get the recipe for spring spirit polenta here.
Again, you don't have to pregnant or even female (holler to my three male readers - Dad, Sam, and Jake) to get something (hopefully) out of this series. I wanted to start really basic and build from here. Something that I find to be really amazing is that there are SO many people that go an entire day without eating any real food. By real food, I mean live food. Eating live food is particularly important when you are pregnant because everything you eat is also going to your growing baby.
Live food is food that is raw or lightly cooked (under 116 degrees) that is going to supply your body with enzymes. Enzymes are what give "energy" or "life" to food. They assist in absorption of vitamins and minerals and help with the digestion process. Dead food is processed or overly cooked food that offers your body little nutrition as well as contains chemicals, because the food is chemically derived.
Basically if your food comes from a package it is typically not "live." You want to try and make atleast 50% of your diet raw. If you aren't pregnant and are interested in losing weight, one of the easiest ways to do it is to stay away from processed food and stick to mostly vegetables, some fruit, and a little grains and it will fly off. Seriously. It's not complicated. Also if something has ingredients that you can't pronounce... steer clear.
Going organic is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your family. The amount of pesticides that are used to grow our food is terrifying (over 1 billion pounds per year). All of the food that you eat is passed through the umbilical cord to the baby, including any chemicals. If you are going to eat anything organic, let it be the dirty dozen.
12 Most contaminated fruits and vegetables:
Peaches
Apples
Sweet Bell Peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Pears
Grapes (Imported)
Spinach
Lettuce
Potatoes
Foods to avoid or consume in moderation are: wheat, gluten, soy, sugar, artificial ingredients, packaged foods, frozen dinners, etc. One of the easiest ways to do this is to clean out your pantry. Donate or get rid of any packaged foods that contain a lot of ingredients, high-sodium soups, pasteurized or roasted nuts (brands like planters roast the nuts and coat them in unhealthy oils, eliminating the health benefits), sugary peanut butter, processed breads, white flours, white flour pasta, white rice, sugary cereals, canola oil, safflower oil, anything with hydrogenated oil or high fructose corn syrup, crisco, etc. Replace these items with: organic quinoa, gluten-free pasta, raw nuts like almonds and walnuts, coconut oil, natural peanut or almond butter, organic jarred pasta sauce, etc. Look for food with less than 7 g of sugar to keep your glycemic index from spiking.
I'll go in to more detail on oils and gluten later on but wanted to go ahead and lay somethings down. If you have any questions, comments, concerns... please leave them in the comment section and I'll do my best to answer them.
