A longtime friend of mine, @luckyfellow, who knows I try to live a wellness-based life, recently asked me for some dietary suggestions. I decided to turn my suggestions into a post here on Hive in case anyone else might be interested.

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Hey Buddy,

I’ve been experimenting with trying to live a wellness-focused life for a few decades now and have narrowed down almost exactly what works for me. This lifestyle, for me, is ever-evolving based on what I learn, scientific discoveries and such, but all of the major things are here.

That quote, “If you don’t make time for wellness then you’d better make time for illness.” is very much true. So it’s important to put in the time, especially as we age.

I try not to be too rigid with this. Of course, it's not always easy to find healthy foods when I travel. Most often this way of life is just learning how to make the best choices you can based on the options that are in front of you.

I do splurge – pizza, the occasional dessert, ice-cream, bacon, but I find I don’t crave much of the unhealthy stuff anymore. When you're accustomed to feeling great most of the time you notice a racing heart, brain fog, or headaches when you eat the unhealthy stuff. The beautiful thing about living this way is you’re eating great MOST of the time so you can afford eat whatever you want ocassionally.

Mind/Body Connection

I’ve discovered that to be truly healthy you have to learn how to be present enough to keep your body and mind in balance and alignment. This might sound like utter BS but if you’re present and your mind is picking up the signals that your body is sending then your mind will know when your body is out of balance.

Now, this mind-body imbalance might present itself at first as a slight discomfort, a little grogginess, restlessness, brain fog, or a general sense that something isn’t as it should be. If you’re not attuned or don’t listen to your body then then your symptoms will gradually get worse. If ignored or left unnoticed for too long this imbalance turns into dis-ease.

How do we put mind and body in greater balance?

• Regular and adequate sleep.
• Exercise.
• Proper diet.
• Relaxation.
• A positive mental attitude.
• Engaging in activities that leave you with a strong sense of purpose, feeling fulfilled, and happy.
• Keep company with positive people who uplift you. Limit time around habitually negative people.

How To Change Your Cravings

Research is showing that your gut bacteria regulate your food cravings. If you eat junk your gut microbiome becomes accustomed to that junk and sends signals to your brain that it wants more and more. If you have a bad diet these cravings are partially because your body isn’t getting proper nutrition to begin with. Generally if you eat junk, you crave more junk. It’s as simple as that.

Fad diets simply don’t work in the long term. You must make a commitment to permanently living a healthier lifestyle that is sustainable. To do so you must retrain your gut microbiome. Give it time to change and adjust to your new diet. If you’re patient and you allow this to happen your brain will start getting signals to crave the healthier foods you’re eating. Trust me, it works. I crave kimchi and kombucha and I didn’t care for either of them at first.

As you eat healthier you’ll find your mood and mindset improves too. You will have more energy and feel more positive and upbeat. Mind and body are really intertwined more than most people realize.

Foods and Habits That Support Health

• Eat smaller portions of everything.
• Sprouted grain or sourdough bread. Try not to eat non-organic flour of any kind if you live in the U.S. Conventional wheat is loaded with glyphosate (Round-up). This has been shown to adversely effect the gut microbiome and can cause gluten intolerance and gastric problems. The chemical has been banned in almost every other part of the world.
• Avocado.
• Locally raised, hormone free meat. Chicken, bison, elk, venison, and turkey mainly. If you eat beef make sure it’s lean and grass fed.
• Wild caught fish from clean North Atlantic waters is best. Salmon, cod, and haddock. A lot of other ocean fish are high in pollutants. Farm or “sustainably raised” (farmed) fish aren't as healthy because their nutrient levels (omega 3’s) are altered because fish aren’t being raised in their natural environment.
• Incorporate kimchi (korean fermented cabbage), sauerkraut, or kefir (liquid yogurt, plain no sugar) into your diet. You only need a small serving per day of any of these to notice real benefits. These will help you maintain good gut bacteria and will also help improve cognition and mood.
• Locally harvested honey or real maple syrup. These should be the ONLY sweeteners you ever use. If you use local honey it also helps with allergy symptoms. Each serving is like a small allergy shot. Remember, cane/beet sugar is the enemy. Even agave syrup is being shown to be harmful to glycemic levels.
• Organic brown rice.
• Kombucha once a week.
• Ginger tea.
• If you use coffee creamer, try this one. It’s also available as a liquid in some grocery stores. Coconut is the one saturated fat that seems to be beneficial. This creamer also has medicinal mushrooms in it like Reishi and Chaga.
• Drink water when you’re even slightly thirsty. One full glass right after you wake up is a good idea.
• One (or two) glass of red wine a day with a meal. As the French diet proves, this is super helpful to your mind and body.
• Whole wheat pasta cooked “al dente” (so it’s not overcooked and too mushy).
• Oatmeal, plain unflavored, no sugar. You can dress this up with nuts, berries, even honey.
• Grass fed cheese and butter.
• Non-roasted, unsalted, organic nuts. Raw almonds and walnuts are the best.
• Organic eggs, cooked soft. Poaching is best. Overcooking them alters some of the nutrients.
• Real olive oil. Research brands because 80% of what is labeled as olive oil in the grocery store is fake, even if the label says 100% extra virgin olive oil. This is the brand I get.
• Eat plenty of organic veggies and berries but don’t make a habit of consuming a lot of fruit at once.
• 2 TBS of chia seeds per day soaked overnight in water before eating.
• 2 cups of organic green tea a day.
• 1 cup of organic coffee with honey if you can tolerate caffeine.
• Cayenne pepper powder lightly sprinkled on food. This is good for circulation.
• 1oz of dark chocolate a day (at least 70% cocoa, preferably 80%+).
• Shiitake mushrooms. These are good in almost everything. Make sure they’re cooked.
• Garlic. Incorporate at least a clove a day into your cooking.
• Hummus. I have it on my toast in the morning. This is an excellent source of vegan protein.
• Mineral water (Pellegrino or Perrier), unsweetened and unflavored. A small glass per day is enough.
• Fresh greens. At least one fresh salad daily is a good idea.

