10 Tips From A Student Nutritionist In California

Keeping close to nature in the foods we choose allows us to maximize our health potential; we feel better, and live longer with less risk if a chronic disease.  Eating pure and whole foods will strengthen the entire body.  Make the following changes slowly, to ensure that they are incorporated as part of a permanent lifestyle change. For students researching how to become a nutritionist in California, the following 10 guidelines are becoming increasingly acceptable by mainstream Acend Registered Dietitians:

1.  Eat more plant based proteins: soy milk, tofu, dried beans and legumes (chick peas, black eyes peas, kidney beans, split pea), nuts & seeds and their butters, sprouted breads and bagels, quiona, splet, wheat berries, millet and other high protein grains, soy protein powder. When you do eat meat, choose lean cuts of meat and boil, bake, roast or steam.
2. Eliminate hydrogenated and trans fats from your diet. Check all labels carefully as they are in many packaged, frozen and prepared foods. Instead of margarine use organic butter or ghee (clarified butter, a very clean version of butter). Make your own salad dressings with olive oil. Cook with canola or macadamia nut oil. Sprinkle flax seeds in soups hot cereal. Foods with good fats in them include: avocado, nuts & seeds, tuna, salmon cod, sardines and trout.
3. Drink plenty of clean water; either bottled or filtered. Follow manufacture's directions for changing filters, dirty filters give dirty water. Read more about clean water.
4. Buy organic produce and try to eat 5-10 servings per day. When cooking vegetables lightly steam or stir fry with canola oil. Invest in a juicer and juice fruits and vegetables for a nutrient dense snack. Limit fruit intake (1-3 servings/day) and focus on vegetables. If you feel like your diet is lacking in fruits and vegetables take a supplement rich in carotenoids, or a xanthone rich juice.
5. When you eat diary, meat, or poultry, buy organic, hormone free, no antibiotics.
6. Reduce the intake of sugar in your diet. Try using the following to replace sugar while cooking- honey, raw sugar, pure maple syrup, pureed apple juice concentrate, barley malt syrup, pureed fruits. Read labels and note hidden sugars: sucrose, glucose, maltose, lactose, fructose, and corn syrup. Experiment with stevia in your cooking. Stevia is a herbal, no calorie natural sweetener and flavor enhancer.
7. Ensure adequate fiber intake everyday by eating high fiber foods: whole grains, fresh produce, brown rice, oatmeal,  beans and legumes. Take a fiber supplement if necessary. Add fiber slowly to the diet. Ensure adequate water intake to prevent constipation. Take fiber supplements separate from other supplements as it will interfere with other supplements.
8. Ensure adequate calcium intake through foods or a calcium supplement. High calcium foods are spinach, kale, collards, seaweeds, low fat and hormone free diary products, soy milk. Take a calcium and magnesium supplement; they work together synergistically. Vitamin D is needed to metabolize calcium. Ensure Vitamin D intake, through supplementation, exposure to sunlight, Vitamin D fortified milks and cereals, and salmon.
9. Processed and packaged foods contain many additives, artificial coloring and flavors, and preservatives such as nitrates and MSG. Avoid these foods as much as possible.
10. Take a food based multi-vitamin/mineral complex everyday. Men, children and post-menopausal women should take a multi-vitamin/mineral complex without iron. Women of childbearing age should take a multivitamin/mineral complex with iron.