Forget the quick solutions, the fancy methods and magic bullets. Here is a solution that will work slowly and steadily. It will also be something that you can do and enjoy for the rest of your life. It’s not a marketing program and no corporation is going to make money off it. It’s based on simplicity, logic, science and thousands of years of wisdom.

The problem with our mainstream food is that it is NOT based on health or nutrition. It is based on corporate profit — make cheap and profitable food that has a long shelf-life. To make this nasty, lifeless, no-nutrition, food-like stuff palatable, corporations add lots of artificial colors and flavors; also add fat, sugar, and salt in various amount to make their products taste good. And in order to make money, the process of fakeness starts with the plants and the way they are grown – GMOs, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, radiation and all kinds of unnatural manipulations are used to grow more with less.

What all this means is that S.A.D. – Standard American Diet – wreaks havoc on your body, fills it up with toxins, messes with your hormones, destroys your gut bacteria, and slows down your metabolism.

To make this short, in this Part 1 of the series, I am going to list 3 Do’s and 1 list of Don’ts for now. In the future, will expand on this article.

So, without further due, let’s go into a quick, short list of Do’s and Don’ts.

1) Eat 100% Whole-Grain Products (bread, pancake etc)

And preferably, organic. You see, corporations have been using processed and/or bleached (marketing term: “enhanced”) flours for many decades because it vastly reduces the time it takes to bake stuff that doesn’t have all that fiber from the outer part of a grain. The only bad thing? You lose out on all the good vitamins and minerals and fiber. So the corporations add a handful of artificial vitamins and minerals afterwards and call it enhanced. It’s gross, incomplete and actually harmful. So stick to what mother nature made for us.

The only bread I buy is Alvarado Organic Sprouted Bread. Once you try it, you will realize how awful all the other breads are.

Similarly, I buy organic, whole grain flour in bulk and use it make my own pancakes, muffins etc. Extra work? For sure. But you will see the results in a few weeks.

You can also buy organic brown rice, organic whole couscous etc to cook good meals at home.

There are lots of benefits with this type of meals. One, the fiber content means you feel full with half the amount of food! Also, the fiber will slow down the rate which your body breaks down the food. This means you won’t have sugar spikes and there will be less stress on your pancreas and other insulin-related components in your body. Finally, you won’t feel hungry as quickly as before after a meal.

2) Eat lots and lots of Vegetables and Fruits

The average American gets only about 10% of the amount of veggies and fruits as they had hundred years ago. And, no, French fries and ketchup don’t count as veggies; and fruit juices don’t count as fruits.

Try to get 9 servings of veggies and fruits every day, and trust me, it’s hard! And try to have only fresh produce, it’s even harder! And try to make them organic, it seems impossible to most people in the beginning. But you can start slow and work your way up.

Fresh veggies and fruits have ENZYMES, the proteins that do amazing work in your body. There are about 50,000 enzymes that your body can make use of, each enzyme with its own unique specialty — some will help your metabolism, some will make your hair shiny, some will strengthen your immune system, and so on. When you buy frozen food or canned food or any processed food, they are pretty much devoid of enzymes! Why? Because food corporations HATE enzymes since enzymes make the food go bad. That’s why a burger from McDonald’s or an M&M can last forever. Nothing in them. Just dead stuff.

And please don’t fry the hell of the veggies. No veggie must be cooked beyond 100 degrees – the boiling temperature of water. If you can steam veggies, that’s the best. Soups are awesome ways to get your veggies.

As for the fruits, eat the whole thing. Don’t squeeze the juice out of a fruit and throw away the flesh. That’s food pornography and you are reducing the wonderful fruit to its sugar and water content. You need the fiber and all the wonderful enzymes trapped in the flesh of the fruits. And don’t worry about the sugar content of a fruit (unless you are diabetic … then, in that case, you have to watch out for some fruits like bananas which are awesome in many other ways). Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, cantaloupes, bananas, oranges, grapefruits, kiwis, papayas etc are all awesome ways to get started in the morning. Stick to organic fruits as much as possible, especially if the fruits have thin skins.

3. Add Herbs and Spices to Your Daily Routine

Herbs and spices do wonders and miracles in small amounts. Plus they make the food so much more flavorful. Spicy things speed up your metabolism. Black pepper, Cayenne pepper, Jalapenos and their pepper relatives … all help burn more calories and also fight cancer!

Sage, oregano, thyme, rosemary etc have amazing antioxidant properties and help your immunity as well.

Turmeric is the most awesome anti-inflammatory medicine that nature ever made. It will also help your gut bacteria and the entire digestive system.

Garlic, onion and ginger are must additions. At least 4-6 times a week, you should have plenty of these these miracle superfoods. Onion is a great way to fight blood sugar. It’s a simple anti-diabetic medicine. The less you cook it, the better.

4. Don’ts

It’s hard to give up bad habits! But a simple way to improve your health, lose weight and save money is … get rid of all bottled drinks. Really. ALL. Coke, Pepsi, blah blah …. poison, poison, poison. Gatorade? Well-marketed poison. Odwalla – sugary bullshit that negates the benefits of anything that is good inside the bottles. Starbucks is another fraud that markets a lot of sugary garbage and milk from cows that are pumped with growth hormones, antibiotics, steroids etc. Stay away from that.

Say no to even bottled water since all the plastic chemicals – such as BPA and others – disrupt your hormones and endocrine chemicals. Get a nice, chemical-free flask and fill it up filtered water from home.

And, of course, say goodbye to fast food. It may be fast but it is not anything remotely close to “food.”

Conclusion

Try this for a week and I bet you will see a big difference. The beauty of this is that you can do this for the rest of your life. It is how your grandparents and thousands of generations before ate. It is natural and built into your DNA. Your body will recognize it and appreciate it.