What is the perfect diet?

I often get asked, "What is the perfect diet?"

Well, at one stage I would have said eat everything organic, at another time eat 100% raw, and later for many years eat vegetarian, even vegan. Now I say, maybe just read this article.

The problem is there is something wrong with all of these, there is a bigger picture behind it all, we have been focusing on the trees for so long we have lost sight of the forest.

A new discovery

My eyes were opened when I started reading the research of Weston A Price. He was on a mission to find out secrets behind the ever increasing epidemic of tooth decay, but ended up discovering something much more important.

Initially aim for the RDI's (recommended daily intake)

If you take into account that we only absorb at best 50% of everything we eat, then you realise in order to get 800mg of calcium we have to be eating 1600mg. This means that the RDI's established to help us achieve good health must initially be doubled.

Now it becomes a little more difficult, because we don't want to just reach these minimum targets.

We want to surpass them!.

Multiply the RDI's by a factor of 4

In order to do that we want to be multiplying all these minimum targets by 4. This is to help factor in extra nutrition may be needed. to cater for times of adolescence (puberty), fast growth periods (children), whether we are injured, sick, or place huge demands on our body through training, stress and the big one, when preparing our bodies for conception.

This includes both males and females, as males also have a strong part to play in determining how health a baby may be.

The next question is, how could anyone do this?

Well, the good news is Weston A Price, when spending 10 years researching and analysing different diets from around the world, took daily samples of what they were eating. He would then send these samples off to his lab to be tested, and the results were most cultures were achieving up to 4 times our RDI's. All cultures no-matter what they were eating were reaching up to 10 times the RDI's on vitamins A,D,E and K.

He pointed out from his research that it really didn't matter what they were eating, what mattered was that they had found a way to eat a mixture of foods that met these levels, with an importance played on the role of fat activator vitamins.

I have put together a table to illustrate this below

1 is the figure given to account to RDI standards. 5.4 for Eskimo's daily calcium from food samples means 5.4 times the RDI or 540%

All the different cultures were eating very different diets.

The true secret was the politics of all the different diets didn't really matter, it was what was in the food that counted. Trial and error over thousands of years had led them to eating local food that was specific to their geographic location, with a learning of which foods were the most nutrient dense. They had each selected from a combination of foods, that had been time tested with the simple purpose of peak nutrient diversity.

We must humble ourselves and analyse our own diets, to compare to theirs.

Are we reaching up to 4 times the RDI's and possibly up to 10 times vitamins A,D,E and K?

Or at the very least double the RDI's?

Now, if you are on a specific diet and you feel its working for you great.

Try the next step:

Now take a look at your own diet and see how you go.

Write down what you eat in a day, google those foods to give you an idea of what nutrients they contain and the amount of each nutrient.

You don't have to be perfect but it will give you a rough idea, it is also beneficial to have a quick look and see if there is an area that you may be missing out on. An ounce of prevention is truly worth a ton of the cure. Trust me, I have seen it again and again.

Clients have gotten into trouble, only to find once you are in trouble it may take years to correct e.g Dental decay, Osteoporosis, Anaemia and failure to thrive.

You will tend to find the lower the nutrients the higher the additives, calories, flavourings, preservatives, transfers, salt and off course the king villain, processed and refined sugar.

This is now especially true for meat replacements, if you don't want to eat meat then why replace it with something that has been altered chemically and textured to look like meat. Could you imagine buying a piece of meat, that had been dyed, flavoured, shaped, processed and perfumed to look like an apple.

These imitation foods are up their with sugar, they are not good for you at all. An example is seitan, a component of gluten that is now used as a meat look a like.

What happens if you give this GE loaded gluten substitute to children who are coeliac?

These additives are making there ways into everything, but my advice remains strong, if nature did not make it, don't eat it, its that simple.

Humans are the only animal smart enough to alter our food but then the only animals stupid enough to eat it!!

Most of us also fall into the pattern of eating the same thing each day, so this should be easy. It has been estimated that the average grocery trolley contains 13-17 different fresh foods and that a hundred years ago we were eating up to 500% more.

How do you measure up?

I'm more than happy to answer any questions should you wish to contact me at blairharvey@hotmail.com or message me on the social media links.

Blair

WELCOME!

My name is Blair Harvey and I have had the pleasure of working at one of Australia's best Health Retreat's for the past fourteen wonderful years. Over those years I have had the delight of working with a spectacular kitchen team, we all have an immense passion for cooking good healthy food that is unique and tantalizing to your taste buds. Together we have not only developed our skills in cooking wholesome, nourishing and out right delicious foods, but we have been committed to broadening our knowledge of healing with whole foods and exploring the beauty of healthy living. Because of our enthusiasm in the benefits of foods and there healing properties I developed a blog to help us SHARE what we have learnt with the rest of the world.

You will find tasty gems of wisdom on health, food and healing, helping to expand your mind and revitalize your knowledge of healthy eating.