Supplements

• Garden of Life brand Raw Organic Perfect Food. I can’t tell you how much better this has made me feel. It seems pricey but works out to $1 per day. It’s especially helpful if you’re traveling or busy. It’s a good way to make sure you’re getting proper nutrition every single day. I eliminated my multivitamin pill after I started taking this.
• Vitamin D3 (25 mcg/1000mg)
• 1000 mg of cod liver oil per day.

Don’t Be Fooled

It’s a good practice when at the grocery store to check product labels for anything unhealthy - sugar, chemical additives, and sodium, etc. Sure, this is a pain at first and it’s time-consuming, but once you learn which brands are healthy and trustworthy it gets easier.

Remember, just because a product is marketed as “healthy” doesn’t mean it is. Read labels carefully and religiously so you don’t get fooled. Many large corporations are buying up smaller, organic health food brands, and altering the products just to increase profit margins and the foods are less healthy as a result. My general rule is to stay away from any brand owned by a major corporation.

Protein and Fats

Despite what we were told in the 1970's-1990's, fat is NOT the enemy. As we age it’s VERY important that we get enough protein and healthy fats (nuts, avocado, coconut products, olive oil, grass fed butter or ghee). The vegetarian/vegan diets are popular now and although I can agree with the philosophy of the diets they aren’t healthy for everyone. After fifty, it’s important that men eat enough protein to help keep testosterone levels at normal levels. Eggs do this and so do these foods Stay away from soy products as they contain natural estrogen and have been shown to alter male hormone levels in a negative way, as in man-boobs. Seriously.

Foods That Cause Illness and Disease

The true enemies of wellness are inflammatory things like– Sugar, Salt, Bad Fats, Food Additives/Chemicals. If you remember those four things you can check the labels of any product and determine really quickly how healthy it is.

• Processed sugar is poison and the enemy of a healthy body and mind. It causes inflammation and inflammation is the cause of MOST diseases.
• Fried foods. A little is okay but don’t eat them every day or even every week.
• Processed carbohydrates (white bread, white rice, etc.)
• Fruit juices should be consumed rarely. They contain too much sugar. Your body isn’t meant to consume this much concentrated fruit sugar at once.
• Processed lunch meats, commercially sold soups, or any convenience foods. These are usually very high in sodium and chemicals.
• Soy, soy oil, or canola oils (especially if you’re male).
• Anything hydrogenated or fractionalized.
• Artificial sweeteners. None of them are healthy.
• Beyond Meat or Impossible Burgers. These are being shown to not be as healthy as they’re advertised to be. I would steer clear.
• Soda.
• Coffee creamers. These are loaded with sugar and bad fats.
• Fast food. It’s literally engineered to have tons of sugar and salt and makes you become addicted to it very quickly. Eat it enough and any healthy food will taste bad.
• Don’t follow fad diets. Many aren’t healthy, long term nor are they sustainable. They’re made to sell books and/or products.

A Crash Course In The French Diet

Do yourself a favor and watch this 60 Minutes Australia segment on the French lifestyle and how it influences their health. The more I pursue a healthy lifestyle the more I realize your mental state, quality of food, and the company you keep are every bit as important as keeping track of everything you eat. The French do it right.

The French have a great philosophy when it comes to diet and lifestyle in general. I really feel a connection with the way the French live.

If You Keep Going, You Can Keep Going

Move! Incorporate exercise into each and every day.

Walk, bike, lift weights, use Russian kettlebells, do yoga, practice qigong, swim.

I can't stress how important this is. Practice physical activities that you enjoy. If you hate what you’re doing you won’t keep it up.

Again, the best thing about eating this healthy at home is you can splurge from time to time without feeling guilty. Think of your health like a bank account. Every healthy thing you eat or action you take is like a deposit. Every bad thing you eat or do is like a withdrawal from that account.

This isn't a diet, diets suck! This is more like a habit developed over time. I’m a firm believer that it’s our HABITS that shape our health and are what matters most, not the occasional ice cream, candy bar, or fast food burger. Enjoy your food, try not to stress about it. Enjoy your life, do what makes you happy!

I know I’m probably forgetting something but this is most of what I do. Some of this might not work for you but it’s the culmination of thirty years of mainly trial and error. It works for me. At 51 I feel much healthier than I did in my twenties.

I hope this helps, trust me, it's not as crazy to follow as it sounds and it becomes like second nature. The important thing is to not let your worries surrounding diet rule you, don't become obsessed. My thought is we're all going to go sometime, I just want to feel awesome while I'm here. : ) I've included a few links in this text (in red). If you have any questions let me know.

~Eric

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(Gif compliments of Giphy.com.)

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Poetry should move us, it should change us, it should glitch our brains, shift our moods to another frequency. Poetry should evoke feelings of melancholy, whimsy, it should remind us what it feels like to be in love, or cause us to think about something in a completely different way. I view poetry, and all art really, as a temporary and fragile bridge between our world and a more pure and refined one. This is a world we could bring into creation if enough of us believed in it. This book is ephemera, destined to end up forgotten, lingering on some dusty shelf or tucked away in a dark attic. Yet the words, they will live on in memory. I hope these words become a part of you, bubble up into your memory when you least expect them to and make you feel a little more alive.

Pick up a copy of Ephemera today on Amazon.

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