harmonic4

The Harmonics Of A Natural Diet

Although an environmentally unsuitable comparison, the following may help you understand how to balance your bod' with natural diet and exercise!

OK ...
Different models of cars use different types and amounts of fuels and lubricants.... umm, so do people!

If you have a car that runs on diesel then you don't fill it up with petrol, because you'll wreck the engine. A gauge shows you how much oil to add, and no more - again because you will damage the engine. And if you put the wrong amount of air in your tyres, your car becomes unstable. So, to avoid unnecessary probems you should follow the guidelines set out by the cars' manufacturer, and in most cases the highway code as well. Releasing the hand brake, driving off in first gear - turning corners at a comfortable speed and driving the right way down a one way street! This is how you treat your car so that it works without problems. The essence of this comparison describes how you might treat yourself... your own body. You should add the correct fuel... that means the right foods.... and the right amount of food, then exercise it moderately and regularly. The more you gain awareness about what constitutes the smooth running of your physical and mental self, then you'll will begin to feel all of the great benefits, which come about through careful running and life-maintenance. You'll be adding just the right type of "clean fuel" - and only as much as necessary. Just because lots of chocolate cakes come a single packet doesn't mean you have to stuff them all at once!... Imagine that just one cake is the equivalent to the maximum oil level for your car... any more and you'll damage the engine. Imagine a couple of glasses of wine as a complete tank of fuel. (rather than being "tanked up" by 8 pints) - The rest of the bottle is irrelevant. Forget it.... if you pump excess into yourself, it would be like overinflating the tyres on your car. You'll just skid and crash! Too little fuel or air could be considered as lack of the correct nutrients leading to bad moods, tiredness, breathlessness, listlessness, pallor, and poor resistance to infection. Don't allow your body to become immobile for too long. in other words you'll just feel like you are driving with the hand brake on. Don't start off in fourth gear. Don't strain the engine! When you don't exercise it gets harder to force yourself later on. Balance your food intake with exercise. Only eat as much as you need.... don't prepare excessive amounts of food then force yourself (or anyone else) to eat it. Make less and eat it all.

SO, NOW THAT YOU ARE ON THE WAY TO FEELING HEALTHIER AND FITTER, YOU CAN HELP THE ENVIRONMENT BY LEAVING THE CAR AT HOME..... AND WALK!!!

but seriously though...

... a human's natural dietary requirement may be considered a lost harmonic for many, particularly in the western world.

As the health conscious amongst us forage around the supermarket shelves for non GM and additive free products, there is otherwise little mental dialogue with our own psyche. We need to establish what our bodies nutritionally need, by rekindling and listening to our instincts. Abiding to some trendy diet regime doesn't constitute an understanding of our natural lifeforce, which empathizes with its counterpart - our human mechanics.

What makes up a healthy diet is revised almost annually. The search for the perfectly balanced elixir of a long, fit and disease free life provides lucrative returns for researchers and food manufacturers world wide. There will always be someone reaching for the ultimate... and whoever makes the first life prolonging, body-shaping chocolate bar will be very rich!

From both ends of the social spectrum, true natural dietary balance may have become a lost sense of purpose. It's now distorted by social upbringing and lifestyle pressures. That is why many of us find it very hard to choose the right mixtures of healthy food, and still make eating an enjoyable pleasure. We simply depend on manufacturers to provide taste-enhancing, quick-fix packages to fill our needs. Many of us are confused or oblivious as to what constitutes a well balanced food intake. But many of us also assume that everything we buy from a supermarket, or even our health food shop is an assemblage of nutrients automatically containing the essential sustenance of life ...
... That, of course is shortsighted.

In the natural world, animals instinctivly feed off nutritients essential for their survival ... (that is as long as their environment, hence their food source has not been destroyed by humans). Most humans have lost the natural ability to feel what is right for us. Therefore we understandably seek guidance.

If we are to keep our health in check, we are obliged to make conscious efforts to fulfill our nutritional needs. But not only to remain healthy ... We should also consider the long term effects of a bad diet and how this can eventually cause discomfort for ourselves, and even strain for others around us in later years. Some of you may eventually need to depend on family and welfare services to look after you ... It may well be because you have eaten, drunk and smoked yourself into an obese couch potato - or a bar-stool slug.

There are variants and extremes. Most people simply conform to an unhealthy diet and an inactive lifestyle through ignorance, sheer habit and laziness... Many old people falsely believe that because they are still alive, the platefuls of dead animals drenched in salt and fat, followed by sickly sweet pie and custard is not doing them any harm! Funny how they avoid the fact that they may be on an assortment of life saving tablets or keeping their doctor busy when the warning bells occasionally ring. In the other extreme, heads of the family might hand out a self-proclaimed dietary regime which may not suit all family individuals. Uneducated authoritiy of this kind can lead to family members growing severely undernourished through lack of nutritional essentials. They may require far higher amounts of minerals or vitamins than others in the same family. Alternatively, there's the same scenario at the opposite end of the scale, as family heads overstuff and oversupply their children with unsuitable convenience food, which can equally bring on other increasingly common forms of nutritional deficiency... and obesity.

