The REAL truth about eating Wholefood

So this has been on mind lately regarding people's expectations about eating whole & real foods. This has led to me writing this blog to be brutally honest as to what it takes INITIALLY to begin this journey, not in the longer term.

You see, this is a way of life, essentially a new habit or a group of new habits that needs to be created and also follows the cycle of change.

Before I dive into the real truth, let me just clarify what a wholefood is, i.e. any food that is as close as possible to it’s natural state. By definition this rules out packaged and processed food.

The quickest way to identify how much wholefood you are actually consuming is to complete a food diary for 2-3 days. This way you can really get a true picture of how much “REAL” food is being consumed. You may actually surprise yourself.

I wanted to be upfront and say that eating a wholefood and real food diet is not easy initially,  however after time it just becomes a way of life. There are some bumps on the road until you can get into the groove. Over time you will find that it actually saves you time, creates so much more convenience and the cherry on the cake is how YOU will feel physically and emotionally. What I observe is that people try this “clean” eating for a week and give up after soon thereafter because it is all too hard.

I’ve identified 3 REAL truths that you just need to get comfortable and make peace with IF you want to achieve optimal health by consuming a wholefood diet the majority of the time. This is even more pertinent if it extends to healing wholefood.

THREE BIG TRUTHS

1. TIME

Depending how far you away from the concept of real food you are, it takes time to FULLY implement. Allow yourself a good 3-6 months to make small incremental consistent nutritional improvements to your family’s diet. It takes TIME for them to come on board. It also takes time for you to figure out what your favourite wholefood “go to” meals are that the whole family enjoys and in fact get into your groove.

Tying in with the concept of time is "EFFORT”. Food does not magically land on the table at breakfast, lunch and dinner (as much as we’d like the food fairies to appear) and it takes effort accordingly. I hear so much that I just don’t have the time. I beg to differ, we all have the same number of hours in the day. It really does not take the amount of time we think it does.

2.  ORGANISATION

Sometimes it feels like the word organisation is a dirty word. The harsh reality is that it is very difficult to consume whole and real food EVERYDAY without being organised. By organised I am referring to meal planning and preparation consistently so that it just becomes another habit like brushing your teeth. It’s not something you think about or debate, you just do it…..I hope so anyway :-).

It does not stop at menu planning though, you then need to prepare the lovely meals you have planned. Set aside time in your diary to do some bulk food prep so that you can create convenience, make better food choices, be more present, calm and in flow.

Tying in with the above truth of time, also give yourself time to get organised. Don’t come up with a bright idea on the weekend and decide you are changing the world on Monday. Instead allow yourself anything from 2-4 weeks to get yourself into gear and then make the changes.

3. Food wastage

Yes, initially there is plenty of food wastage whilst you adjust the family’s pallet as well as experimenting to identify the “new” family favourites. There will be some recipes that you make and the family will dislike, I like to think of this as feedback, instead giving you of an idea what their likes and dislikes are using real ingredients. Sometimes you do want to cry and just give up, but don’t, this is just a phase and it too shall pass. You just need to hang on and the food wastage will greatly decrease sooner than you think.

The truths above, are just part of the cycle of change. You first need to decide:

• What you want to achieve & why - this step is so often over looked, however is the foundation for making any lasting sustainable change.

• How are you going to get achieve this

• Set yourself a timeframe to do so, such as 6 weeks, 3 or 6 months. This really takes the pressure off and you are less likely to give up after one week when everyone hates what you have cooked. This does happen I am afraid to say…..so get comfortable with that idea now…lol

If you feel you need some support to getting you started on first step into the world of whole and real food and a plan to really transform your health, then book in a 90 minute Nutrition & Wellness Audit

Chantal is a certified and accredited Nutrition & Wellness Coach that helps stressed and overwhelmed mothers implement Healing Wholefood and Wellness transformational practices to transform the health of their family using a personalised step by step process.

A day with the world's leading microbiologist

So two weeks ago I got to spend the day with one of the world's leading microbiologist talking all things bacteria and the profound effect it has on our health & wellbeing. Their research is mind blowing and so fascinating.

Whilst the day was mostly dedicated to the impact of an undergrowth, overgrowth, colonisation or infection of specific bacteria and their role in brain-gut conditions, there were so many take away points that I thought were very useful to take on board.

More importantly, it is things that are in our control and can make all the difference before we head down a slippery slope of symptoms and debilitating conditions. Let’s not kid ourselves, that is definitely the predicated outcome IF we do not address the below points.

You can watch a summary of this post below:

Signs of a healthy gut:

1. Must absorb adequate nutrition, i.e no nutritional deficiencies

2. Good laxation, i.e regular, good formed bowl motions

3. Be without infection, i.e. bacterial infection within the digestive system.

The biggest factors affecting our gut ecology:

• NUTRITION – Nutrition plays a fundamental part in the health our gut ecology. What you eat, feeds the bacteria, good & bad. If your gut bacteria is out of whack and you are eating a highly processed and packaged diet, this is essentially fueling the fire. Nutrition is key when healing the balance of our gut microbiome. Their research has also shown that little difference is made to the balance of the microbiome when short term dietary changes are made. The real benefits are had when there is proper compliance to a healing wholefood way of life for a minimum of 2 years, 3 ideally. The foods that fuel the health of our gut ecology and should be consumed on a daily basis include:

  • Broth – multiple times a day

  • Plenty of vegetables – eat the rainbow

  • Fat – essential for cellular health

  • Soluble & insoluble fibre

  • Moderate protein

• SUGAR – This little sucker got it's own mention. It was suggested that refined sugar is evil in terms of bacteria and should be removed from the diet at all cost – no real big surprise here

• STRESS -Do not underestimate the impact that long term and short term stress have on the gut ecology. It was suggested to find ways of managing stress on a daily basis and to maybe meditate for 20 minutes a day.

• PHARMACEUTICALS – The persistent and recurrent use of the likes such as Panadol, aspirin, ibuprofen and antibiotics are particularly damaging to the gut microbiome when no rectification methods are put in place after use. They are also known as gut scrapers.

In Summary

 - Eat a wholefood real food diet with plenty of vegetables and include multiple cups of broth daily

 - Manage stress on a DAILY basis to calm the nervous system

  - Avoid EXCESS use of common pharmaceuticals. If needed, ensure repair/healing work follows soon after use.

If you need help addressing the health of your gut or improving your wellbeing, get in contact for a FREE 30 minute coaching session or book in a 90 Minute Nutrition & Wellness Audit to get you started in your journey.

Chantal is an Accredited Nutrition & Wellness Coach with a special interest helping mum's transform the health of their family using healing wholefood and transformational wellness practices.