SURPRISINGLY EASY WAYS to

TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE

Winnie Abramson, ND

Copyright 2013 by Winnie Abramson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in
any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Abramson, Winnie.
One simple change : surprisingly easy ways to transform your life /
Winnie Abramson.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-4521-1957-1
1. Nutrition. 2. HealthNutritional aspects. 3. Holistic medicine
Popular works. 4. VegetarianismPopular works. I. Title.
RA784.A26 2013
613.2dc23
2013002292

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CO N T E N TS

INTRODUCTION

01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13

14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26

Stop Dieting

Eat Real Food

12

Drink Water First Thing

15

Get a Good Nights Sleep

18

Manage Your Stress

22

Move Your Body

25

Get a Little Sunshine

28

Let It Go

31

Revamp Your Pantry

33

Cook More

35

Identify Your Food Sensitivities 41

27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50

Get Some Culture

98

Swap Out Your Salt

102

Be Choosy About Chocolate

105

Drink Healthy

109

Fit in Fresh Juice

114

Sip Superior Smoothies

116

Deal with the Dairy Dilemma

120

Scratch the Soda

126

Cut the Caffeine

128

Get Fresh Air Every Day

130

Connect with Nature

132

Be in the Moment

134

Leave a Smaller Footprint

136

Be Eco-Friendly at Home

138

Opt for Organic

140

Get Closer to Your Food

142

Plant a Garden

144

Start Composting

151

Green Your Cleaning

155

Care for Your Skin Naturally

157

Try Dry Brushing

161

Slow Down

163

Be Kind to Yourself

165

Practice Gratitude

167

Be Wary of Wheat

45

Consider Going Gluten or

Grain Free

48

Steer Clear of White Sugar

52

Find Your Carb Balance

55

Strive for Variety

58

Dont Skip Meals

60

Have a Proper Breakfast

62

Eat Healthy Fats and Oils

65

Consume More Omega-3s

69

Pay Attention to Protein

71

Be Wise About Fish

76

Embrace Eggs

80

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

169

Reconsider Meat

85

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

169

Ramp Up Raw Foods

91

SELECTED REFERENCES

170

Load up on Leafy Greens

94

INDEX 175

I N T RO D U CT I O N

WHEN I WAS SIXTEEN, I decided to lose 5 lb/2.3 kg. I was an active teen on
the thin side of normal, but all my friends were dieting, so I figured I might
as well join them. It was the eighties and the low-fat dieting craze was in full
swing. I jumped on the bandwagon and waited for the weight to melt away.

It didnt, but I kept dieting anyway. Id grown up on the fabulous
butter- and cream-laden fare my dad prepared in the kitchen of my
familys four-star restaurant The Quilted Giraffe, but magazine articles on
weight loss and health said these delicacies could no longer pass through
my lips. I became convinced that if low fat was good, then no fat must be
better; I also proclaimed myself a vegetarian.

The list of things I would eat got smaller and smaller. I subsisted mainly
on salads and cooked vegetables doused with vinegar, cottage cheese, and
bagelsand I was constantly hungry. I thought about sweets nearly all the
time, and I drank diet sodas and downed large servings of frozen yogurt to
quell the cravings.

I told myself the diet was only temporary; Id go off it as soon as I
morphed into superskinny Winnie. But when the needle on my scale finally
began to move, it went in the wrong direction. I was horrified that I was
gaining weight, but I never once questioned the diet; in fact, I went away
to college and kept on dieting for another four years.

Despite rigidly controlling my calorie intake and running or taking
aerobics classes nearly every day, I weighed about 15 lb/6.8 kg more than
I wanted to (10 lb/4.5 kg more than when I had first started dieting) by
the time graduation rolled around. At that point, I was also tired all day

ONE SIMPLE CHANGE

long and extremely depressed; my face was covered with pimples; and
my menstrual cycle had all but disappeared. I felt perfectly awful, yet I still
stubbornly believed my diet was perfect.

I visited one doctor after another in the hopes that someone would discover what was wrong with me. I was referred to counselors to talk about the
depression, and I was given prescriptions for antibiotics to make the acne go
away. I was given no explanation for why I was always so exhausted.
When an endocrinologist diagnosed me with a scary-sounding
condition called polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) to explain why I so rarely
menstruated, my mom suggested we go to a different type of health practitioner for a second opiniona holistic one. This was the first time in my life
that I had heard that term.

