For many people maintaining a healthy balance of nutrition, exercise, relaxation, and mental stimulation can be very difficult especially when your life seems to always be in full throttle mode.

Has this ever happened to you?

You’ve worked all day, dinner still needs to be made, Jon has baseball, Maddy has dance class, you have a big meeting tomorrow that’s heavy on your mind, your spouse/partner is working late and all you really want to do is sit down and relax.  Maybe enjoy a favorite drink or a nice dessert or something good that is probably unhealthy for you.

This scenario has happened to more than a few of us several times.  So, the question is how does one balance a healthy diet, exercise our body & brain and relax without being neglectful of everything else?

Let’s start this series off with a simple nutrition plan

Sleep 6.5 – 9.5 hours a day.  I realize this is not food, but if your sleep is not falling within these parameters, what follows will have only minimal beneficial impact.

Drink enough mineralized water.  Water that comes from a running stream over rocks would be ideal, but who has access to that?  A good place to start is to have a minimum of a teaspoon of salt for each gallon of water you consume.  If we can learn to listen to our thirst, it will inform us the quantity we need.

Consume one gram of protein for each pound of ideal body weight.  This could go a long way toward controlling hunger, diabetes, and obesity.  The easiest way to accomplish this is through the consumption of meat.  When you see the quantity of meat that this is, you might rebel.  For example, there are seven grams of protein in an ounce of meat.  I prefer meat from ruminants which have four stomach compartments. Examples are cattle, goats, sheep, buffalo, elk, deer etc.  Fish is my second choice, especially fatty fish like salmon is one of the better options.  Chicken and pork can be ok, but these animals only have one stomach.  If you are unable to consume this quantity of meat initially, adding protein powder to make up the difference can help you increase your protein intake.  Food that you must chew is preferable.

Consume essentials fats.  I prefer Omega 3’s over Omega 6’s, because we don’t need to add any oils or fats because they are already in the meats we consume.  Most salad dressings and restaurant prepared fried foods are likely prepared with Omega 6 oils which come primarily from seed oils.  They have been linked to diabetes, obesity, and cancer.

I recommend 100-150 grams of carbohydrates every day.  We don’t need carbs for energy because fat can be our primary source of energy.  I prefer fruits over vegetables.  Fruits include olives, avocados, and tomatoes as well as the sweeter varieties such as apples, bananas, etc.  Remember to avoid the skin and seeds in tomatoes as they contain lectins.

Family

If possible, enjoy your meals with friends and family.  The conversation can be as life-giving as the food itself.

Talk to me

Let me know if you tried any of these suggestions and how they are working for you.  I will be sharing on FB and Instagram my own nutrition journey over the next two weeks.