Eating and the Environment

Top Food Choices for a Healthier Life

How to Create a Diet That Gives You a Happier Life

This blog post is not medical advice and in no way replaces the care of your preferred medical professional.

Our modern world can be stressful. Finances, relationship problems, sleep and waking cycles, electromagnetic fields, and environmental toxins all play a part in it. But there is good news. We can change our lifestyle philosophy and habits to embrace healthier options. Our choices for food are one way of doing that.

Get the Lead Out: Choosing Foods That Chelate

When our son was about eight months old, we learned that his body contained elevated lead levels. We didn’t know whether the lead came from old paint chips or from crawling on the floor somewhere. For a few more months his blood tests showed the presence of lead. But then the levels quickly fell within acceptable limits.

Our family learned that foods high in vitamin C will help remove lead from the bloodstream. Strawberries, cabbage, and broccoli are high on this list of foods. Besides raw foods rich in Vitamin C, cilantro and parsley can pull heavy metals out of the body, specifically mercury. This is especially important in areas where coal-produced electricity affects the water supply.

Choosing Foods That Support You

In addition to eating foods to detox, our family chooses to eat foods that support health.

We prefer sea vegetables ethically harvested from the Atlantic Ocean. These are higher in healthy iodine and minerals, which helps to protect and balance the thyroid. We avoid those harvested from the Pacific Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. Try throwing a handful of sea vegetables in your kimchi.

Raw, fermented like homemade kimchi, sauerkraut, ginger beer are great for reducing toxicity. Kombucha, yogurt, and kefir also make regular appearances in our home. The bacteria created by the fermentation process are beneficial to your digestive system. They help to break down the food you eat, making the vitamins and minerals more available to your body. Nothing is as satisfying as dishing out a helping of kimchi made with veggies from your garden!

Mushrooms are another one of our favorites foods, but you have to cook them! Mushrooms are said to be good for everything from getting rid of a cold to fighting cancer. Paul Stamets of Fungi Perfecti has shared research in Permaculture Activist issue 12 that mushrooms exposed to sunlight for two days store many times the Vitamin D of their counterparts. If it’s good enough for squirrels, it’s got to be good enough for us!

Here are a few other things to consider incorporating into your weekly or yearly diet.

  • Stress and relaxation programs can help with balancing your hormones, especially cortisol and adrenaline
  • Water is critical for your health

A great book to read to learn more about these topics is Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon.

For more help on choosing a healthy diet and growing your own nutritious food, visit the Garden Tower Project today.

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