Appointments with my new doctor were vastly different from what I
was accustomed to: She seemed genuinely interested in getting to the bottom of what was going on with me; she did not look at (or try to provide
solutions for) my health issues in isolation; and she did not think I had PCOS.
She asked a lot of questions that no doctor had ever asked me before, and
she gave me a diet diary, a way for me to log what I ate for a week. I proudly
filled it in, smug in my belief that no one had a better diet than I.

After a slew of blood tests, the nutritionist from my doctors office called
and asked me to come in so we could go over the results. It turned out I had
really messed up my body on my so-called healthy diet: I had nutritional
deficiencies and numerous food sensitivities. Plus my adrenal glands and my
thyroid werent functioning correctly. The nutritionist impressed upon me the
importance of eating very differently from then on if I wanted to get better.

I definitely wanted to get better, but I was very confused. I had been led
to believe that a low-fat, vegetarian diet was good. Had I taken that advice
too far? Or was it possible that advice was wrong for me (or maybe just plain
wrong)? I was skeptical about my nutritionists recommendations: Avoid
wheat, dairy, and white sugar. Load up on whole foods high in vitamins,
minerals, and healthy fats. And start eating protein from animal foods again.
But I decided to trust her.

What happened over the next few weeks was nothing short of a miracle
as far as I was concerned: The weight Id obsessed over for all those years literally fell away. But maybe even more exciting than the weight loss was how
at peace with food I began to feel. I never thought about eating when I wasnt

INTRODUCTION

hungry, and my compulsive need to exercise completely disappeared. After

a few more months, I wasnt depressed anymore, my skin cleared, and my
energy level improved. It took longer for my menstrual cycle to return to
normal, but that happened eventually, too.

The experience of making myself sick with one diet, and then healing
myself with another, had a profound impact on me. I became fascinated with
therapeutic eating strategies and other alternative ways to treat illness, and
I wanted to learn more about them. I moved across the country to Seattle to
study at Bastyr University, one of the only accredited schools in the United
States with programs in science-based natural medicine. I graduated with a
doctorate in naturopathic medicine in 1998 and have been studying holistic
nutrition and all the ingredients of a healthy lifestyle on my own ever since.

In 1999, I started a blog called Healthy Green Kitchen. My intent was to
post recipes featuring wholesome, nourishing foods as well as inspiration for
eco-groovy living. Over the years Ive shared hundreds of recipes, along with
accounts of my forays into organic gardening, keeping backyard chickens, and
beekeeping. At the beginning of 2012, however, I decided to shake things up
a little. I went back to my naturopathic roots and embarked on writing a yearlong holistic lifestyle series called One Simple Change.

That series was the inspiration for this book.

Like the blog series, this book is a collection of easy-to-implement yet
powerful lifestyle tips that can help you positively transform your health and
your life. I shared my diet story earlier so youd know why I am so passionate
about the topic of nutrition, and why, when I was compiling the list of topics I
wanted to cover, I felt so strongly that many of them should be related to food.
But as big a role as food has played and continues to play in my life, I believe that
being truly healthy is about much more. Thats why I want you to be sure to pay
attention to all the other lifestyle suggestions in this book (and there are many).

One Simple Change takes a holistic approach. It will help you discover
how to live in a way that will make you feel great while you decrease your risk
for a number of chronic diseases. In addition, making the simple changes suggested in this book will benefit not just your personal health, but the health of
our planet, as well.

By designin order to keep things truly simplechapters are short and
sweet. Though I could have expanded on many concepts, I decided it was
best to tell you only what I felt you really needed to know: why and how you
should make the change. While each chapter can certainly stand on its own, I

ONE SIMPLE CHANGE

planned the book with the hope that readers would do the whole thing. There
are fifty changes in the book, and I encourage you to make one change per
week over the course of a year, with two weeks off whenever you decide to
take them; this is why the book is called One Simple Change.

While you could rush things and make one change each day for fifty days
straight, I dont recommend that. Permanent changes in your habits do not
happen overnight. Research shows that new habits are much more likely to
last if you take them slow and focus on only one change at a time. Dont feel
you have to start this book at the beginning of January, though! Sure, January
is a great time to start anew with healthy habits, but so is May. September
works, too. And you dont have to start a healthy habit on the first of the
month or on a Monday. Anytime you can make a change that will make your
life healthier is a good time.

