Alternative Diets
What is a "whole foods" diet?
A whole foods diet is basically a diet that incorporates fresh fruits, preferably organic, and fresh organic vegetables, picked at the peak of ripeness if possible. That might mean shopping at a Farmer's Market the day after they pick the stuff, so they're picking it from their garden selling it right there and then at the market. It would be having whole grains in the form of the whole grain; wheat berries, quinoa, brown rice, couscous, millet, barley, etc. It would be having the actual grain, not having a bread made of the grain, although if it's sprouted bread that would be another alternative. It would be having salads with natural oils and balsamic vinegar, and natural dressings like fresh lemon squeezed into it, versus a bottled salad dressing, which goodness knows may sit on a shelf for a year! They tell us it's whole food; how can it be a whole food if it can sit on a shelf for a year? So, it's choosing things that are real, tangible, and visibly what you would have picked out off a tree or out of the ground, overall.
What is a "colorful diet"?
A colourful diet is filled with fruits and vegetables. These plants are loaded with carotenes, which give our fruits and vegetables their colours of yellow, orange, red, green and purple. Carotenes have very important functions in the body. The first function is to support our immune system. Hundreds of studies appear at the National Cancer Institute showing that carotenes can support our t-cells and our helper-suppressor ratios which is the turn-on turn-off function of the immune system; our natural killer cells, our macrophage activity. The other reason the carotenes are so important is that they provide excellent anti-oxidant activity. We have a problem in our bodies at all times called free radicals. The only way we can neutralize these very dangerous compounds is through the anti-oxidants in fresh fruits and vegetables found in a colourful diet.
Why is it important to eat a colorful diet?
Let's think about the food that we put in our body. If we eat all one colour, one tone, we're only getting the nutrients that are inherent in that particular colour; whether it be the phytochemical family that creates that colour or the certain nutrients that are specifically in green lettuce or green broccoli. I talk to my clients constantly, and I say, "What do you buy when you go to the grocery store?" Well, you buy green lettuce and green broccoli (because it's usually on sale), or green asparagus if it's in season, and then you might add a few little cherry tomatoes and a few carrots. Very rarely do we have the multitude of colours, and every different colour has specific nutrients inherent to it, whether it's the purple, the yellow, the orange, the green, or the white. As we know, there are certain foods that are white, like cauliflower. It doesn't matter. Each colour has specific nutrients that are inherent in that colour, that produce that colour. We need them all. The body needs everything in the rainbow of colours in order to create the energy that we experience when we eat these foods. This is why it is important to eat a colourful diet.
