…..a lot of  moving parts to maintain.  So leaving longer periods between feedings is important!  SHOCKING AS THIS TRUTH IS, for most people, it is healthy to skip meals and even healthy to fast for 24 hours or longer.

However,  during the time that we ARE eating, we need to supply our bodies with the right tools and material to build and maintain everything in the best working order.  Much of what is sold as food these days has very little nutrition.  We can eat a lot of calories with very little benefit.  It actually takes a lot of knowledge to avoid all of the new but unhealthy choices trying to steal your grocery dollars!

One helpful resource, published by the government, is THE DIETARY GUIDELINES FOR AMERICANS.  The USDA and The department of health and human services work together to issue this guidance.  It is updated every 5 years, with the current issue covering 2015 – 2020.  This is your tax dollars at work, so take advantage of it!   

It takes a lot of time and work to change a habit, but even small shifts in the right direction can yield big benefits.  No one follows guidelines perfectly. But  we can use guidelines to improve bit by bit. 

The latest guidance from The dietary guidelines for Americans give us FIVE basic rules to follow

• 1 – Follow a healthy eating pattern across your lifespan
• 2 – Focus on variety, nutrient density, and amount
• 3 – Limit calories from added sugars and saturated fats and reduce sodium intake
• 4 – Shift to healthier food and beverage choices
• 5 – support healthier eating patterns for all

This is just a starting point.  Of course, there is a lot more information on the government site, so to further explore it, visit www.dietaryguidelines.gov.

We will continue to explore healthy eating at SMALLTOWNDOCTORMOM, so please continue to visit us!

 SMALL SHIFTS TOWARD HEALTHIER EATING CAN YIELD LARGE BENEFITS 

In American culture, food plays a prominent role.  Unfortunately, so do obesity and poor nutrition.  So is food a blessing or a curse?  It can be both……………but it doesn’t need to be!

Many years ago, Benjamin Franklin said “To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.”  We are finally coming around to this truth again with the concept of intermittent fasting.  The internet is full of different applications of this concept, but basically it involves condensing your eating hours into a finite portion of your day.  Very simple!  It eliminates the 24/7 grazing!  You schedule your meals so that there is enough time between dinner one night and breakfast the next morning for your body to attend to needed functions besides digestion.

It takes about 4-6 hours for your stomach to empty (or clean up) after a meal.  Every bite you eat affects your body, sometimes for good and sometimes for ill.  However, when you are constantly processing and storing food, there is no chance for organizing and repair work.  Think about your kitchen… if groceries were constantly being dropped off with no time to put them where they go,  your shelves would soon be in disarray.  It is like that with your body.  There needs to be time when your body is able to focus on other needed functions – muscle building, cell surveillance, autophagy (more on this later), etc.

So if you are a nibbler or a grazer, try to leave AT LEAST 12 hours between the last time you take a bite today and the next time you take a bite tomorrow!  This can help if you  are struggling with obesity, fatigue, or poor health of some variety.   Consider letting your food be part of your health or medical regimen.  Supply healthy nutrients, but ALSO supply rest periods for your stomach and digestive track.

A HEALTHY DIET STARTS WITH SETTING LIMITS –   GOOD NUTRITION INVOLVES TIMES WHEN YOU EAT HEALTHY AND TIMES WHEN YOU DON’T EAT AT ALL!