Nutrition is an essential part of a personal health plan. Optimal nutrition at its most basic is eating enough of the right food and not too much of the wrong foods. Determining what are the right and wrong foods, as well as what is too much and not enough, often requires laboratory testing, but there are general guidelines.

From time to time we all crave one or another food. When in biochemical balance we crave foods that feed us structurally and supply accessible energy. When we are out of biochemical balance, when we are exposed to unrelenting stress, we crave nutritionally deficient fast convenience foods. With exposure to stress, often a daily occurance, we need more good nutrients and not less.

Convenience foods are generally devoid of nutrients due to their preparation. Convenience foods are often refined, meaning that they are low in healthful nutrients because they are produced to maximize shelf life. Refined foods with most of their health building nutrients removed will take longer to spoil, last longer in storage allowing larger and cheaper production runs and bulk warehousing.

The guiding principle for you as a consumer is if the bugs don’t want a food product then neither do you. If a food product does not have enough nutrients to spoil then it will not supply your nutritional needs either. A food high in nutritional value is fresh fish, a value recognized by people and bacteria alike. The high nutritional value of fresh fish results in rapid spoilage if the fish is not stored properly.

The big three food cravings are for sugar, fat, and salt. These cravings are rooted in our primordial past and are capitalized upon by fast food marketers everywhere. Sugar is at the top of this list since it provides fast energy. Blood sugar levels are regulated by the hormone insulin. Insulin acts to move sugar from the blood into cells for energy production or into fat cells for storage. Insulin is also a stress hormone, meaning that it is produced under conditions of stress and it moves blood sugars into fat cells and energy producing cells whenever we are under stress. This is why many people constantly crave sugar since they are constantly under stress. Historically the dietary sugars we had access to were seasonal fruits and hard to obtain honey. Limited access to these sugars meant that they were seldom over consumed.

The next commonly craved dietary nutrient is fat. Fats and oils have always been a constant in diets in hot and colder climates, and were rendered from animal sources or pressed from olives, nuts and seeds. Modern refined oils, with an abundance of harmful trans fatty acids, are misinterpreted by our senses of smell and taste as being just as good as naturally processed fats and oils.

Salt is another of the commonly craved modern foods. Dietary salts help us to maintain mineral balance and energy movement in our bodies, as well as supporting digestion. Historically salt was available from mines and from drying ocean water salt flats. Sea salt contains twenty two nutritional minerals, which is in contrast to modern table salt, which contains only three minerals, sodium, chloride, and some times iodine. When we crave salt we are craving the traditional twenty two minerals, not the modern three. Which explains why some people just can’t get enough table salt they simply cannot get enough of it since it only tastes like the sea salt they need.

General rules for good nutrition include:

1. Eat three meals per day and two or more snacks. Eating larger meals, less often, confuses your body into handling food in a famine or starvation mode. This in turn leads to weight gain and health problems.

2. Eat away from stress and excitement. Good nutrition requires good digestion. Stress, such as the six o’clock news, activates your nervous system into an emergency action mode that is not compatible with good digestion.

3. Eat five to ten cup sized servings of fruit and vegetables per day, every day. An acceptable way to get up to this level is to consume a powdered “Greens Product” which is composed of freeze dried fruits and vegetables.

4. Eat whole grains and fiberous vegetables at least once per day, every day.

5. Eat adequate fatty acids such as flax seed and olive oils. One tablespoon, twice per day, with food is generally a good starting point for adults.

6. Eat adequate salts. To determine whether you need to salt your food or not do a taste test with sea salt and water. Start slowly by adding a few grains of sea salt to a glass of drinking water. Then stir and taste the water. Continue adding salt, stirring and tasting until you are able to taste the salt. With adequate minerals you will taste the salt in the water quickly, and with a deficiency of minerals you will only taste the salt when a large amount is added to the water.

Start with these nutritional basics and next week I will discuss specific laboratory tests to determine your nutritional needs.