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Ten important dietary principles for health
(provided by NS³UK)

Health is the least energy required to maintain balance in the body
Dr David Peters

For most of our evolution we have interacted with our environment without ever needing to know the chemical composition of the foods that we eat. As we approach the 21st century it is becoming vital that we understand the effects of foods on our health so that we can maximise our ability to lead a healthy life and to safeguard the wellbeing of future generations.

Fundamental to the expression of health are the genes that we have inherited from our ancestors. Over the last decade scientists have identified more and more illnesses that appear to have a genetic component including the three major causes of death in Britain: heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

Exposing our genes to a healthy environment theoretically limits the potential for any faulty genes that we might have inherited to be expressed in our lifetime. Whereas providing faulty genes with a high exposure to pollutants and a low exposure to essential nutrients increases the potential for associated illnesses to manifest during our lifetime.

A high percentage of the body’s energy is used to detoxify pollutants. Energy is also needed for growth, repair and to enhance every process in the body. If an undue amount of energy is diverted to detoxification then this reduces the energy available to keep all our body processes in good working order. Vitamins and minerals are required to detoxify pollutants and are needed to activate almost all chemical reactions in the body. Reducing our toxic load and increasing nutrient intake is vital for the conservation of body energy for important health enhancing processes.

Principle 1

The germ is nothing. The terrain is everything.
Louis Pasteur

This means that it is more important to boost our own defences that to zap the germ.

• Optimise nutrient intake
• Reduce exposure to pollutants e.g. pesticides, heavy metals, stimulants i.e. tea, coffee, chocolate, coke, nicotine, salt and red meat, drugs (including hormones and antibiotics), additives, preservatives, by-products of the plastics industry, tap water and free radicals.
• Eat organic produce whenever possible. Drink herb teas, fruit teas and coffee substitutes such as Barleycup and Yannoh. Keep alcohol within recommended levels.

Principle 2

Diversity – eat 25-30 different foods a day
Dr Stephen Davies – pioneer in Nutritional Medicine

This means eating small amounts of a wide and diverse range of foods. Eating a diverse diet maximises nutrient intake and reduces over-exposure to common foods associated with adverse health reactions including: asthma, eczema, psoriasis and arthritis. Common offending foods include: wheat, dairy produce, citrus fruits, corn and yeast.

• Breakfast can include 6 different wholegrains, 4 different nuts and seeds, milk or milk substitute and 2 pieces of fruit.
• Lunch can include: an animal or vegetable protein, wholegrain bread or cracker, six different salad vegetables
• Dinner can include: an animal or vegetable protein, potato, 3 other vegetables, brown rice, or other wholegrains i.e. millet, barley or quinoa
• Snacks can include: raw vegetables, nuts, seeds, fruit, crackers, vegetable spreads

Principle 3

Eat whole grains
Dr Dennis Burkett – importance of fibre in the diet

Wholegrains are rich in vitamins, minerals, fibre and plant chemicals all of which help regulate important processes in the body. Refined grains as found in white bread, white rice, white pasta, biscuits, cakes and confectionery are seriously depleted of minerals most of which are not replaced. For example 98 per cent of chromium is lost and 77% of zinc.

Wholegrains include:

• Whole: wheat, rye, oats, barley, rice, corn, millet, quinoa, and ‘buckwheat’. Botanically buckwheat is a flower but it is used as a grain
• Wholegrain products:
  • Bread: wheat and rye
  • Crackers: wheat, rye, oats and rice
  • Pasta: wheat, rye, rice, corn, millet and buckwheat
  • Flakes: wheat, rye, oats, barley, rice, corn, millet, quinoa and buckwheat
  • Flour: wheat, rye, barley, rice corn, millet buckwheat
  • Other: brown rice, millet seeds, wheat berries, quinoa seeds, corn chips, polenta, sugar free cereal bars

Principle 4

Eating a multi-coloured variety of plant foods isn’t just good-looking, it’s positively good for you because each colour relates to a different phytochemical each with particular health benefits.
Patrick Holford – Founder of the Institute for Optimum Nutrition

• Choose a red, orange, yellow, green and purple fruit or vegetable every day.
• Organic fruits and vegetables to include regularly are: berries, black grapes, citrus fruit, carrots, tomatoes, beetroot, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale and cabbage.

Principle 5

Eat a minimum of five portions of fruit and vegetables daily.
The British Heart Foundation
The Cancer Research Campaign

Recent research indicates that ten portions daily provide more protection to our health. A portion equals 80 grams which is equivalent to the average sized apple. Fruit and vegetables are rich sources of vitamins, minerals, fibre, water and plant chemicals that help regulate important body processes.

• Water found in fruits and vegetables is best suited for body processes. If eating ten pieces of fruit and vegetables a day include a further litre of good quality bottled or filtered water to help the body detoxify.
• The British Heart Foundation and The Cancer Research Campaign are concerned that today’s children will experience increased rates of heart disease and cancer during mid-life unless they begin to incorporate five pieces of fruit and vegetables a day. Currently, many children only eat five pieces of fruit and vegetables a week.

