Seasonal lifestyle eating plan

Modern convenience food and supermarket buying policies are causing a radical change in what we eat.  It is important to understand that this is exposing us to some damaging trends:

• Bad carbs – refined carbohydrates especially sugar

• Trans fats

• High levels of processing

• High salt content

• Lack of freshness

• The same foods available, and eaten, all year round

And a growing list of problems:

• Obesity

• Diabetes

• Attention deficit

• Behavioural problems

• Excessive transportation – with consequent costs and pollution

You only need to go back a couple of generations and diet was very different:

• Very little processed food beyond simple cooking

• Fresh food grown/ reared/ caught locally – veg, meat, game, fish

• Natural fats consumed

• High degree of seasonal variation

Couple this with regular exercise and people were demonstrably leaner, fitter and healthier.  Ask your Gran! So how do we get back on track and avoid these pitfalls? The modern, balanced, nutritionally aware, low-carb diet helps here as it forces you to:

• Avoid bad carbs, causes of hyperglycaemic response leading to cravings and lack of satiety, obesity, diabetes, and accelerating the ageing process.
• Avoid trans fats from hydrogenated oils, causes of cancer and diabetes www.BanTransFats.com
• Avoid industrially processed foods, so often nutritionally poor and the source of excess salt content and high levels of artificial preservatives

But we don’t think this goes far enough.

We understand that you are unlikely to want to completely cut out supermarkets and processed foods.  So how can you best navigate your way through all the information and achieve a truly balanced diet, not just meal to meal, but throughout the year in line with the natural rhythms of nature and your body?

We are keen to add a couple of our own theories to the debate and would welcome your comments.  What we are saying is that on top of sticking to Atkins, South Beach or whichever low carb diet works for you, you should also

• Eat seasonally

• Understand the principle of cumulative processing