You may be startled by the common-sense nature of some of my tips;
know that these are included here because sometimes we ignore the very
basics of personal care. I think everyone can benefit from being reminded to
pay attention to these. Also, the changes that seem the smallest can have the
biggest impact.

I am not necessarily going to be telling you only things you already know,
howeverthis is not a regurgitation of the types of health recommendations
that can be found in many other books. In fact, many of my suggestions may
surprise you; they will likely fly in the face of the information that youve heard
(and trusted) in the past. Be assured, however, that I have spent countless
hours sorting through all the confusing and often contradictory health recommendations that are out there in order to bring you the most up-to-date, factbased, reliable information. The things you will learn in One Simple Change
honor the wisdom of our ancestors while giving a generous nod to modern
science, so you can benefit from both.

I am well aware that many of us are very emotionally invested in our lifestyle patterns and get nervous when our ways are called into question. If thats
true for you, I ask that you keep an open mind, even when what I am telling you
initially makes you uncomfortable. In many ways One Simple Change is about
suspending preconceived notions, about accepting that what you thought you
knew about how to be healthy isnt necessarily correct. Change can be hard
theres no doubt about thatbut change is what this book is about.

You dont need a doctors approval to do anything in One Simple Change;
the focus is on lifestyle adjustment, dietary transformation, and attitude

INTRODUCTION

overhaul, so theres no medical clearance required. That said, if youre an

extremely sedentary person, its always a good idea to have a physician okay
you for exercise. Also, if you dont have a doctor who takes the time to listen to
you, who helps you troubleshoot things that arent right, and who understands
that there is a connection between what you eat and your health, now is the
perfect time to find one.

All you have to do to get started with One Simple Change is commit to
changing one thing. See how it goes, then change another. Remember that its
your body and you are in charge; also remember that nothing in this book is
do or die. If you fail at something today, you can still succeed tomorrow. Every
time you get up in the morning, you have a new day in front of you, and each
new day is a new opportunity for change.

So cheers to change! I sincerely hope this book inspires a positive transformation in your life and in the lives of many others.

ONE SIMPLE CHANGE

01

STOP DIETING

IN THE INTRODUCTION, I told you about my miserable experience with diet-

ing. Sadly, I dont think my story is all that unusual; I know many people who
have similarly messed up their bodies by restricting their food intake in some
way. I also see many people out there who just cant seem to figure out how
to eat normally and feel comfortable about their weight, so theyre always on
one diet or another. They are always searching for the diet to end all diets, but
they never do seem to find it.

Most diets fail, but even those that seem to work at first do not help you
maintain your weight loss (and certainly not your health) over the long term.
Its not good for you, nor is it sustainable, to skip meals or drastically cut calories. According to Julia Ross, author of The Diet Cure (1999), you need to eat
at least 2,500 calories per day to be healthy.

But all calories are not created equal, and Id really prefer it if you
stopped counting calories altogether. Please stop fretting about fat grams,
too: Chances are youre not eating enough healthy fat! And while cutting back on carbohydrates can indeed be beneficial for weight loss and
health, a diet that eschews them completely isnt recommended (I explain
why, and help you figure out which types of carbohydrates to eat, later in
the book).

You may not even remember what it feels like to eat without dieting. If
thats true, its time to remind yourself! I dont believe that dieting is healthy
for your body or your mindand I am sure you could use your precious time
and energy in much more fun and productive ways. Instead of always worrying
about what you think youre not supposed to be eating, I want you to shift your
focus to eating without any agenda other than supporting your health.

01 / STOP DIETING

Please dont ever take healthy eating to an extreme. There's a name

for that and its orthorexia; it can
be just as damaging to your body
and mind as any sickness. Food
should be enjoyed, and meals
should be shared with family and
friends. If your so-called healthy
diet prevents you from doing this,
its not a good diet.

Weight that will not budge

despite good nutrition and regular exercise may indicate underlying food sensitivities (more on
these in chapter 11), poor thyroid
function, adrenal exhaustion
due to chronic stress, insulin
resistance, or another physiological problem. You can consult a
natural health practitioner to
help you figure out if you might
be dealing with one or more of
these issues, but keep in mind
that skinny does not necessarily
equal healthy. There is far too
much emphasis on thinness in
our culture, which is particularly
damaging to women.

