Nutrition and Lifestyle Information from Summer Training Camp 2005

Nutrition and Lifestyle Information from Summer Training Camp 2005

Paul e-mailed me to ask about the health and nutrition information we learned at Summer Training Camp (in 2005). I am glad to share this information with you. On Wednesday night, we sat in the mess hall to learn more about healthy lifestyle. Valerie led this discussion, sharing information from a printed sheet written by Sharon, a nutritional counselor and life coach. Valerie started by telling us "A healthy body is a healthy spirit." She then shared these tips from Sharon, "Seven Simple Steps for Making Your Body Healthier." We also received this information as a printout. We also had Masha, a nutritional counselor-in-training, on hand to help with the Q&A. Rather than re-typing Sharon's printout, I'm going to transcribe these guidelines from my journal, which are in bold typeface. I have also included a lot of commentary about my own lifestyle, I hope you do not mind.

Seven Simple Steps for Making Your Body Healthier

1) Buy organic food whenever possible. This can be expensive, unless you go to a big outfit like Whole Foods or Fairway, or to a Farmer's Market. Organic produce in a typical grocery store is quite costly. The other day, I was eyeing a gorgeous organic peach, a natural work of art. But after weighing it, I realized it would cost me $4! I had to settle for local New Jersey peaches which are quite good if not as stunning. Although they aren't organic, they are local and therefore fresher, so more nutrients are in the fruit. So if you can't afford organic, my advice is to look for local produce, even if you have to go a little out of your way.

I always buy organic dairy. I think grass-fed milk is the best you can buy here in NYC. It is still pasteurized, but it's a lot richer and sweeter, and a bit more yellow, than conventional milk. There are nutrients in the grass which are very beneficial, such as linolineic acid (which is also found in safflower seeds.) I don't drink a lot of milk though, it's just for coffee. I eat plain yogurt sometimes, as I enjoy it and it's supposed to be healthy, and I also eat organic eggs, cheese and butter. Butter contributes to a feeling of satiety and I think it's beneficial in moderation. Margarine is far more dangerous. All partially hydrogenated oils should be avoided (these are vegetable oils that solidify at room temperature, like shortening.)

Although I don't eat meat, I sometime price the organic cuts, just out of curiousity. Grass-fed beef is expensive, but maybe not if you can get it locally from small farms. Chicken is a lot more reasonably-priced, as it's more economical to raise organic chicken than beef which requires more space and more feed. The best chicken I've ever had was freshly-killed. But the organic kind is much more flavorful than the conventional variety. Heirloom pork is expensive but once you've tried it, conventional pork seems tasteless.

I do eat fish, and rather than buying organic fish, which are still farm-raised, I prefer wild fish from sustainable waters. I eat naturally smoked salmon, cod fillets, herring, sardines, and canned tongol tuna, the latter in moderation. The difference between wild and farm-raised salmon is dramatic. The wild salmon is a much darker red color. Tuna contains healthy fatty acids, but the Wall Street Journal reported that mercury levels in tuna are unacceptably high, and that adults should not consume more than one can or one fillet per week. The best kind to buy is chunk light in spring water. The solid kind, and the albacore tuna, contain the most mercury and should be avoided.

2) Exclude known toxins. Some examples: wheat, because the modern strain is different from the wheat that was once the "staff of life." The molecules of wheat are hooked, and these can get caught in the lining of the stomach and cause irritation. I eat products made with almond meal, amaranth, or spelt flour instead of wheat. I personally avoid even whole wheat, but not completely. I eat it about once a week, when I have lunch in Brooklyn with my mom, and it's always in the form of puffy Indian bread. Peter A. told me that it's a good idea to give your body very small doses of less-than-ideal food, otherwise, you have no resistance to them. I think everyone agrees that it's fine to have the occassional slice of birthday cake or pizza or ice-cream cone, just as long as these don't become everyday foods.

Other toxins to avoid: aspirin, Tylenol, lozenges, decongestants. We were advised to use natural alternatives instead. This is one of the few guidelines on this list that I don't follow. My great-great grandmother lived to 98, and every morning had "aspirin and glassjuice," in her words. Aspirin can be hard on the stomach, but I always thought it also has health benefits for some people. I don't take aspirin, and I rarely get headaches. But I do take ibuprofren for PMS. It is the only thing that works, along with exercise. I do prefer natural lozenges, though. The ones with sugar or artificial flavors are a temporary remedy, whereas the natural ones can aid in recovery. Slippery Elm, Fisherman's Friend, and Ricola are some of my favorites. Baking soda is also an excellent remedy for many ailments.

I consider food to be a kind of medicine, and the healthier the diet, the less conventional medicines you will need.

3) Include known healthy foods. For example, whole grains and "dark brown" grains like kasha, buckwheat, millet, barley, and brown rice. There are so many foods touted as healthy. The ones I incorporate into my diet are berries, such as blueberries, cherries, strawberries, and red grapes; dark green leafy vegetables like kale and spinach, broccoli, white and green tea, dark chocolate, plain yogurt, soy, almonds, and salmon, just to name a few. Here's a link to a site about the World's Healthiest Foods.

4) Avoid chlorinated water for drinking and cooking (making coffee, for example.) Filtered water is better than bottled water, because even the natural sources of water are not necessarily pure. Look for a filter for your tap that removes chlorine. The Gary Null ceramic tap filter is excellent and produces a sweet and refreshing water. But, I do believe if you are lucky enough to have very pure water direct from your tap, that's more healthful than filtered water. But city dwellers or anyone with the slightest doubt about local water sources should filter water for drinking and cooking.

