How to Eat Healthy, Stay on a Diet, and Still Have a Life by Jonny Bowden, M.A., C.N., C.N.S.
You try hard to eat right. You read these columns and listen to the experts. You've learned not to fear meat, but then there's the problem of antibiotics, steroids and hormones. You know about the benefits of fish, but what about mercury? Nuts are great, but what about mold? Vegetables and fruits are fantastic, but what about pesticides? And let's not even get started on genetically modified foods. It's enough to make you give up and scream: What's left for me to eat? I get asked this question virtually every day, and believe me, it's one I struggle with myself. How do you make good choices and still have a life? How do you keep yourself from falling into obsession (or equally bad, depression) as you prowl the grocery shelf stores, inspecting each label for health saboteurs? Short of ignoring the whole mess, which I don't think is really a solution at all, there's really only one thing to do. Prioritize your poisons. What exactly does that mean? Pretend someone just gave you a wonderful house for free, but it's what is known as a ''fixer upper.'' Sure you could move in right away, but you wouldn't be getting all you could out of it. The pipes are rusty, the master bedroom has a leak, and the living room floor sags. But with a little elbow grease you could turn it into a palace. It's just going to take a bit of time. Well, your health is like that house. You've been given an amazing and wonderful gift: your life. And to take care of the foundation of that life -- your health -- there are just a few little things that need dealing with. And they happen to fall into three categories: Toxins in your environment. Toxins in your food. Toxins in your relationships (by which I mean those that cause you stress or unhappiness, and in which category I include, at least sometimes, your relationship with yourself). Now don't get me wrong. I don't mean that all of these things will probably be troubling you at once, just that those are the three areas that are going to need attention. Remember, too, that you don't need to redesign every room before you can begin enjoying your house. You look for some joy you can make right now, even while you plan to make it all better. Maybe the guest room needs work, but you really like watching movies in the bedroom, so that's the first place to roll up your sleeves. Maybe you're favorite thing is cooking, so you fix up the kitchen before anything else gets done. Exactly how you prioritize your own ''fixing up'' is completely your call, and it depends on what matters most to you. How should I get started? If you suddenly tried to eat only food that had no pesticides, no hormones and no steroids, two things would happen: 1) You would be driven crazy looking for them ... and ... 2) You would go crazy after not being able to find them. It's enough to make you long for the simpler days when you didn't know anything and all you had to do was to point your car in the direction of the nearest fast-food emporium. Begin prioritizing by taking stock of your situation. What's the most immediate problem your body is facing? Food allergies and sensitivities? Yeast problems? Low thyroid? Maybe it's not even that specific. Maybe it's just low energy and not enough sleep. Maybe it's constant stress with no end in sight. Maybe it seems like it's all of those issues and then some. The thing you don't want to do is get so discouraged by enormity of the task that you just say ''whatever'' and give up. You can, you know, rebuild that fixer-upper one brick at a time until you turn it into the house you always wanted. Your top priority should be something achievable that would make a difference in your health and your life. Maybe it's as easy as "I've got to learn to sit down at meals." Okay, and then? "I've got to eat more greens, protein or fish. Have a nice salad. And enjoy some relaxing music." Great idea. Right now we're not going to worry about all the hormones and the mercury and the antibiotics. We're just going to get the best food we can find, put some nice calming music on, and dine with some lovely friends, preferably by candlelight, with a nice bottle of wine. Then we're going to retire for the night and turn off the phone in preparation for a nice, deep, uninterrupted sleep. Can you do that? Then you've taken the first step. You detoxify your life, your environment and your food just the way you do everything else: one step at a time. By prioritizing what's most important to work on, you scale down even the most daunting life goals into manageable tasks, and that's the first and most important step to making them happen.
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