Healthy Eating
Healthy eating is critical to good health. If you eat foods that have insufficient nutritional content, you will suffer from a range of deficiencies. Deficiencies not only have unpleasant and sometimes unexpected symptoms but will make you susceptible to other illnesses. If you eat more calories than you need, not only will you be overweight but your body will accumulate deposits of metabolic by-products or toxic waste. If you eat foods that stimulate hormones that promote cell division you will increase your risk of cancer and use up your "maintenance budget". To read all about this subject and how to age healthily, you need to read GLOW: Principles of Healthy Ageing.

Healthy Eating & The "Docket Diet"
The easiest way of keeping track of your eating habits and your progress to healthy eating is the "Docket Diet". Learn about it here.

CHANGE CAN BE DIFFICULT - PERSONAL COACHING IS AVAILABLE. KEEP A NUTRITION & ACTIVITIES DIARY for a week. Have it analysed to see whether you are doing things the right way.
 

What is the Docket Diet?
The Docket Diet is just that. It is a diet based on Dockets!

The Docket Diet is keeping a track of your Supermarket Dockets and changing what you purchase over time. The reason other diets don't work is that they don't involve you. In other diets you are passive. You buy what you are instructed to buy for the time you are on the diet. In many cases the meals are prepared for you. In other diets you are not in control but to make change in your life, you must be in control.

You must learn to make choices in food that will give you optimal nutrition AND pleasure in eating and drinking. If you are currently eating the wrong foods then this will show in all the criteria discussed in "Hello. How are you Today" and in your BODY MASS INDEX (BMI). Calculate your BMI now and find out how you are faring.

If you follow the Calculate your BMI link you will find an easy calculator. To return to this site after you have completed your calculation click GO and BACK at the top of your screen. Now Calculate your BMI and hurry back!

INTERPRET BMI

BMI	MEANING
<18.5	Underweight
18.5 - 24.9	Normal
25.0 - 29.9	Overweight
30 and above	Obese

Different Supermarket Aisles have Different Images

Colours and Images

Next time you go into the Supermarket I want you to think of the different aisles or sections as being alive and having personalities.

SECTION 1: FRUIT and VEGETABLES
These guys really love you. They will welcome and nurture you. When you walk into this section, be aware of the liveliness, the freshness. Imagine that the individual pieces of fruit and vegetable have smiling faces. They truly LOVE YOU and want to help you be as fit and well as you possibly can be.

BUY UP BIG in this section (or in your separate fruit and vegetable shop of course). Try to make sure that the VOLUME   of produce you purchase from this section is at least HALF your total shopping!

Fruit and vegetables have not been processed in a factory. Since they are much fresher they will give you far more nutrition. Yes, frozen vegetables are OK and a sensible choice if you are a long way from fresh produce.

SECTION 2: FISH and SEAFOOD
Fish and seafood are exceptionally good for you unless they have high levels of mercury. They contain zinc and selenium, which are exceptionally good for your immune system and deep sea fish contain Omega 3 Oils. These are not only good for your heart but they are remarkably good for your brain. It's better to buy smaller fish as they eat the algae and have high levels of iodine. Sardines, salmon and Herrings are exceptionally good fish and don't usually contain mercury. The fish pictured are garfish. In Australia, they make a particularly good buy. And yes, tin fish are OK, better than untinned fish that isn't fresh!

Eat at least three fish meals per week. It's very easy to cook. Just grill it, lightly fry it or poach it in water. Fish with fairly strong textured flesh can be easily stir-fried.
 

SECTION 3: MEATS - FRESH and PRESERVED
A red aisle is a good aisle as long as you don't visit it too often! Lean red meat is a good food to eat once or twice a week. The rest of your evening meals can be made up with quality white meat. By quality I stress free range or organic suppliers of chickens and other bird meat. It is important that you DON'T eat meat from animals that have been fed with antibiotics or hormones and ideally you will obtain meat that has come from areas of low pesticide and herbicide usage. I am aware that this is more or less difficult in different countries and I look forward to our WORLD SERVICES helping with this problem in the longer term.

Preserved meats are usually not desirable. Pre-cooked meats might be fine but avoid foods that have any preservatives added.

SECTION 4: EGGS, CHEESE, OILS and DAIRY
Another red aisle that contains food that is good for you but contains animal fats and thus should be restricted. Buy free-range eggs ONLY and consume between 6 and 8 each week. For cheese, yoghurt and milk, fat-reduced supplies are preferable HOWEVER you need to study the backs of the packages to make sure that low fat does not mean HIGH sugar! It is much more important for everyone to avoid high sugar than to avoid high fat.

