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Writer's pictureMaria Monem

Forward Food vs Backward Food

Updated: Apr 28, 2020

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” - Hippocrates



Hi,

A couple of weeks ago I wrote the blog to hell with dieting and I wrote about eating healthy and not obsess about different diets but instead focus on introducing more vegetables and more high quality food, so this blog is a little bit of a continuation to that blog, I want to go in a little deeper on what a healthy diet/eating style looks like. This is the nutritionist in me writing… I will not go in to too much detail I promise. Also keep in mind that this is just a general guideline of healthy foods, as I have mentioned before we are all unique and have different diet requirements so you have to try and explore what works for you.


Healthy diet tool: Re-name foods as FORWARD FOOD or BACKWARD FOOD.

“Before you eat ask: Is this food helping me move forward to better health and improved energy or backward to feeling unhealthy with a spike-and crash depleted feeling?

Forward Foods Vs Backward Foods (Fed up with the “diet” word) forward foods: “Good for health”


· Complex carbs

· High quality Protein

· Healthy Fats

· Vitamin and Minerals from food


Backward Foods: “Bad for health”

· Processed foods

· Trans fats

· Artificial Sweeteners


Forward Foods:


Complex Carbohydrates:

Complex carbohydrates are found in foods such as peas, beans, whole grains, and vegetables. (The more vegetables you eat, the better) Complex carbohydrate foods provide vitamins, minerals, and fiber that are important to our health.


The majority of carbohydrates should come from complex carbohydrates, starches and naturally occurring sugars that we can find in fruit.


Whole grains -These grains are either present in their whole form or ground into a flour while retaining all parts of the seed (bran, germ and endosperm)


Example of whole grains:

· Barley

· Brown rice

· Buckwheat

· Bulgur (cracked wheat)

· Millet

· Oatmeal

· Popcorn

· Whole-wheat bread, pasta or crackers


High quality Protein:

Animal Protein:

· Meat Occasionally

· High quality Fish and Poultry

· Eggs (free range or organic if possible)


Plant Protein:

· Soy Products: tofu, tempeh, and edamame.

· Lentils

· Chickpeas

· Peanuts

· Almonds

· Spirulina

· Quinoa

· Mycoprotein

· Hemp seeds

· Chia seeds

· Seitan

· Ezekiel bread

· Potatoes

· Beans with rice - Separately, rice and beans are incomplete protein sources. Eaten together, this meal can provide 7 g of protein per cup.


Healthy Fats:

Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats are known as the “good fats” because they are good for your heart, your cholesterol, and your overall health.


Good sources of Monounsaturated fat include:

· Olive, canola, peanut, and sesame oils

· Avocados

· Olives

· Nuts (almonds, peanuts, macadamia, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews)

· Peanut butter


Good sources of Polyunsaturated fat include:

· Sunflower, sesame, and pumpkin seeds

· Flaxseed

· Walnuts

· Fatty fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring, trout, sardines) and fish oil

· Soybean and safflower oil

· Soymilk

· Tofu


Full fat Dairy:

· Milk

· Cheese

· Yoghurt


Vitamins and Minerals from real food are essential to our health


Water: You know this already. Minimum 8 glasses per day. It helps you stay hydrated, helps you to flush out waste and it helps you to feel full.


Backward Foods:


Processed foods (Any food item that are white in color have usually been processed and refined, like flour, rice, pasta, bread, crackers, cereal, and simple sugars like table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup)

Trans fats also called partially hydrogenated oils. They raise your "bad" (LDL) cholesterol level.

Artificial Sweeteners


This week’s challenge:

The No-Processed Food Challenge - 1 Week of NO Processed foods!


Keep a journal and write down your thoughts. Observe and reflect: how you are feeling at the beginning of the challenge and at the end of the challenge. Write down what comes to mind.

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