Why?
[Note: This JOT is adapted from Mother Nurture.]
The easiest and usually most effective way to replenish your body is through good nutrition.
Most of us have a diet that is very different from the one that we are adapted to through millions of years of evolution - a diet of mainly vegetables, fruits, nuts, and meat. Humans first started eating whole grains and dairy foods like cheese only ten thousand years ago or so - a blip on the evolutionary time scale. And it's only the last fifty years that have seen the widespread use of refined grains, sugars, and oils, as well as packaged foods, pesticides, and artificial ingredients.
Although in the short run some people seem able to get away with this diet without too many bad consequences, the statistics on the dramatic increase in obesity, Type II diabetes, heart disease, and cancer in the last century are cautionary at the very least. Further, anyone who is working hard needs a better-than-average diet - especially a mother: bearing, breast-feeding, and rearing a child are physiologically demanding activities like no others, and pulling them off while staying truly healthy requires that you honor the fundamental biology of your body and nourish it in ways that may have been less crucial before you had children.
Eating in a healthy way provides a good model for children, too. And it helps their parents stay good-humored and patient with them, even when the oatmeal starts flying.
With this in mind, here is your daily Mother Nurture recipe, designed specifically with a parent's nutritional needs in mind. It's got just seven ingredients. (By the way, this recipe is good for anyone, not just a mother!)
The Practice.
Ingredient #1: Eight to twelve ounces of protein a day; protein with every meal, especially breakfast
Ingredient #2: Five to seven servings of fresh vegetables, and one to two fruits
Ingredient #3: Unrefined oils and essential fatty acids instead of refined or hydrogenated oils, or trans-fatty acids
Ingredient #4: Two to five servings of unrefined, varied whole grains
Ingredient #5: Organic foods when possible
Ingredient #6: High-potency nutritional supplements
Ingredient #7: Zero or very little refined sugar
Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a psychologist, Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and New York Times best-selling author. His books are available in 26 languages and include Hardwiring Happiness, Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, and Mother Nurture. He edits the Wise Brain Bulletin and has numerous audio programs. A summa cum laude graduate of UCLA and founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, he’s been an invited speaker at NASA, Oxford, Stanford, Harvard, and other major universities, and taught in meditation centers worldwide. His work has been featured on the BBC, CBS, and NPR, and he offers the free Just One Thing newsletter with over 120,000 subscribers, plus the online Foundations of Well-Being program in positive neuroplasticity that anyone with financial need can do for free.