Superfoods, says Registered Dietitian Karlene Karst, are the key to help your body heal from the stresses of modern day living. To a full house in our White Rock store, on February 16, the author and founder of Sea-licious Omega Nutrition shared her insights about which Superfoods fight inflammation responsible for everything from gut health to arthritis to autoimmune conditions – and her do and don’ts.
What to do
- Eat a rainbow of antioxidant-rich fruits and veg like pomegranates, blueberries. Add dark, raw chocolate.
- Reduce exposure to pesticides, and eat to enhance detox reactions and elimination
- Reduce your intake of meat and other animal foods
- Eat healthy fats like avocado, pasture-fed full-fat dairy and cold water fish
- Keep salt intake low
- Boost potassium – found in bananas and leafy greens – to move the toxins away from the cells
- Ditch the box, the can and the packages.
What to avoid
- An imbalance of omega 6s
- Toxin-refined oils – corn, soybean and sunflower
- Red meat (grain fed)
- Refined grains (everything white)
- Processed foods
- Trans fats
- High fructose corn syrup
- Dairy
- Alcohol
- Aspartame and artificial sweeteners
What to eat
Stock up on Superfoods:
- Leafy greens, beets and broccoli
- Blueberries and pineapple
- Cold deep-water fish – salmon, sardines, anchovies, mackerel
- Beans – red, kidney and pinto
- Ginger
- Turmeric – twice a day
- Hemp and chia seeds
Protein, fibre and good fat at every meal: 20 g of protein in the morning to stabilize your blood sugar
- Nut butters, eggs, protein powder (whey isolate or plant-based)
“All diseases begin in the gut.”
– Hippocrates
Bonus tips
- Be patient. Healing with food takes time
- Eat five times a day
- Start your day with 8 oz of water and the juice of ½ lemon or apple cider vinegar to rehydrate
- Take foundational supplements, with food, twice a day:
- Omega 3s – 1500 mg per day
- Vitamin D – winter: 20 iu per lb of body weight. (your wt x 20)
- Probiotics –multi-strain blend of probiotics before bed
- Curcuminoids
Most of all, it’s important, she says, to practice gratitude.
Gratitude calms the body’s stress responses, which in turn affects the sympathetic nervous system that regulates the basic visceral processes needed for the maintenance of normal bodily functions.
“Believing life is good can be therapeutic and healing for the body,” she says. “I challenge everyone to take the Gratitude Challenge: write down three things you are grateful for, every day, for 30 days – and see the difference it makes!”
Passionate about getting people back the basics of eating BC-based Registered Dietician Karlene Karst is a leading health specialist in nutrition and natural medicine, co-author of the national bestseller Healthy Fats for Life, and author of The Metabolic Syndrome Program.
