What to Eat - The Diet Dilemma
Would it surprise you to learn that you may need to eat different diets at different stages of your life? Or that you may need to eat a diet that best addresses your mineral imbalances based on your Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis? Maybe your symptoms suggest that you eat a low oxalate diet, or even start a carnivore diet. Is Keto right for you? For many, eating for the “season” is a balanced way to eat with many amazing benefits.
This article will give you some suggestions so you better understand why no “one” diet is for everyone and why a diet that may be right for you now, may not be right for you later!
For many coming into a Mineral Balancing program, the best diet is one that helps a client start from where they are, making changes slowly so they can adapt to a new diet and lifestyle. For new clients, I can recommend a general eating plan that is doable, sustainable and offers flexibility. When a diet is varied and one is not eating the same foods day in and day out, a better balance of minerals is achieved.
General Eating Plan
According to an article in Harvard Health Publishing written in August of 2021,“The best approach to ensure you get a variety of vitamins and minerals, and in the proper amounts, is to adopt a broad healthy diet.” However, I have issues with the next recommendation which states, “This involves an emphasis on fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans and legumes, low-fat protein, and dairy products.”
In my opinion the “emphasis” needs to be individualized since many clients have issues that may require them to avoid or limit grains, beans, legumes, and dairy products. Plus, diabetics may need to adjust their intake of fruits.
Therefore, even my “general” eating plan that I may share with clients starting a Mineral Balancing Program may need adjusted to meet their individual needs, including assuring they are getting lots of minerals from food they need based on their Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis.
If a client comes to me eating fast food, microwaved meals, processed foods and sugary drinks and snacks, helping them make simple changes over time can often be the best starting point. Asking someone to “overhaul” their entire diet is not often successful and small steps towards a healthier diet can be the best approach. Meeting clients “where” they are is important to assist them in getting started and adapting to a program.
When clients have various symptoms, this tells me they may need a more specialized diet and I can help them eliminate certain foods, and/or start a specific diet that can heal their body. Often their symptoms, along with their Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis results, tell me a lot about what they may, or may not, need.
I have had clients use carnivore diets with excellent results. A pub med article reviewing the carnivore diet came to this conclusion: “Contrary to common expectations, adults consuming a carnivore diet experienced few adverse effects and instead reported health benefits and high satisfaction. Cardiovascular disease risk factors were variably affected. The generalizability of these findings and the long-term effects of this dietary pattern require further study.” Carnivore diets, often demonized, can be very healing.
Some studies suggest that low oxalate diets may be best for anyone susceptible to kidney stones, and other issues as well. I have seen low oxalate diets work well with clients who have symptoms of oxalate overload. A Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis helps me identify mineral levels that may suggest a low oxalate diet will help correct imbalances and heal the body.
This diet can be tricky to manage and should be monitored carefully by your practitioner.
Keto diets have been shown to help with weight loss, obesity, as well as decreasing the level of triglycerides, LDL cholesterol and blood glucose, and increasing the level of HDL cholesterol. Furthermore, according to the same study, no significant side-effects have been observed with those on a Keto diet.
Type 1 diabetes has responded well to a Keto diet in many people but should be individualized based on specific needs and especially for anyone on diabetic medications. If you are diabetic and wish to try the Keto diet, work with your doctor before starting this, or any new, diet.
With that being said, I believe there is a right, and wrong, way to go on a Keto diet. Helping clients eat a “clean” keto diet can be beneficial especially when one learns how to cycle in and out ketosis, improving one’s health as the body becomes metabolically flexible. Metabolic flexibility is the ability to respond or adapt to conditional changes in metabolic demand.
Vegetarian and/or Vegan Diets
Vegetarian and Vegan Diets may be preferred for religious reasons and/or animal activists who prefer to avoid eating meat. Often a client will feel better when on a vegetarian/vegan diet as meat can be harder to digest if the digestive system is not well.
While HCL is needed to break down food for optimal mineral absorption, a lack of HCL is more noticeable when eating meat. Removing meat from the diet may allow a client to feel better temporarily.
However, there are three things to remember if you choose to remove meat from your diet:
1. Ask your practitioner to help you supplement with the correct amino acids which are missing from vegetable diets. Beans and legumes do not adequately provide enough amino acids when consuming a vegetarian or vegan diet.
2. If you eat a vegetarian or vegan diet, this means eating non-processed foods and not processed “meat” substitutes. Also, overeating grains is common with vegetarian and vegan diets. Avoid bagels, breads, and an abundance of processed grains. Eat vegetables!
3. The lack of HCL indicates gut issues that need to be addressed at the root cause. Simple avoiding meat will not heal the gut. Work with your practitioner to address your gut issues.
One of my favorites, and most healthy, ways to teach clients how to eat is “seasonal” eating. Season eating is a catch-all phrase referring to the practice of eating food, preferably “local” foods, when they are at the peak of freshness. In fact, most of us crave foods when they are in season. Our bodies are telling us these foods are what we need and we are eating in harmony with nature!
Foods that are in season taste better and offer greater nutritional value and buying locally supports local farmers and your community’s economy.
Seasonal eating encourages eating foods that are freshly harvested so they are more nutrient dense. Many nutrients are lost when food is transported.
Local farmers markers often offer a variety of organic fruits and vegetables that are fresher and healthier than those available at the grocery store.
For “most” clients eating seasonably is the heathiest and most healing eating plan! This Seasonal Food Guide is a great resource.
Meat and dairy farmers often have a selection of naturally raised meats that are grass fed and grass finished, raised with hormones or antibiotics. These animals are raised and butchered using humane practices too. Plus, in some states, raw dairy products can be found at your local farms.
Visit the Weston A Price Foundation to find local farmers in your area!
All the eating plans I recommend include an excellent digestive aid! We all need digestive aids currently to assist in mineral assimilation and heal the gut.
Plus, while all the diets discussed in this article have benefits, many may need to be followed for a “season” of life until changes indicate a new eating plan is needed. Your Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis, along with your progress, helps me work with you to develop the right eating plan for you at any stage of life.
Your Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis shows me how your body has changed so I can recommend the correct supplements and help you find the right eating plan as you work to heal and find optimal wellness.
The entire contents of this website/article are based upon the opinions of Doreen McCafferty NLC, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Doreen McCafferty, NLC and her community. Doreen McCafferty encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your health care professional before using products based on this content. All information in this article is for educational purposes only and not designed to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice.