|
EAT THIS AND LIVE!
In his latest read,
New York Times
best-selling author Dr. Don Colbert
demystifies the good, the bad and
the ugly effects of your food choices.
Here he shares with A. Belletty key
strategies for a healthier you!
|
AB: What inspired you to write this book?
DC: I've been practicing medicine for twenty
five years, and found that most of the patients
I see in my office (unfortunately), are eating
themselves to an early grave by simply
making the wrong food choices. By teaching them to make healthy choices; we're able to reverse the main culprit—obesity. Because
as we have learned, their lifelines are in their waistlines. Also, in helping them to lose
weight it contributes to the reversal of most
chronic diseases including 'Type 2 'diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
AB: In your book you mentioned the
effects of living versus dead foods.
Could you explain the difference?
DC: Living foods are simply foods in their
natural state like your fruits, vegetables,
nuts and whole grains. These foods have a
full compliment of fiber, antioxidants, phyto-
nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. As far as
dead foods are concerned; their life giving
properties have been taken out of them and usually, man made chemicals are added,
along with all kinds of preservatives, syn-
thetic dyes, flavoring agents, emulsifiers,
texturizers and bleaching agents. The
chemicals added to these foods, put a bur-
den on
our system and are addictive to us,
causing us to eat them in greater quantity,
which primes us to develop obesity and
other diseases.
AB: What specific diet examples do
you find relevant to the enjoyment of
optimum health?
DC: Real important for most people is simply eating breakfast. If they can start eating a
healthy breakfast and not a doughnut and a cup of coffee but a well balanced breakfast
high in fiber, some proteins and good fats
like nuts; it will keep them full for hours and
prevent them from choosing and eating the
wrong foods. Also, combining food properly
is another important factor. People need to
learn to stay clear from high glycemic foods (like processed foods) which turn to sugar
very rapidly and create a ravenous appetite
a fewhours later. Making the right fuel mixture
is similar to putting the right gasoline in your
tank. If you put real cheap gasoline in your
car's tank, then it will run bad. It's the same
with our bodies, eating the right foods
helps us function at optimum energetic and intellectual capacity. Another real important
thing is eating a mid afternoon snack. So
many people get that mid afternoon low blood
sugar fatigue or just a 'burn out' type of feeling. But by just having a healthy afternoon snack
with the right proportion of (again) fiber, good
protein, good carbohydrates and good fats—
would keep them from getting that tired and
run down feeling by mid afternoon.
AB: Some of today's most popular foods are processed. What does the term pro-
cessed mean? And what are some of
the proven health conditions linked to
these foods?
DC: Processed foods are simply natural
foods (like grains) transformed into a con-
venient package form, such as chips, most
cereals, crackers and white bread. Most
processed foods are stripped of vitamins,
minerals, fiber,enzymes, phytonutrients,
and antioxidants. They have a high glycemic index which converts to sugar
rapidly (which
is similar to eating sugar) so you develop
cravings, and get addicted to them. These
foods are making a huge impact on the
quality of life of our children. All of the
different flavoring agents and synthetic dyes are responsible for creating numerous cases
of 'ADD' and ADHD'. The consumption of
these foods is directly connected to high
cholesterol,high blood pressure, Type 2'
diabetes, acid reflux, fatigue, heart
disease and cancer. |
