Holistic Nutrition Diet

Holistic health looks at the whole person rather than focusing on a particular illness or malfunctioning organ. Holistic health practitioners are interested in the physical and emotional well-being of their clients over the long haul and the balance of mind, body and spirit in achieving good health. A major component in holistic health is nutrition, as the foods you put into your body three or more times a day can have a profound affect on its ability to function optimally over the course of a lifetime.

Lifetime Health

According to holistic nutrition principles, a healthy diet is something you engage in for your lifetime and not just because you want to lose a few pounds or contend with a specific health issue. Crash and fad diets may help you achieve short-term goals, but because these plans often feature deprivation, few people stay on them for a long time. Only a healthy lifetime diet combined with exercise will allow you to maintain a proper weight and keep illness at bay. To achieve a holistic nutrition diet, make changes slowly in the types of foods you eat to gradually shift toward the idea of food as nourishment and not a quick fix for a craving.

Food Choices

The choices you make about lifestyle factors such as smoking, drinking, exercising and eating have repercussions for your health. If you are constantly choosing depleting foods like fatty fast foods, heavily processed food products, sugary snacks, soft drinks and caffeinated beverages, they will take a toll on your health especially if you consume them in large portions and on the run. These foods provide empty calories and very little real nutrition to fuel your body's processes. Nourishing foods, on the other hand, include whole foods such as vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts and seeds, which enrich the body with the vitamins and nutrients it needs for energy and strength and to avoid disease.

Organics

Most of our vegetables and fruits are grown using multiple chemical fertilizers and pesticides, reports Douglas L. Margel, D.C., author of "The Nutrient-Dense Eating Plan." Consumed in quantity over a lifetime, these substances may eventually compromise your immune system and your health. Holistic nutrition stresses organic produce, grown with minimal or no chemicals or pesticides, and organic meats and eggs that are hormone-free. These food choices reduce the amount of toxins and potentially damaging substances in your body. If you can't afford to fill your shopping cart with organic foods, opt to buy organic apples, peaches, spinach and celery since these are the most contaminated with pesticides.

Alternate Food Pyramids

Holistic nutrition questions the traditional food pyramid and dietary guidelines created by the USDA, which bear the influence of powerful food lobbies like the meat and dairy industries. In response, some nutrition programs have created alternate pyramids, like the Healing Foods Pyramid of the University of Michigan Integrative Medicine Program, UMIM, and the Healthy Eating Pyramid of the Harvard School of Public Health, HSPH. Instead of the grains that the USDA recommends as the most important food group, the UMIM pyramid places water, vegetables and fruits at its base, and suggests eating lean meats only weekly, rather than daily, as the USDA advises. HSPH positions exercise and weight control at the bottom of its pyramid, and recommends eating meats "sparingly" for optimum health.