Ten Principles of the Rejuvenation Diet

Endocrinologist and diet guru, Dr. Diana Schwarzbein, MD, has studied the major hormonal imbalances caused by poor nutrition and lifestyle habits. She assures us that while poor nutrition and lifestyle will affect your health, you can slow down the aging process and remain healthy by changing your behaviors in ways that balance out and regenerate your hormones.

This approach, which Schwarzbein calls, lifestyle-based endocrinology, holds the promise that we can “feed” the regeneration needed in our bodies to slow down the aging process after menopause, and to look and feel our best at every age. The key is to begin eating real foods, organic if possible, and balancing your food groups. Don’t cut back on core food portions, or chuck it all for the latest fad diet that makes it to the evening news. Stick with the plan. You have to eat well to heal your metabolism. Once that is accomplished, you will burn off your fat weight without needing to decrease the amount of food you are eating.

These are the 10 basic principles of the Rejuvenation Diet:

1. Never skip a meal.
2. Eat real, organic, unprocessed foods as much as possible.
3. Eat balanced meals and snacks containing the four food groups: proteins, nonstarchy vegetables, healthy fats, and real carbohydrates. By balancing your meals, you are eating the foods needed to rebuild your metabolism, the foods you are made of, and this will keep your hormones balanced. Eating too many carbohydrates at one time will raise your insulin levels too high, and eating too much protein will raise your adrenaline and cortisol levels too high. Ideally, eat smaller meals and snacks (three meals and two snacks). To manage how much you are eating, divide a plate into three equal-sized wedges. On each wedge of the plate, portion out your dinner choices, for example, a quarter of chicken, a small sweet potato, and green salad. Add some healthy fat to each: the chicken already has it’s own, you can add some butter to the sweet potato, and salad dressing (olive oil, garlic, lemon juice) to the salad.
4. Choose a protein as the main ingredient in your meal. Make sure it’s fresh and farm, not factory, made.
5. Add some healthy fats to your meal. This has nothing to do with whether the fat is mono, poly, or saturated. It has to do with whether the fat has been damaged. One type of damaged fat is trans fat, and it is not supposed to be in foods sold in the supermarket any longer. The label may say, partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated, instead of trans fats, but do not buy any products containing these types of bad fats. Check snack foods labels, too. These fats are dangerous for your heart, especially. Most margarines contain some trans fats so avoid them in exchange for real butter, if you wish.
6. Add real carbohydrates to your meals and snacks. Real carbs are grown, picked, or harvested, and organic ones do not contain harmful pesticides.
7. Eat nonstarchy vegetables. They add important nutrients and fiber to your diet as well as phytonutrients to refresh your body’s cells. You may want to consider a daily multi-vitamin too, to protect your hormones.
8. Eat snacks. Smaller, more frequent meals and snacks are important. Ideally, each snack should contain the four food groups, the same as in meals. At a minimum, include a protein and a carbohydrate.
9. Eat solid food. When you eat solid (instead of drinking liquid) meals, your body processes the meal more slowly and you avoid hormone ups and downs.
10. Be sure to drink enough water daily. Your body is made of 60-70% water and it needs to be replenished. To enjoy all the health benefits of water, drink at least 8 glasses daily.

This approach to eating may be contrary to everything you thought you knew about nutrition. If you need to heal your metabolism to become healthy and lose weight, this program works. Stick with it. It’s never too late to improve your diet and lifestyle habits. (For the rest of the lifestyle story, go to Foreplay for Workouts.)

And remember, you need to eat enough healthy food at frequent (5) daily intervals. Eating too little at any one time will raise adrenaline and cortisol levels (stress hormones) too high. If you eat too much, you will stay insulin-resistent.

Finally, are you wondering why soy foods are not stressed in this plan? To find out, see, Stalking the Wild Soyfoods. Good luck!

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