Principle 6

Eat beans and lentils (pulses)
Dr Joseph Mayo – the remarkable health benefits of soya isoflavones

Beans and lentils are rich in fibre, vitamins, minerals and plant chemicals that help regulate important body processes. Beans and lentils make good additions to meat based meals and stand alone as important contributions to vegetarian and vegan diets. Cooking beans from scratch takes time. However, lentils cook relatively quickly. If purchasing beans and lentils ready cooked in tins then avoid those soaked in sugar and salt and buy organic. Baked beans are a simple use of pulses and can be purchased sugar free and organic.

The soya bean is a well-researched bean and has many health benefits associated with it including: reducing risk of certain cancers, heart disease, osteoporosis and menopausal problems. If using the soya bean then ensure that it is organic as most soya today is genetically modified. Good sources of soya are organic sugar free soya milk and organic tofu.

• Include: at least 3 bean based meals weekly. Choose from: soyabean, red kidney bean, chickpea, flageolet bean, haricot bean, black eye bean, pinto bean, cannellini bean, brown lentils, red lentils. If cooking from scratch ensure that you follow cooking instructions carefully.

Principle 7

Eat plenty of raw food
Leslie Kenton – Award winning health-writer and broadcaster

The benefits of eating uncooked, raw foods is just beginning to be understood. Many of the plant chemicals in foods are believed to be more potent if eaten raw. Enzymes in food are completely destroyed by cooking. The efficacy of eating raw foods for their active enzyme activity has long been a bone of contention. Extensive tests have shown that the human body protects enzymes as food passes through the digestive tract, so that around 70 per cent reach the colon intact. Here they enhance the activity of the intestinal flora by binding with oxygen. Too much oxygen in the gut encourages fermentation, putrefaction and intestinal toxaemia. Professor Arturi Virtanen, a biochemist from Helsinki, showed that enzymes in uncooked foods are released in the mouth when vegetables are chewed. These enzymes apparently come in contact with other substances and form entirely new physiologically active substances which are very important for health. Cooking causes large losses of many nutrients and breaks down fibre.

Principle 8

Eat good quality polyunsaturated fatty acids found in nuts, seeds, their oils, wholegrains and fish, particularly oily fish
Professor Michael Crawford – Expert in Brain Chemistry

The human brain and nervous system has a high requirement for polyunsaturated fatty acids particularly during foetal development. Two polyunsaturated fatty acids are essential to eat in the diet as our bodies cannot make them. The balance of these two fatty acids in the diet is very important. The two essential fatty acids are linoleic acid (Omega 6) and linolenic acid (Omega 3). Rich sources of omega 6 are sunflower, safflower and sesame seeds and their oils. Rich sources of omega 3 are walnut oil, soya oil, and flaxseed (linseed), seaweed like nori and other sea vegetation like algae. Fish eat sea vegetation and convert these essential oils into very potent substances that are needed for brain function and for vision. Omega 6 and omega 3 oils are also important for keeping our blood thin and counteracting inflammation. Diets high in meat and dairy produce can promote thicker blood and inflammatory reactions.

• The modern diet indicates an excess of Omega 6 fatty acids and a deficiency of Omega 3. We are recommended to eat Omega 6 and Omega 3 in a ratio of 5:1. It is not uncommon for this ratio to be 20-30:1. Processed foods like cakes, biscuits, pies, crisps and confectionery has a high Omega 6 content. The quality of the oils used in many of these products is also poor and can damage our health. Polyunsaturated oils need to be used raw, organic and cold-pressed for maximum quality. Eat nuts and seeds raw and use oils as part of mayonnaise and dressings. Avoid cooking with these oils as they are easily damaged by heat particularly frying temperatures. Organic butter and olive oil is safer for cooking but use minimally.
• Fish is now one of our most polluted food sources. Care is needed to find good sources of fish. Deep sea white fish is less contaminated. However, it is the oily fishes that provide the best levels of Omega 3 oils. Your practitioner will discuss with you whether fish should be included in your diet. Purified sources of these oils are available as supplements for those whom the effects of contamination outweigh the benefits of this important food source.

Principle 9

Eat a highly alkaline forming diet
Dr Morter – The Body Knows Best

All body fluids are slightly alkaline except urine and stomach juices. Diets rich in fruit and vegetables make it easy for the body to keep alkaline. Whereas eating diets high in acid forming foods like red meat, chicken, fish, pulses and wholegrains gives the body a lot of work to do to keep the body fluids alkaline. Red meats create very strong acids like sulphuric and nitric acid which takes about five days for the body to clear through the kidneys. Alkaline minerals like calcium, potassium, sodium and phosphorus are used to counteract such acidity. Maintaining correct alkalinity of body fluids is vital for life moment after moment. This process is regulated within very strict limits. If the body needs calcium for example to counteract acidity it will take it from your bones if necessary. High protein, high acidic diets are associated with poor bone health, osteoporosis and urinary infections.

• Aim to eat 80 per cent of your diet as alkaline forming foods. This means eating plenty of fruits and vegetables.

Principle 10

‘The forgotten nutrient’
Kate Neil – Director of Nutrition Services Supplies Support NS3UK

Water is undoubtedly the most important compound in body systems. We are 70% water. Most chemical reactions require water and it is vital for cleansing the body of toxins.

• Drink 1.5 - 2 litres of good quality water a day. Eating 5-10 portions of fruit and vegetables a day will provide your body with good levels of water in a form that best suits the body.

‘Let food be your medicine and medicine your food’
Hippocrates

‘The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease’
Thomas A Edison