Nutri-Jyoti News article archive
September 2007 - "Balanced When Busy (I)"
Are you looking for «a sense of vitality and much needed energy through balanced meals »? This was the challenge a recent client set me.
The 3 main nutritional approaches that I use to achieve balance and vitality are: the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) approach, the standard biochemical approach and the Ayurvedic approach.
The TCM nutritional approach talks about five flavours: sweet, sour, salty, pungent and bitter. A healthy person's diet should contain a balance of all the flavours, with a predominance of sweet foods accompanied by small amounts of bitter, salty, pungent and sour foods. The flavours create balance and also bring a person in harmony with the seasons.
The standard approach to nutrition considers that carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals and vitamins, fibre and water are important for a balanced diet. To keep us healthy we need to include each of these components in the amounts recommended by various bodies such as the Food Standards Agency and the World Health Organisation.
One of the main principles of the Ayurvedic approach to nutrition are the six tastes - sweet, salty, sour, hot, bitter and astringent. We consider a meal to be balanced when it contains appropriate amounts of each of these six tastes. This will lead to our taste buds and also the mind being satisfied.
The TCM and Ayurvedic approaches to nutrition are holistic approaches based on thousands of years of solid evidence. Both consider each person to be a unique individual and aim to treat not only at a physical but also at an emotional and even a spiritual level. By understanding the different qualities and effects food has on you as an individual you can regain your vitality.
That's all well and good, but you're probably still wondering how to have a « sense of vitality » by eating a balanced meal? Now that I've explained the influences behind my approach, I'm going to leave you with a short awareness-building exercise for you to do. Note your answers on a piece of paper before looking at the next article. Feel free to send me a message with your answers as well.
1.
Are you aware of what you are eating?
2.
Are you aware why you eat and also why you eat what you do?
3.
Have you thought about how you eat?
4.
Do you choose where and when you eat?
Tip: Vitality is about having energy at all levels - physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. In the next article I' review some typical answers to these questions and consider what action we can take to create balanced meals.
If you're interested in learning more about these three nutritional approaches, I'd recommend the following works:
Nine Ways to Body Wisdom - Jennifer Harper
The Optimum Nutrition Bible - Patrick Holford
Perfect Balance - Atreya Smith
Copyright © 2007 Janet Gomez All rights reserved
Want to publish this article on your site? Feel free, but please include the following resource information: Janet Gomez, nutritional consultant, produces the "Nutri-Jyoti News", a free bi-monthly e-newsletter for busy professionals. Feel ready to learn how to use nutritional strategies to manage your energy levels. Sign up for her FREE e-course "5 Nutritional Keys to Vitality in your Life" on the Nutri-Jyoti home page.