By Richmond Natural Medicine

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September 11, 2018

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Need a few simple, easy practices for a healthier holiday? Here are some tried and true nutrition and herbs to help get you through a nutritionally challenging time of year.

During this time of year, over-eating is quite common, and even with the best “restrictive” or “conscious” eating practices in place, our digestion can use extra support.  This season, feel more in control of your diet with these easy practices.

CCF Tea 

Also known as Cumin Coriander Fennel tea, this simple little herbal blend is such a remarkable aid for your digestion before, during and after meals.  You likely already have these three common herbs in your kitchen pantry, and simply combining ½ tsp of each and steeping in 1.5 cups hot water for 10 minutes creates this deliciously soothing blend. You can also try Pukka’s Detox Tea which is a similar formula in tea bag form.

Switch out your sugars 

Try to avoid the alarmingly high processed sugars that are in almost every packaged/baked good on the market right now. This includes: Sugar, cane syrup, cane sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, high fructose corn syrup, malt sugar, confectioners sugar, maltose, dextrose, sucrose (almost any ingredient ending in “ose” is a sugar), and beet sugar. 

Instead, keep 2-3 natural sugars on hand to bake/cook with that are far more nutrient dense and less inflammatory to your body and digestive tract. These include honey, maple syrup, dates and date sugar, coconut palm sugar, agave, stevia, or just fruits (which contain natural fructose). Initially, these natural sugars will not taste nearly as sweet as the processed sugars that you’re more used to, but over a few days your taste buds will adjust, and they make excellent substitutes to any dish or dessert where you would normally use processed sugars.

Expand your grains

You may traditionally be baking with the same flour over and over again (likely white or whole wheat flour), and this can get monotonous over time. White and whole wheat flours are still highly processed and often stripped of their innate nutrients during processing.  Give your body some variety and added nutrients by switching up your grain choice to more nutrient dense and less processed options such as spelt, einkorn, oat flour, almond flour, rye, or even buckwheat flour. Whole grains are extremely nutrient dense, containing minerals such as magnesium, potassium, folic acid, fiber, fatty acids and even proteins. Many of these grains can be easily made at home by simply grinding up the whole grain in your food processor until it’s a flour consistency. Otherwise, they are available at most grocery stores or in the bulk sections of health food stores. 

Take your Bitters

Herbal bitters are a life saver for heavy holiday meals and aiding digestion when traveling. Bitters help to stimulate your digestion to naturally create extra digestive enzymes to help the stomach break down your macro molecules (proteins, fats, carbs etc) into small more absorbable pieces once they get to your intestines. They’re also supportive of liver detoxification, pancreatic health and enhance nutrient absorption of your foods! You can try Urban Moonshine’s bitters, or have a practitioner here make you some to keep on hand.

Don’t set yourself up for “failure” 

This is the worst time of year to go on a diet or set restrictive parameters around what you can and can not have. Many people assume that their willpower is stronger than it actually is, or that peer pressure won’t have a persuading effect on them, or that it will be “easy”. All of these are extremely difficult to stick with, and if you set yourself up by taking on too many “goals” – you’re likely to overwhelm yourself. Rather, pick one small change that you’d like to work on and really focus on it. For example, focus on not overeating at meals and only eat until you feel ¾ full. Or pick one meal per day that you can avoid sugars completely. Or bring your own snacks into the office and try to avoid the dreaded candy bowl. One thing really adds up over time, and it’s easier for you to focus on small goal and loads of difficult ones!

If you’d like help with your diet through the holiday season or thereafter, consider an appointment with one of our practitioners by calling the office at (804) 977-2634