Diet (the basics)

Lets talk about diet. I liked the 5 a day campaign, it was a good campaign. It got people thinking about how much raw fruit and vegetables they and their families were eating and put it in the front of their minds to choose wisely. The fact is that raw food has way more nutritional value than cooked food. It’s good for you. Whether it is good for you or not is not debated everyone agrees that it is. The debate that is raging is about how much is good for you.

I have friends who are on a 100% raw food diet, in fact in order to get the freshest food they often forage in the forests and fields for dandelions, mushrooms, nettles, wild garlic etc… I have friends who don’t eat any raw food. I certainly don’t advocate 100% raw food although the health benefits are remarkable; I think it is difficult in our current culture to do that.

The human mind and body are indeed amazing and we have an incredible ability to adapt to even the most toxic environments. We should draw our nutrition from the environment in which we evolved; to me this is common sense. So I do advocate at least 5 portions of fresh fruit and vegetables (in the whole form, preferably with the roots still attached J) a day and if you have to cook the vegetables then singe them or steam them to retain as much of the essential nutrients as possible. I also advocate eating less of the processed foods which are a cause of a great deal of biochemical stress, which in turn leads to increased levels of inflammation and acidity.

Just a note on the 5 a day campaign, it was great when it was the whole food but then as usually happens commercial interests tarnished the campaign. I leave it with you. Eat everything as close to what nature intended as possible. That is the advice I give to my patients and it works.

PS I call this the basics because I am asked a lot about supplements. Healthy people need real food not supplements. Get the basics right and supplements will be unnecessary.