Each body is unique – what works for some people may not work for others (for example, I am a vegetarian but some people just feel better eating meat). At the bottom of this blog I have a special free offer to help you figure out exactly what your body wants. However these 10 guidelines work no matter who you are (unless, I guess, you’re allergic to eggs or lemons!).

Here are 10 Helpful Nutrition Facts:

1. Lemon is your best friend!!

• Lemons are one of those “secret weapons” that can add a little kick to fresh vegetables, spinach salad, fish or chicken.  Lemons alkalize the body (that is, balance your internal pH levels) and add a lot of flavor but very few calories.

2. Keep Your Plate Colorful

• When you sit down to eat, make sure you pick food from across the color spectrum; different colors offer different antioxidants.  Think, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and red cabbage. Just think of how beautiful that looks (and tastes too)!

3. Use a Seven-Year-Old’s Vocabulary

• Currently the FDA has over 3,000 “approved” food additives, and unless you have an amazing memory, you often need a dictionary.  Another alarming fact about these “approved” food additives: NO ONE knows for sure how they affect the body.  David Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of Men’s Health recommends this rule: “If a seven year old can’t pronounce it, you do not want to eat it.”

4. Take the Complete Organic Challenge

• By choosing to buy and eat only organic food, you can drastically change your life. Food is fuel for your body.  Why would you want to choose processed foods knowing how they can negatively impact your body?

5. A Dozen Eggs: A Healthy Staple

• Never leave the grocery store or farmer’s market  without a dozen eggs in your fridge at home.  A boiled egg provides a daily snack that is 70 calories, and  full of protein, iron, & vitamin D.

6. A Balanced Meal is a Balanced Body

• When planning out meals and snacks, pick a mixture of carbohydrates, fat and protein.  By keeping these three food groups balanced, you keep the body’s bone health, blood sugar and weight management in line.  The key is not overusing any one type of food.

7. Be conscious of what your body needs.

• Everybody has different needs, and while we don’t want to cut out entire food groups (that would be silly), we may find through a process of elimination, (or not being able to eliminate at all), that we are allergic to certain things. Wheat and dairy are common when it comes to allergies (I am allergic to both and have grown to accept that). Try cutting out one group at a time for about 10 days and notice how your body reacts.

8. Breakfast Helps With Weight Loss

• When you wake up, your main priority is eating breakfast.  Research shows breakfast can help you lose weight as well as keep it off.  A good breakfast includes fiber with protein and a little fat. By adding a little fat to your breakfast you actually jump-start your metabolism.  You won’t be hungry again till lunch.  EXAMPLES,  oatmeal with nuts and fruit or boiled egg , yogurt and fruit or some protein powder with milk or almond milk (for people like me who cannot tolerate dairy). 
  

9. Watch Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead

•           The film will hopefully inspire you to run to the store, buy a juicer and get juicing for optimal health. http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/

10. Acknowledge Your Inner Critic

•           This last guideline has nothing to do with nutrition and yet is vital to your health. Your thoughts create your reality, and if you have a critical voice running your life, changing your eating plan will feel extra challenging.

Just for today, begin to notice that critical voice that drives you to eat. It takes up so much of your life force by draining you of valuable energy. Notice that nasty voice instead of trying to ignore it, cease fueling it by no longer agreeing with it. For example, if that mean voice says, “You have tried every diet and there is no hope for you,” your job is to stop, listen and go about your day. Don’t feed that voice, but instead say to yourself, “I appreciate your opinion voice, however, I have a different one and I know I am ok”.

Health is a gift, one not to be taken for granted. While nutrition is a science, you can keep it really simple and just practice one or two of these guidelines for the next 30 days and see how you feel. Taking care of you and your body is not something that needs to be on the back burner, because you’ll pay with your health and happiness sooner or later. And my hope for you is that you have a peaceful, healthy, quality of life.

And on that note, I have a special offer to help you on the path towards that life. Sign up for a free, 15-minute laser phone consultation with me. The time is yours to ask questions about these guidelines, get personal advice based on your specific situations and needs, discuss issues that have prevented you from living healthfully in the past. It’s 15 free minutes, no strings attached, to jump-start your journey to self-love and health. Email me here to set up a call with me.

You know those tearjerker commercials that try to get you to send money to starving children in Africa? Whether they give the money to the children or not, this does prove that “30 cents a day” really CAN make a difference, doesn’t it?

After all, with this family’s food budget, each person only gets about twenty cents a week.

Think about it… When we fork over our “pocket change” for an 89-cent burrito, we could actually be feeding most of this family for a whole week.

Would this be enough to feed your family? Do you think it’s enough to feed their whole family, truly? How much nutrition do you think this family gets—or do you think that they are malnourished at all?

As with every family, we’d like for you to answer this question: Have they spent too much—too little—or just enough, and why?

