As you most likely know our bodies are made of what we eat and as we work on our personal development it is very important that we not only nourish properly our mental and spiritual parts but also our physical parts too. Do you agree?

To help give our bodies the best advantage for development my children, my wife and I choose to eat organic food because it is lower on pesticides than chemically farmed food. (We also enjoy the delicious taste of organics in season and the fact that organic farming is less likely to pollute our precious water system!)

BUT sometimes it can be impossible to find organic food in an area we may be traveling in and I recognize, also, that some people simply do not have the money to buy organic food.

Here are two solutions:

One

The Environmental Working Group http://www.foodnews.org/ offer a simple wallet sized card you can download off their website to help you choose foods that are low in chemical pesticides. This list includes the Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen.

When you visit the EWG website take the time to listen to a 3 minute interview of best selling author Dr. Weil and his comments on organic food and pesticides. I also recommend you read over the FAQ on the EWG site with particular attention as to where they get their data.

***

Two

I recommend you check out my eBook on How to Buy Organic Food Inexpensively. It offers simple, practical tips than can help you buy organic food even on a budget. Here is the link to the organic food book.

Yes, I know it is a plug for my eBook but it is super low priced and I know from those who have bought it you can more than save the money you pay for it in what you learn.

Enjoy a wonderful day,

David

When you are about to do something personal or professional review it immediately and:

Decide to do it – since it is important and relates to 80% of your effectiveness and it is a neccesary part of living

Delegate it – since it is not part of your top 20 percent and perhaps someone can do it better than you even if you have to pay them to do it

Defer it – since it is not a top priority at this time – although it is better to decide if you can delegate this action or the date you personally will do it

Review it quickly and Delete (for email) or Shred and Recycle (for papers) or Decline (if it is a request by someone you know to do something but you have no interest in doing it).

Till next time,

David

Shopping for High Energy Food - photo by D. Hennessey

It is only during the last 13 years that I have really began to understand how my body works. I have learned that my body like yours is a complex system designed to process food into it useful components as rapidly as possible so we can move and think effectively. I have learned items we consume that have little or no benefit in terms of nutrition waste the body’s digestive system and simply put an unnecessary strain or stress on the system. In fact, I have read that the digestive process when it is overused helps us all age quicker! So we all (me included) need to be smart about how we eat when we want to eat for high energy.

Over the years I have collected and adopted ideas that I have found in many books on healthy eating habits. Some of these books I noted in my article Two P’s for Healthy Eating. I have summarized some of the best tips below. When you have time read them over. You may find eating for energy can be broken down to some core guidelines:

Number One
Eat High Quality Foods in Balanced amounts

Make sure you eat the highest quality foods you can and learn to make the habit to push away from the table before you over eat. Two great ways to be conscious of how much you eat is to chew longer and eat in silence when possible.  You may find when you eat high quality foods in balanced proportions your body can work at its peak to create high energy.

Number Two
Choose the Freshest Foods you can

Fresh food is what our body wants naturally to produce energy. When it is possible go to the market and buy fresh fruits and vegetables. If you eat any kind of meats choose to go to a butcher or fish shop so you can find the freshest food possible. A good choice is to eat locally grown food whenever possible. If you have no time to go to the market check out home delivery companies that can bring fresh foods to your doorstep. Remember in the off season flash frozen fruits and vegetables are a better choice than canned due to the typical addition of salt in the canning process.

Number Three
Choose Organic when possible

To get food that is as free as possible of unneeded chemicals and additives that can affect your body negatively choose to buy organic food. If you wonder how valid the organic label is it is important to note that many countries now have national standards to decide if a food can be labeled certified organic or not. Take the time to learn the certification symbols that show a product has been third party certified as organic. If you want to learn more about what makes a product organic, the different organic labels and how to buy organic food inexpensively these ideas and more you can find out about in the e-book how to buy organic food inexpensively.

Number Four
Protein at Every Meal

High levels of mental and physical fitness benefit from stable blood sugar. If you check the recommendations of most public health organizations you will see they recommend you eat a small portion of slow burning protein at every meal. Why? because due to the complex chemical make up of proteins they are digested slowly and enter your blood stream slowly helping keep your blood sugar level stable. This is in contrast to the quick spike in blood sugar levels that occurs when you digest simple carbohydrates since they are digested rapidly.

Number Five
Eat a Variety of Foods

It is a simple truth that all the nutrients you need cannot come from all the same foods. I mention this since I have read many adults buy the same foods again and again when they go shopping. To get all the cancer and illness fighting substances we need to buy and eat a variety of all the types of foods. To help you create a real variety you can use a technique I developed back in 1999 and is still successful today. It is called “follow the colors of the rainbow” to choose your foods when you shop. If you would like a copy of the article where I explain how this rainbow technique works and the science behind it you can get a copy when you subscribe to my posting updates (the form is on the top right of this page). The article is one of the bonuses I offer new subscribers.

Number Six
Foods to Reduce or Simply Avoid

Highly processed foods like white wheat flour and white sugar offer very little nutritional value to your body. They essential become stomach filler and often fat when too much of them are consumed. Excess white salt as you most likely already know is also a substance you can reduce in your diet. Add to your avoid list man made fats like transfats from hydrogenated oils and you are well on your way to eating for increased energy.

Number Seven
A Powerful Exercise

Grab a note pad and pen and write down for each of the next seven days the quantity of all you eat and exactly what it is. This exercise is one of the most powerful ways to find out if the quality and quantity of food you are eating is helping you Eat for Energy or not.

Bonus:

For extra help I have developed one learning tool that can help you recognize you are eating a balanced meal in five seconds or less. It is included in a electronic work book I wrote inexpensively priced and titled Simplify Healthy Eating Habits. Read more about How to Simplify Healthy Eating Habits the book here. The tips and action steps in this book are useful whether you live alone or have a family. They also help you adopt into your life more easily dieting plans you are using.

Your friend on the journey,

David