Coming
Soon
Chef Daniel Powerful Nourishment
The following synopsis is only a taste of my forthcoming cookbook. As such, it will not go into full detail. Check back regularly for a book-purchase link.
Powerful Nourishment is based on the fact that the human body
is a chemical energy system that obeys The Laws of Thermodynamics. In other
words, for those wishing to maintain the same weight, it means that energy
in (food) must equal energy out (calories burned). In the case of those
wishing to lose weight, energy out must be greater than energy in or the
opposite in the case of those few needing to gain weight.
Metabolic equilibrium or balance is achieved through moderate exercise and by eating foods that nourish the chemical mechanisms conducive to a healthy weight defined by a moderate percentage of body fat (20 – 30% for women and 15 – 25% for men), normal blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels and blood pressure.
Powerful Nourishment is a practical method that can be applied over any lifestyle, anywhere. For most, dietary changes are minor and agreeable since these deal primarily with improving food quality, ratios and timing. Those eating commercial, packaged meals will regard this as nothing short of a religious conversion – I offer no apologies.
With regards to food quality, avoid processed food - period. Every meal has to be made with whole and natural foods. Eat seasonal, organic, locally-grown produce, meats and fish as much as possible while adding a dash of exotic foods and flavors from around the globe to ensure access to the broadest spectrum of nutrients. Eat more calories when you’re active, but fewer when you’re resting. Above all else, find foods that pack the biggest nutritional punch.
Superior nutrient quality is the common denominator to this path. Calories,
fats, protein and carbohydrates are the macronutrients, and will be discussed
later, but there are others, lesser known, that are just as crucial – the
micronutrients, including antioxidants. Together, these make up a complex
recipe that exerts a profound, long-term impact on health and wellbeing,
body and mind.
The foods of our ancestors, generations removed, were clean of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. They were lean, healthy people, for the most part. Sure, they had other diseases due to lack of certain nutrients (iodine deficiency and goiters, for example), bacteria, viruses or genetics, but practically none related to excesses of what they ate. Much of our conventionally-raised food, on the other hand, is from start to finish, bombarded with chemicals of all sorts, sometimes by the farmers and sometimes by the surrounding environment of where the farm is located. Eventually these end up in our bodies. Conventional voices say that the concentrations are small and “safe” but what happens over the long run? Do these compounds accumulate? What subtle changes happen in our bodies that we have no way of tracking? Why are new, bizarre diseases and syndromes surfacing around the world? These are valid questions that must be scrutinized, certainly. In the mean time, should we wait until adequate analytical tools and techniques are developed before we finally decide that cleaner food is better?
Let’s also take into account the incredible abundance of processed foods. Many are manufactured in huge processing plants, refined and churned out as ingredients in common foods. Take high-fructose corn syrup, for example, and randomly pick up three boxes of anything in the convenience food section of the supermarket and you will likely find it among the top ingredients in at least two of the foods! While research remains inconclusive about how nutrient quality impacts health, is it possible that current methodology is not yet able to register the effects?
One thing is certain; the benefits of food choices made in the spirit of Powerful Nourishment have both immediate and long-lasting beneficial effects. This nutritional path is founded on principles that you should eat only foods that are healthy from the beginning.
“Healthy” is a vague term. Powerful Nourishment defines “healthy” in a reference to foods that are produced without the use of added hormones, pesticides, gene splicing (in any phase of the food’s existence or pre-existence) or man-made fertilizers. Natural human manipulation, such as manual selection of preferable specimens and their seed or offspring is acceptable and encouraged.
Applying the principles of Powerful Nourishment is simple, but understanding these principles requires a paradigm shift.
Up to now, when we think of “eating healthy” or dieting we think of cutting calories or eating “low fat.” When we think of “low-carb” we think of protein or weird synthetic sweetener flavors and odd, low-carb breads. Many think dieting is equivalent to nothing less that suffering for the benefit of an enhanced look or better health – fleeting results of temperamental dieting.
Power Nourishment takes nutritional facts and science one step further by avoiding the need to count calories, eat low-carb or even eat low fat. Instead, the focus becomes the quality of the food and its capacity to nourish, where antioxidants and phytonutrients play an equally important role alongside the macronutrients: proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
While it will always remain crucial to keep safe of excesses in the fats, carbohydrates and proteins, a conscientious effort made in eating the most nutrient-packed, natural foods can make a heavy body lighter and an excessively lean body denser simply by focusing on better eating instead of eating less. Ultimately, the body will reset itself to a state of healthful equilibrium.