Comparing this family with all of the others we’ve looked at—as well as your own—do you think that as Americans, we really eat what we need, or a whole lot more? We already know that our serving sizes are blown out of proportion; what about our whole diets?

We’d love to hear your comments on the American diet, and to get your vote on which of the families we’ve profiled YOU think has the right amount of food. Cast your vote in the comments! Your feedback means alot to us. Your feedback counts…

This is unimaginable for most of us. What on earth could you buy with thirty cents—which is how much this family spends per person for a full week? You can’t even get a taco for that much money.

Look at how much food the Namgays have for the week. Would this be enough to feed your family? Do you think it’s enough to feed their whole family of thirteen?

Imagine your family with this much food. How much would you have to ration? Would you have to share an orange for breakfast? Could you do that?

All of their food is from fresh sources, and there is no “fast food” in sight—how does this compare with your own family, or the previous families we’ve looked at?

As with every family, we’d like for you to answer this question: Have they spent too much—too little—or just enough, and why?

Do you even think this is enough food to survive on?

Let us know what you think in the blog comments, and be prepared for the most shocking numbers of all on Monday.

That’s as much as some Americans spend on one nice meal a week—and it averages out to less than $4 a week per person! That’s like one prescription drug at Wal-Mart for most of us.

How much food would you be able to buy for $4? Maybe some ramen noodles and tea bags?

Look at how much food the Aymes have for the week. Would this be enough to feed your family? Do you think it’s enough to feed their whole family of nine?

All of their food is from fresh sources, and there is no “fast food” in sight—how does this compare with your own family, or the previous families we’ve looked at?

As with every family, we’d like for you to answer this question: Have they spent too much—too little—or just enough, and why?

Let us know what you think in the blog comments, and be prepared for some shocking numbers for the rest of the week.

I don’t know about you, but I doubt that even Jon and Kate Plus 8 could live on that much.

Look at how much food the Ahmeds have for the week. Would this be enough to feed your family? Do you think it’s enough to feed theirs?

Nearly all of their food is from vegetables or other fresh sources… how does this compare with the previous families? With your own family?

As with every family, we’d like for you to answer this question: Have they spent too much—too little—or just enough, and why?

Let us know what you think in the blog comments. And you’re in for a surprise if you think that this is the least amount of money people spend on food. Next week, the amounts will keep getting lower, and we’ll have to return to the question—how much is too much, or in this case, too little?

The Sobczynscy family seems to have bought a lot of fresh foods and vegetables. How does this compare with the rest of the families we have featured? Are your family’s shopping habits similar or different?

As with every family, we’d like for you to answer this question: Have they spent too much—too little—or just enough, and why?

Let us know what you think in the blog comments. The amount of food is going to keep getting less and less over this week and next. Our next family spends less than $100 a week on food!

So far the Casales family has spent the least amount of money during our food study. The two big questions are:

Have they spent this money wisely? (Is it on junk or healthy food—and how does it compare with the families from last week?)

And, have they spent too much—too little—or just enough, and why?

Let us know what you think in the blog comments, and be prepared for the amount spent on food—and the amount of food that people buy for their families—to get less and less over the week. You won’t believe your eyes by Friday!

While the Manzo family of yesterday has five members, they spend almost half of what the Melanders (a family of four) spend. Note what the Melanders spend their money on.

Which one has more healthy food? Which has more junk food?

Compare both of these families to the Revis family of Monday; is there a general pattern developing with European families versus the American one?

Of all three of these families, who do you think buys the right amount of food? Who has too much, or too little?

Please answer any of these questions and share your thoughts in the blog comments. Stay tuned for some shocking photos next week!

While the Manzos have a family of five, they spend less than the Revis family from Monday’s blog (a family of four) spend. Note what the families spend their money on.

Which one has more fresh, green food? Which has more packaged food and sweets?

Which one spends the most? Who buys fast food?

Of both of these families, who do you think buys the right amount of food? Who has too much? Does anyone have too little?

Please answer any of these questions and share your thoughts in the blog comments. Stay tuned for Friday’s country!

Note how many bags of chips, fast food items, and sweets the family buys, and compare this to your family’s food intake. Are your kitchen’s contents similar?

Compare these items with the green and healthy foods here. Do you think this kind of food distribution reflects the ever-increasing obesity rate in America?

What we’d like for you to do is to try a little experiment. Try monitoring all of the food you buy this week and note what you buy. How much is fresh food? How much is packaged? How much do you spend on fast food, or food overall?

Do you think that this family has more than enough? What about your own family?

Is your food spending wasteful, or frugal? How can you modify what you spend on food to help you during this time of economic instability? Share your answers in the blog comments.

Send your notes and a picture, if you like, to Laura @ onepinky.com and we’ll highlight them in our world food week special.

Check in on Wednesday to see how other countries compare with the United States. You may be surprised!