The 6 Foundations of Nutrition

1. Properly Prepared, Nutrient Dense Diet

A properly prepared, nutrient dense diet basically means buying and cooking foods in ways that maximize the nutrients and eating a variety of foods to empower your body to work at its best.

Your body can fight infections, build new tissue/muscles/skin, and lubricate joints when you are properly sourcing, preparing, and eating a balanced diet of proteins (for building tissues), carbs (for fueling your brain, body, and microbiome), and fats (to improve vitamin absorption, give us energy, build cell membranes and hormones, protect our organs, and make food taste better).

2. Digestion

Digestion begins the moment you start to cook or consider your food! When you’re thinking about your steak your body produces chemicals in your saliva that will help break it down, then when you’re chewing the right amount of times you’re getting the food into small enough pieces, and your body can effectively absorb the nutrients from the food.

Nutrient deficiencies, a low protein diet, certain medications, stress, and alcohol are some examples of causes for poor digestion.

When you’re eating a properly prepared nutrient dense diet, and appreciating your foods and enjoying your meals, all of your digestive organs, including your tongue, esophagus, stomach, intestines, pancreas, liver, gallbladder, and more, can do their job to breakdown foods, absorb nutrients (vitamins, minerals), fight off harmful pathogens, regulate stomach acid, and get rid of waste most efficiently.

3. Blood Sugar Regulation

We have a worldwide emergency to lower blood sugar due to an increase in consumption of processed & refined foods, environmental toxicity, and stress. People are left sick, tired, and irritable because we have not properly fed our bodies, which means we haven’t allowed our bodies to do their work in properly regulating blood sugar. Blood sugar regulation is led by communication between the Central Nervous System (brain & spine) and the Peripheral Organs (PAALS): Pancreas, Adrenal Glands, Adipose Tissue, Liver, & Skeletal Muscle.

Through adjusting macronutrient ratios, an individual can create balanced hormonal release and utilize all macronutrients for energy. A well balanced, whole foods diet leads to generally even blood sugar regulation, which also regulates our mood and energy.

4. Fatty Acids

Fatty acids deficiency is epidemic (people fear fat, so they don’t eat it) and it is causing musculoskeletal issues, endocrine issues, cardiovascular issues, immune issues, allergies/skin problems, and depression, anxiety and more. We used to eat a variety of foods, which meant a variety of fats; Think many different animals, nuts, and seeds.

Another factor in our deficiency is the sourcing of our fats. Animals are fed a diet of grains and corns that they are not evolved to eat and digest, and so they are unhealthy. Then we eat them, and we are unhealthy! The food industry is also to blame. They use high heat to express oils for cooking (think vegetable oil) and through this method the fats become rancid. A balanced diet of fatty acids means eating a variety of Omega-3’s and Omega-6's daily.

5. Mineral Balance

Minerals act as cofactors for various enzyme reactions, like fatty acid deficiency, leading to inflammation. Even if someone has a great balance of fatty acids, but is deficient in certain minerals, the fatty acids can’t do their work properly!

Minerals help regulate tissue growth, contract & relax muscles (think foot cramps or cardiovascular disease), provide structural & functional support, and facilitate the transfer of nutrients across cell membranes. Calcium is a macro-mineral that is key in the process of bone remodeling – the continuous rebuilding and repairing of bone (think, Osteoporosis). However, even if you get enough calcium, your diet must support the transport and absorption of calcium.

A diet with a variety of minerals requires a variety of locally sourced plants & animals, balanced with healthy fats, hydration & electrolytes, Vitamin D, other minerals and proper digestion, in order to achieve and maintain calcium homeostasis.

6. Hydration

Another Nutritional Foundation is Hydration. Water is the most important nutrient in the body, which improves oxygen delivery to cells, removes wastes, flushes toxins, lubricates bones & joints, enables the digestive process, and more. Healthy adults are about 55%-60% water.

• A decline in 2% of water will bring early signs of dehydration: fatigue, thirst, dry mouth, darker urine, ravings, muscle cramps, anxiety, headaches, and degradation in memory/concentration.

• A drop of 10% will cause serious health problems: digestive, cardiovascular, immune, and musculoskeletal.

• A drop in more than 10% will cause death.

To make sure you’re staying hydrated, check that your urine is a light yellow or straw color. If you don’t like drinking water, try adding in fruit, or lemon/lime juice, and sip throughout the day – not all at once. Finally, avoid sodas, the worst offender of dehydration. After a couple of days, your body will thank you!