10

We are all individuals with different metabolic

needs. You may have a lactose intolerance, celiac
disease, or an allergy to eggs. You may be a lifelong vegetarian or you may really love eating paleo.
Please know that I respect you and your choices
100 percent, and if youve found what works for
you, then I think thats fantastic. If you have not
found what works for you, though, might I suggest
letting go of preconceived notions that you must
find and follow a certain diet? Its really best to find
a lifestylenot a method of deprivationthat
supports your health.
If weight loss is on your wish list, then Id like you to
put your scale away and pull it out only once or twice
a month to see how things are going. When you do, I
really dont want you to be attached to what you see.
Know that when you embark on a new lifestyle such as
the one described in this book, you may put on a few
pounds at first. This is especially true if youve been on
a very low calorie diet for a long time. As your metabolism adjusts to your new way of eating, however, the
weight should come off. Trust that it will.
In the meantime, get away from letting a morning weigh-in dictate your mood or what you plan to
eat that day. Your weight is not a measure of your
health in any meaningful way. I ditched my scale a
long time ago, and it was one of the best things I ever
did for myself.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with waking
up and deciding youre going to eat light because
you overdid things the day before, but dont do it just
because the scale says you gained a pound. Always
remember that your body needs and deserves to be
nourished. Go by how your clothes fit and how you
feel, not by what the scale says.

ONE SIMPLE CHANGE

QU I CK RE VI E W
M

Say good-bye to dieting for good. Most diets dont work,

and dieting isnt healthy for your body or your mind.
M Eating too little food isnt going to help you permanently
lose weight. Carbohydrates, proteins, and fats are all
required by the body, so dont follow an eating strategy
that completely eliminates any one of these three.
M Ditch your scale so you can focus on your health,
not your weight.

01 / STOP DIETING

11

02

EAT REAL FOOD

YOU ALREADY KNOW THAT I DONT BELIEVE IN DIETS. I also dont believe

theres a single way of eating thats going to work for everyone. Were all
differentfrom our biochemical makeups to our unique cultural backgrounds to our taste preferences.

That said, I do believe that an individualized diet consisting of real food
is what were all meant to put into our bodies. So whats real food? Think
about what our ancestors ate long ago, when sustenance could only be procured by hunting, fishing, and gathering. Though its infinitely easier for us
to get meals on the table these days, we would all do well to eat similarly
natural, unprocessed food.

Real foods include fruits and vegetables (preferably in season, organic,
and locally grown, prepared in all different ways); minimally processed dairy
products (organic and raw, if possible); fish thats wild (not farmed, and free
of mercury or other chemicals); land-animal foods, including eggs (ideally
free-range and pastured only); legumes, nuts, and seeds (preferably organic);
and fats that are traditional and unprocessed (from both plants and animals).
What about whole grains? These can be problematic for many individuals, so
I consider them an optional part of a real food diet. Ill discuss all aspects of a
real-food lifestyle in greater depth in the chapters that follow.

Real food is what your body has evolved to eat; your body recognizes
it and knows how to digest it. It contains the nutrients you need (unlike processed foods, which are nutrient-poor). Real food makes your taste buds sing
and satisfies you on a deep level (whereas processed foods foster cravings,
food addictions, and emotional eating).

Real food does not come from a box. It does not contain artificial
or refined ingredients, added sweeteners, excessive sodium, processed

12

ONE SIMPLE CHANGE

fats, GMOs, pesticides, or other potentially toxic

chemical additives. Real food does not come from
a fast-food restaurant (or most chain restaurants),
either. Real food doesnt contain man-made preservatives; it will spoil unless you take steps to
preserve it naturally.

If youre already making an effort to shop the
perimeter of the grocery store, purchase food from
farmers markets or farms themselves, and cook
the majority of what you eat, then you are probably
eating lots of real food. Good for you! If, however,
you eat a Standard American Diet, composed of
many processed foods and meals picked up from
the drive-through, or even if you eat lots of packaged foods from the health food store, then youre
not eating enough real food, and you have some
work to do.

Unfortunately, eating food that is not real is
all too easy. Its everywhere, its inexpensive, and if
its what you are used to, then you probably think it
tastes good. But a diet of food thats not real is very
likely to mess with your body. Switching to a diet of
real food is essential if you want to live long and feel
good while you are doing so.

