What is healthy nutrition?

My mother was a reluctant cook, but passionate about nutrition. So I grew up on plain, but nutritious food. We always had lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. Baking was always with wholemeal flour, dark brown sugar and no baking powder. Animal protein was limited.

I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but I am so glad now.

My mum had lived through the rationing after two world wars, so when we went to live in East Africa, she embraced the availability of the diverse fresh produce. Holidays at the coast was as much of a paradise for her as it was for her children.

Her particular paradise was to buy a basket of fresh mangos at the local market, then take it and a knife to the beach and sit in the shallow water. Eating mangos can be messy, but she wanted to extract the last of the nectar. I don’t recall anyone else wanting to eat an entire basketful, of around twenty, in one sitting. I guess she had a lot of catching up to do!

Eating an abundance of real food, if you crave it, is healthy. Your body will crave what it needs, as long as it is real food, unadulterated by processing and manipulation. Real food is natural food. When you have topped up on what your body needs, the craving will disappear.

One objection I hear over and over again, is that too much fruit is bad for you. A myth, like so many. You can never have too much fruit as long as it is fresh and not manipulated, such as with GM. 

The natural sugar in fruit is easily broken down by your body. You have evolved to do just that. Natural fruit sugar, in real, fresh fruit, is not the problem with diabetics.

The problem is the processed, refined and manipulated white sugar, that I call poison. It is also one of the main reasons, or causes, behind cholesterol and heart problems.

My mother in law used to simmer beautiful fresh cherries in white sugar. What a waste, I shuddered!

Fruit is the ultimate 'fast food' as most of it already comes neatly packaged care of Nature.

During WW11, many European countries had all their livestock removed, by the Germans.

A study. in Norway discovered that the resulting diet of legumes, fruit, vegetables and whole grains had a miraculous result on heart conditions and strokes. 

Deaths and problems from these plummeted to near zero.

They came back to normal after the war, when animal protein was once more a focal point in the diet.

We can learn a lot from history!

T Colin Campbell PhD, conducted research into the diets of the rural Chinese, a group who had not yet been influenced by the common western diets. This study was in partnership with Oxford University, UK.

It was found that their diet, which consisted mainly of fruit and vegetables, with only occasional meat and no dairy at all, kept them free from the common western killer diseases of cancer, heart condition, diabetes, etc.

Human anatomy and physiology clearly shows we are herbivores. You can discover the comparison with carnivores and omnivores here.

A balanced diet with a variety of fresh fruit, veggies, legumes, whole grain and seeds and nuts, contain all the nutrients a healthy person needs. Much of the more natural supplements come from these foods. It makes more sense to consume the foods than the supplements.

A huge amount of illnesses and dis-eases can be banished forever when these diets are adopted.

It's always interesting when a medic strays from the bosom of their group, normally to the detriment of their career, while promoting what they trained to do - helping people become healthy.

It would appear that this is not the real purpose of most in the trade.

William Arbothnot Lane (1856-1943), is known more for his ability as a surgeon. However, in his middle years he became an early advocate of healthy diets as a cancer prophylactic.

His much-publicised views on this topic brought him into conflict with the British Medical Ass, from which he resigned in 1924.

In 1925 he launched the New Health Society, which promoted wholemeal bread, increasing consumption of fruit and vegetables, the return of people to the land, maximising exposure to sunlight, and physical exercise.

When people ask themselves, what is healthy nutrition, it benefits them to look to long term, independent research, such as those mentioned above.

Whilst diet won't heal every condition in everyone, it can go a long way. For those stubborn ailments, see the link below.

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