As holistic health takes into consideration body, mind, and spirit, holistic nutrition considers all forms of nutrition.

For example, a holistic nutritionist may prescribe  special holistic recipes to include as many nutrients as possible through food, as well as a regimen of high quality vitamin and mineral supplements. Special drinks such as kombucha, wheatgrass, barleygrass, fresh fruit juices, or drinks with spirulina, chlorella, or wild blue green algae in them. You may even be instructed to use transdermal supplementation, such as magnesium oil.

Holistic nutrition takes your whole health into consideration. It’s all about balance. You’ll need to stay well hydrated, avoid processed foods and imitation sweeteners, exercise adequately, and be certain to eat a well rounded diet.

While cooking destroys most or all enzymes in food, it does not destroy all the nutrients. In fact, cooking breaks down cell walls, making the nutrients that remain more bioavailable, which is good for holistic nutrition. Consider a good mix of raw and cooked foods, as well as high quality nutritional supplements when considering a holistic nutrition diet. And chew your food thoroughly.

If a radical change to your diet isn’t do-able, or you simply want to take it slow, begin removing processed foods out of your diet. Consider quinoa pasta instead of the grocery store variety. Or even invest in a pasta machine and make it from scratch! As you begin to weed out processed foods, begin to replace them with natural foods.

For example, replacing your evening snack of Cheetos or Cheez-its with fresh roasted beets, baby carrots dipped in yogurt, or even a Kashi frozen entree would be a good start in holistic nutrition. You could replace that second glass of wine at dinner with a glass of water, or begin buying organic wine.

Holistic nutrition doesn’t have to be difficult or a pain. Small steps can make a big difference.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 2:37 pm and is filed under Nutrition Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.