5) Use planet-friendly cleaning products like vinegar. Avoid ammonia and sodium lauryl sulphite. It was also suggested that we use natural personal care products like toothpaste and deodorant. All of these can be extremely expensive, unless you use just plain vinegar for cleaning and baking soda for toothpaste. I should pick up one of those home remedies cookbooks, because toxin-free laundry detergent is outrageously expensive. I can recommend Kiss My Face olive oil-based soap, which is good for the skin and lasts a ridiculously long time. For deodorant, one of the girls at camp tipped me off to Crystal—not the kind that looks like a rock, but the roll-on or spray-on kind (the actual rock doesn't seem to work. I could have told you that rubbing a rock under your armpits is not going to lessen the odor.) It works better than conventional deodorants. I know a lot of people who don't use deodorant at all and they don't seem to smell bad (Then again, I have not stood next to them on the 108-degree subway platform in August) I suggest avoiding anti-persipirant. These toxins want to come out of your body, so it doesn't seem like a good idea to keep them inside. I looked at one of my cabin-mates deodorant and it contained butane and propane. That is not the sort of thing I want to rub underneath my arms!

6) Get tested for food sensitivities. This was a service that was provided at camp, you could submit a saliva sample for analysis by Sharon. I did not have time to take advantage of this, but it looks interesting. I think testing for food sensitivities would most benefit someone who feels poorly after eating, or has a bad reaction to certain foods. Some of the more common food sensitivities are lactose and wheat. I think there are a lot of ailments which can be traced to food intolerance, but it seems to be a more popular approach to just treat the symptoms, rather than the source of the problem.

7) Recognize that you and your family are worth it. This is an important point. I am always amazed by the fact that we are willing to eat things which contain ingredients we would not touch, and even ingredients we'd be repelled by if we saw them seperate from the product. I suggest always reading the ingredients in any packaged food. And it may seem a bit extreme, but I also think that any sort of well-recognized and popular brand name of food is not the best choice. The best food companies aren't famous household names, because you don't get rich and famous selling healthy food products. It is a little harder to shop for good quality food. I often have to go to three or four stores instead of one. By "worth it," Sharon does not mean only money. Eating good food also requires more time and effort than eating convenient packaged products. But if you give it a try even for just one week, you will probably notice a difference. Then if you try to go back to eating poorly, your body will tell you exactly how you feel about eating lesser-quality foods. Food does more than just keep you alive. It can be a resource for maximum health or a trigger for serious illness, so it's good to make conscious choices about what you and your family eat.

Afterwards, we had a Q&A session with Valerie and Masha. I asked about flouride in toothpase and aluminum in deodorant. The aluminum everyone agreed is bad, but the flouride got mixed reviews. I have since switched to a toothpaste which includes naturally occuring flouride. To my surprise, no one else had any questions about diet and nutrition. This topic was requested after last year's camp, and I think we were lucky to have it included in our curriculum. I wonder why there was so little interest? We moved onto defense against attacks from dogs, and for this topic, the guys had tons of questions. I just cannot help but wonder: we eat food every single day, it's such an important part of our existence, but how often are we attacked by dogs? I believe eating toxic food can be as harmful as a dog bite, and it can even cause death as surely as a dog bite can. But I guess it lacks the drama and thrills of defense against dogs.

Don't let me give you the wrong idea, we got tons of great information. I guess I was just hoping to continue the discussion further. I did talk to some of the other campers about nutrition and lifestyle. Peter A. showed me an amazing kinesiology to "ask" yourself which foods and other products are good for you. I am not sure how he'd feel about me posting it here, but you can PM me about it if you wish. We tested my response to apples and a packet of sugar. My body told me the apples are good for me. I've always loved apples, and we also talked about the body's natural likes and dislikes. The sugar was a mixed response: not terrible, but neither was it good for me like apples. I was suprised because I have a poor reaction to sugar, it gives me a headache even though I love sweets. It was only after I put the packet down that I realized it was artificial sweetener. That makes sense, because artificial sweetener is hardly a healthful substance, and yet for me, the dangers of sugar are worse. Refined sugar is also artificial, there is nothing natural about it.

I also talked briefly with Shannon about eating for different blood types. I've heard of this, but it always seemed too complicated for me. Shannon told me my food likes and dislikes would suggest that I am already eating for my blood type. I dislike raw onions and scallions, they cause instant intestinal distress, and I like tofu and other soy products, which may people cannot tolerate, as they can be hard on the stomach. I think Shannon said that from what she knows, I am probably a type B (I'm embarrassed to admit I don't know my blood type; last time I tried to donate blood, they would not allow me to because of my then-pierced nose.)

There was no shortage of campers with whom to discuss diet and lifestyle. I would have liked to ask Vlad and Konstantin about their nutrition, but I am pretty sure they would say they eat intuitively. They both appear to be in superb health and I am sure their diets contribute to that. I would have also liked to learn a bit more about eating in the field, and how food requirements for soldiers or high-stress jobs differ from civilians, and perhaps a bit about fasting, which was not mentioned. Some information about wild edible foods would have been interesting, too, but that can be found in any survival handbook. We might have talked about all of these things, but to tell you the truth, there wasn't a lot of interest from the group, so our discussion of nutrition was concluded after about a half-hour. I did learn a lot and I'm very glad this was included as part of our summer camp training.