So whether you are a pale, fainting rake or a slab of nicotine stained lard, the correct diet to help yourself throughout your life should go hand in hand with consideration towards others, for all different kinds of reasons.
Try to reevaluate and stamp out social interdependency with unhealthy food and others around you who suffer the same bad habits.
You can stop the onset of self-inflicted illnesses which can otherwise arise from an unhealthy diet, smoking and other undesirable traits of your lifestyle.
And don't just think of yourself ... think about others who have to put up with your habitual ignorance. And remember that recent research has found that vegetarians live up to 6 years longer than their meat-eating counterparts.

the veggie trap

Another legacy of poor nutritional conditioning can effect meat eaters who have turned veggie. An "alternative" must take the place where meat once took center stage on our plate ... Well, we can remain short sighted by gauging our vegetarian requirements against meat like alternatives, but this limits rather than expands our adventures into culinary, veggie delights ... It can also lead to a poor nutritional balance.

Meat-like alternatives are highly processed products made generally from soya and other alternatives. Unlike the dangers of meat there are no potential side effects, although they can contain similar artificial flavours and enhancers. Eating processed proteins just for the sake of emulating a meaty experience means we are simply taking up valuable tummy space which should be reserved for more natural products like vegetables, pulses and rice. Foods containing nutrients, which the body can absorb and benefit from. Proteins are not a necessary to maintain a healthy well balanced body but B12 and iron - which is normally found in meat - is vital. So it is important that vegetarians pay more attention to the amounts of vegetables on their plates instead of assuming that a veggie burger with a vague sprinkling of peas and chips is going to achieve a necessary balance of essential nutrients.

Try to forget the concept of needing meat substitutes to fill the gap. Consider that meat, and therefore meat substitutes don't fall into your dietary equation. Reevaluate the ways you view and prepare natural foods. It may be that various textures of food on your plate are important to feeling essentially fulfilled ... The same goes for flavours. There are many chewy like textures that are pleasing to the palate like mushrooms and other fungi, some pastas, tofu, dough bases, sundried tomatoes etc.

It's unfortunate that textures and flavours of food are more important to many people than its nutritional value. But if you stay off artificially flavoured and chemically treated foods for a length of time, the flavours of natural foods will eventually become far more intense. In fact, you may find artificially enhanced foods quite repulsive after a couple years .... and, in many cases, if you tried such foods again you can actually taste the added chemicals.... Even feel the unpleasant effects of pesticides on fruits etc. Of course, GM foods bring a whole new frightening equation. But we leave that for later discussion.

for the meat eater turning vegetarian

From a lifetime of flesh eating, you may first need to take one step back before plunging into the really healthy zone! For this purpose there are, of course processed substitutes like Soya etc. which can help your transition to a meat free diet. Remember that processed usually means that the product is full of additives and flavours. Natural and artificial flavours are similarly added to both meat based dishes and meat "like" dishes. It's therefore likely that if somebody replaced meat lasagna with a Soya alternative without you knowing, you would not notice the difference....
Flavours constitute a satisfying eating experience as well as the texture. Herbs and spices compliment the texture rather than the flavour of actual meat itself. You normally identify meat through texture. So, as long as meat substitutes have almost the identical texture, you should have no trouble feeling comfortable about eating it, as it will no doubt be flavoured with your usual sauces, spices and gravies.

Alternatively, a careful balance of natural flavours can produce a magical meal... all from selective proportions of vegetables and spices. So once you have eliminated the need to to consider "substitutes" as a centre feature, then you can take your "veggie-morphosis" one step further. You can begin to prepare non processed foods that are balanced in natural texture, wonderful natural flavour and nutritional value... Then you have really cracked it!

If we are completely capable of working within this philosophy then vitamin and mineral supplements may not be necessary. However, as we describe, it isn't easy to acquire a natural harmonic in diet. Therefore you may need to compensate on occasions with supplementary vitamins and minerals.

finally

We may cringe as we see people from every spectrum of society stuffing themselves with dead animals and overcooked vegetables smothered with mountains of salt... followed by sugary puddings... all full of chemical additives. But there is always a glimmer of hope. Many vegetarians may have eaten the same way themselves once... it's really never too late for change....In fact you wouldn't be reading this far if you weren't preparing yourself for a healthier, conscience-clarified lifestyle.

At VeggieGlobal.com we have provided an easy read guide to nutritional sources - www.veggieglobal.com/nutrition

PREPARE YOURSELF SENSIBLY: YOU SHOULD ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR MEDICAL PRACTITIONER FIRST BEFORE INITIALLY ENGAGING IN STRENUOUS PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES OR TAKING CERTAIN DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS

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