Eat Whole, Organic Foods
There are two important components found in whole, organic foods that are critical to optimal health: 1) natural digestive enzymes and 2) abundant nutrition. Natural digestive enzymes are found in raw, whole plant foods. These important enzymes help to predigest our food and aid greatly in the absorption of nutrients.  Unfortunately, enzymes are destroyed by cooking, industrial processing and most types of commercial packaging. And, without Enzymes, only partial digestion occurs, placing a burden on the rest of the digestion process.  Organically-grown food comes from soil with an abundance of live worms and other beneficial microorganisms.  Worms and microorganisms, not found on conventional farms, help ensure minerals and other nutrients are infused into our food.  Thus, eating a variety of whole, organic food far outweighs the benefits of any other dieting program.

Minimize Processed Foods
Processed foods are packaged foods, whether boxed, canned or frozen.  Should you shun all packaged foods in order to maintain good health? Absolutely not. But packaged foods ought to be a small portion of your diet, not the majority of it. Why use frozen or canned vegetables when you can use fresh, organic foods that have live enzymes and an abundance of nutrition?  Perhaps the fresh version is out of season, you say. In that case, don’t buy the canned or frozen version; instead, buy a different vegetable—one that is available in its raw, fresh form.  If you know that certain produce is in season in your area, buy it instead and prepare your food around what’s available, not what a recipe calls for.  When you buy locally grown foods from the produce section you help your community and you end up eating what nature intends for you to eat during each season. 

Balance Acid & Alkaline
Some foods cause the body’s chemistry to be more acidic, while others cause it to be more alkaline. I’m not referring to stomach acid, but instead to the blood’s pH and to the state of the fluids between our cells.  An overly acidic condition forces the body to borrow minerals, including calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium, from organs and bones to buffer the acid and safely remove it from the body.  Many experts agree that chronic acidity is a primary cause of degenerative disease because an acidic state allows pathogens to thrive, whereas an alkaline state does not. So our goal is to keep our bodily fluids more alkaline by eating alkaline-forming foods.  Processed foods such breads, pasta, cereals, coffee, sugar, white rice, boxed and canned foods, along with meat and dairy, contribute to an acidic state.  On the other hand, most whole, raw organic plant foods contribute to an alkaline state.

Balance Yin & Yang
Choosing which food to eat based on the Japanese Macrobiotic concept of yin and yang is for the balancing of the energy of our consciousness.   Yin is an expanding, feminine quality and yang is its complement: a contracting, masculine quality. A predominance of either too much yin or too much yang energy creates unbalanced states of consciousness, and can be linked to the food we eat. Have you ever talked with someone who seemed “spacey” to you? That would be considered an overly yin condition, and is often due to too much sugar in their diet. And what about someone who has inflexible opinions and can’t incorporate new ideas. That is an overly yang condition, and could be due to too much meat in their diet.  The goal is to be just slightly more yang than yin, which is grounded, but not overbearing and inflexible.  Minimizing meat and sugar in your diet is a good start to balancing your yin and yang energy.

Minimize Meat
Over half of all the water used in the United States is for animal production, and the meat and dairy industry is the single largest source of water pollution in the United States. Raising animals for food is also the single greatest reason for deforestation throughout the planet.  Demand for meat is so high that virtually all animals used for food today are grown in steel cage factory farms under horrible conditions. Sickness is so rampant that animals are given drugs and antibiotics just to keep them alive until slaughter.  Most meat has any number of contaminants, including multiple disease-causing organisms, high levels of pesticides and herbicides, tranquilizers, artificial growth hormones, and the rendered parts of diseased or dying animals. These contaminants contribute to a wide variety of diseases found in Americans today. The best way to stay healthy and prevent environmental destruction is to minimize, or completely eliminate, meat consumption.

Minimize Dairy
Human breast milk is approximately five and a half percent protein and is designed to double an infant’s birth weight in about 180 days. Cow’s milk, on the other hand, is about fifteen percent protein and is meant to double the weight of a calf in just forty-seven days. The high protein content of milk produces an acidic environment in the human body. To correct the acidic environment, the body will withdraw calcium from the bones—known as osteoporosis—to bring the pH level back in balance.  Although dairy is high in calcium, it can’t be fully assimilated because of the high phosphorous content.  For factory-farmed dairy cows, antibiotics are used to slow disease, tranquilizers are used to calm frayed nerves, and artificial growth hormones are injected to increase milk production—all of which is consumed when we drink dairy.  If health is your goal, minimizing your dairy intake will do your body good.

Maximize Vegetarian Foods
Our digestive system is created to easily digest plant food, but not flesh, which makes us herbivores by nature. Consider that the hydrochloric acid in our stomach is only 1/20th the strength of that found in carnivores. Carnivores require the stronger acid to process the flesh they consume. Furthermore, our intestines are 12 times the length of our body, whereas carnivores have intestines three times the length of their body. This is important because once a carnivore digests its prey, the remains need to be quickly flushed through to prevent rotting. On the other hand, when we eat meat, the combination of weak stomach acid and long intestines means putrification occurs throughout the digestive system, which can lead to disease—not to mention constipation for a large percentage of Americans.  Yet, a plant-based diet works perfectly for us because the longer journey properly breaks down the fats, proteins, complex carbohydrates and nutrients.