You may prefer to replace milk with soy milk. This certainly helps people who are lactose intolerant and may assist women with hormonal imbalances. However there's no real evidence to show that soy is better for most people so I don't suggest replacing all dairy with soy. Don't use any GM Soy as it is difficult to digest.

Some Oils are very good for you. Others are not! Use extra virgin Olive Oil (in brown bottles) for your cooking and also in salads if you like it. Grapeseed Oil is another good, light oil and Avocado Oil is also very beneficial and very tasty.

SECTION 5: BREADS, CAKES, BISCUITS, CHIPS, CEREALS

I regard this aisle as a grey aisle. This aisle is the most usual cause of the massive obesity problem we have in Society. This aisle needs to be treated with GREAT CAUTION.

BREADS: Most breads are of medium or high glycaemic index. Read about this later on the page devoted to it - there is a link below. You must avoid all WHITE bread and choose breads made from whole grain. Soy and Linseed is said to have the lowest Glycaemic Index but pumpernickel bread and other heavy breads are good. Don't eat more than a few medium slices of bread each day and never with your main protein meal.

BISCUITS: NO SWEET BISCUITS AT ALL.   Occasional thin savoury biscuits are OK but certainly no more than a small packet each week.

CAKES: ONLY if they are essentially sugar free and made with whole grain ingredients. Then only one or two slices each week at very most!

CHIPS: NEVER, ever and this includes corn chips!

CEREALS: If you are overweight you might be better to avoid all cereals for the time being. If you wish to have cereal, it has to be rolled oats or some type of bran! Most types of muesli are medium GI and cereals like Rice Bubbles, Corn Flakes and Wheatbix are high GI. You must avoid all high GI food at all times.

SECTION 6: FRUIT JUICES and CORDIALS

Here is another green aisle but notice that this is only pale green not bright green like fruit and vegetables. Most pure fruit juices are low GI and are nutritious as well BUT they often contain pesticides, herbicides and preservatives. Check the outside of the packet or bottle to see if you can buy pesticide, herbicide and preservative free.

Cordials vary. Those that are made from pure fruit juice are best but look out for the same problems as fruit juices. Also watch out for added sugar and artificial sweeteners. You don't want either!

SECTION 7: SODAS and COLAS, COFFEES and TEAS

Black aisle - proceed with enormous caution! No soda drinks EVER, EVER! Soda causes enormous problems by creating an acidic environment in your body. Many different types of illnesses can arise from this, including obesity. THERE MUST BE NO SODAS OR COLAS in your basket! Coffees and Teas also need to be approached with CAUTION. Caffeine has many different effects on your body including a high GI type of effect (in that it stimulates the production of Insulin). If you enjoy coffee or tea, purchase caffeine-free types. Try to restrict yourself to no more than one drink of caffeine each day. Herbal teas are generally good but the infusions or leaves are better than tea-bags.

SECTION 8: ICE CREAMS and DESERTS

It's better to wean yourself off deserts but some deserts are OK!  LOW SUGAR ice-cream, frozen yoghurt and fruits are OK. Keep completely clear of ALL pies and pastries. They are FORBIDDEN.

SECTION 9: PATE, DIPS, NUTS

In general, this is a good, sunny aisle but just a few cautions. For dips and pate, watch out for preservatives and added sugar! NUTS should be eaten raw. Roasted is OK but don't have salt, honeyed or other treatments. Nuts, especially peanuts can be contaminated with dangerous fungi so preservatives might be safer here than the alternatives.

SECTION 10: PACKAGED and PRE-PREPARED MEALS and SAUCES

Some pre-prepared meals, especially frozen meals might contain fresh ingredients, be low in sugar and be preservative, colouring and additive free. These are OK occasionally but they are likely to contain sauces that contain flour that you would be better without. Food that you prepare yourself from fresh ingredients is best for you. Use garlic, onion and herbs to flavour your home-cooked food. Don't use bottled and packaged sauces unless you have assessed the ingredients and found that they are SUGAR-FREE, PRESERVATIVE-FREE and ARTIFICIAL COLOURING-FREE.

SECTION 11: LOLLIES and CHOCOLATES

NEVER! For extreme indulgence you may have a small amount of low sugar, dark chocolate ONLY

SECTION 12: SPREADS

Spreads are also a source of problems. PURE HONEY is good and savoury spreads like Vegemite are OK. Pure fruit jams can be used very sparingly. Treat spreads like sauces and look for SUGAR-FREE, PRESERVATIVE-FREE and ARTIFICIAL COLOURING-FREE.