SPG - Healthy Living

Post date: Mar 27, 2018

Rebecca did an awesome job on Sunday, talking us through how the human body digests food, the main food groups (with reference to the poor food pyramid), and how to eat balanced meals 3 times a day.

Some key points (from Dylan's point of view) to summarise:

Take the time to prepare before eating - smell, look, taste, think - these get the enzymes going in the stomach and benefit digestion. Eating should be enjoyable and preferably social. Food should be well chewed. Wine best 2 hours before or after a meal because of the high tannins that bind to minerals. Drinking something acidic (apple cider vinegar(ACV), lemon juice, kombucha, etc with water) half an hour before eating is also beneficial. Limit liquid close or during eating as it dilutes the stomach acid.

Proper preparation or activation of grains and seeds:

- Grains need to be soaked with an acid (tablespoon of lemon juice, ACV) 12 to 24 hours before cooking. Discard water.

- Pulses (legumes) need to be rinsed and soaked with teaspoon of salt 12 to 24 hours before cooking. Discard water.

- Ground wholegrains turn rancid (oils oxidate) within a few hours, so freshly ground (after soaking) and then cooked is best. Wholegrain flour should therefore not be bought. White flour not as bad because the oil content is lower.

- Seeds should be soaked overnight - chia, almonds, sunflowers, sesame, etc.

Important note - all foods should be Organic or better for a multitude or reasons.

Fats:

- Saturated means all the carbon atoms are bonded with hydrogen atoms and therefore it is stable, even when heated, so it's best for cooking. This includes animal fats, coconut, palm, butter, etc. They are solid at room temp.

- Mono-Unsaturated means there are free carbon atoms. They are liquid at room temp. Second best for cooking, but only medium to low heat. This includes avocado, olive, nuts... They should be bought in dark containers and stored airtight out of sunlight. Cold pressed is essential so it's not rancid.

- Poly-Unsaturated are even more reactive and unstable. They are rancid because they are extracted under high heat and /or pressure. Never should be heated. Includes sunflower, canola, fish, and most vege oils. Unfortunately most takeaway, cafe, restaurant food is using this because it's cheaper - start asking for something better! If you want fish oil it must be cold pressed or naturally fermented.

- Hydrogenated:

This is the worst 'food' available. Poly-unstaturated fats are made to be solid at room temperature through processing and additives - think margarine, olive oil spread, and the like... sold as healthy alternatives to butter - a huge CON. These are close to being a plastic and when put out in nature are NOT eaten.... DO NOT ingest these.

Homogenisation of milk:

This affects dairy products. It's an issue because the process of spinning, etc makes the fat particles become very very small. This makes the fat rancid due to the high surface area and consequent oxidation.

Eggs and meat:

Need to be organic or better (and ethical) because animal fat stores nasty chemicals that the body doesn't know what to do with. Meat consumption should include all parts of the animal, esp organs and bones (think bone broth and brawn).

Balanced meals:

Eat some cooked, some raw, some fermented, some well prepared grains, some sprouted or soaked seeds, some legumes, and some protein all with some healthy fats.

Thanks again Rebecca for your talk and hosting us at your lovely home.