Do you want to know what I ate today? For
breakfast, I had eggs from my backyard chickens
scrambled with leftover roasted root vegetables.
Lunch was an Asian-style wild salmon and kale
soup made with homemade stock from my
Thanksgiving turkey, and a big helping of Spicy
Lacto-Fermented Pickles (page 100). Dinner was
a salad of greens (purchased at a local farm this
morning) dressed with olive oil and lemon juice, followed by sliced aged grass-fed beef (from the same
farm) sauted with lots of onions and peppers, and
accompanied by a bowl of steamed broccoli tossed
with organic butter and sea salt. Dessert was a
couple of squares of dark chocolate.

I am concerned about the

prevalence of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) in
our food supply. Designed to
resist insects and diseases, as
well as herbicides, GM crops
are currently very controversial
for health and environmental
reasons, and consumers are
beginning to demand mandatory
labeling of foods that contain
them. The Big Four GM crops
are corn, soybeans, canola, and
cottonseed, which are ubiquitous
in processed foods. If you want to
avoid genetically modified food,
do not eat anything that comes in
a box, and choose organic whenever possible (organic foods dont
contain genetically modified
ingredients). For more information on GMOs and how to avoid
them, download the Non-GMO
Shopping Guide from Mercola.
com (http://gmo.mercola.com/
sites/gmo/shopping-guide.aspx).

I give very few recommendations

for dietary supplements in One
Simple Change because if you are
not dieting and you are eating real
food, supplements are rarely necessary. In fact, supplements can
do more harm than good. If you
have a health challenge, though,
certain supplements may be
helpful. Consult a licensed naturopathic doctor (ND) or a holistic
medical doctor (MD) to help you
decide if they are right for you.

02 / EAT REAL FOOD

13


Now doesnt that sound a lot more appealing than diet food or fast food?
Real foods are incredibly satisfying, so I dont eat when I am not hungry.

Do you have to spend an exorbitant amount of time in the kitchen cooking in order to eat real food? No, not at all. Ill tell you some of my real-food
shortcuts and share some of my favorite (easy!) real-food recipes with you
later in the book. Eating real food does not have to be time-consuming; I can
honestly say that no matter how busy I am, I can still eat healthy, tasty, real
food at just about every meal. Know that I do like to eat out sometimes, and I
do grab a slice of pizza with my kids every now and then; if we eat real food
approximately 85 percent of the time, then the occasional nonreal food
splurge is just fine.

QUI CK RE VI E W
M Packaged and processed foods are linked to just about

every health issue that plagues those of us living in the

modern world.
M You need to eat a widely varied diet of fresh, whole, real
foods to be healthy. If your diet is less than optimal, make
the switch to real foods.
M Cook real food at home the majority of the time, then dont
worry about the occasional nonreal food splurge: Aim
for 85 percent real food and 15 percent everything else.

14

ONE SIMPLE CHANGE

03

DRINK WATER
FIRST THING

DO YOU STUMBLE INTO THE KITCHEN IN SEARCH OF COFFEE right after

you get out of bed? Or maybe youre a tea person, like me? I am not suggesting you give up drinking caffeinated beverages (at least not right now);
I just want you to drink a tall glass of water within ten minutes of waking
upevery single day.

Why drink water first thing in the morning? Our bodies are more than
60 percent water and, unfortunately, this makes us quite prone to dehydration. I am actually pretty parched whenever I wake up, but you can be
dehydrated even if you dont feel thirsty. Having a glass of water first thing
and then drinking more throughout the day will help you avoid health issues
that may be related to dehydration. Eating foods that contain water (like raw
fruits and vegetables) and drinking additional healthy liquids will help as
well. Ill talk in more depth about what you should and should not be drinking elsewhere in the book, but water should always be your first priority.

If drinking water first thing in the morning sounds unappealing, consider that having just one glass of water is associated with a boost in your
metabolic rate. The benefits of drinking water in the morning go beyond the
physical, though: I find that having a glass of water right after I wake up
makes me feel as if Ive kicked off the day on the right foot. Since Ive done
something good for myself first thing, I am more likely to continue to make
healthy choices as the day goes on.

The water you drink (and cook, brush your teeth, and shower with) in the
morning and throughout the day should be as pure as possible. If you dont
have a well, tap water can contain chlorine as well as a variety of contaminants,
so you may want to consider investing in a water filter. Filters vary greatly
in terms of what they are able to remove; the National Resources Defense
03 / DRINK WATER FIRST THING

15

Council has an excellent consumers guide online

(www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/gfilters.asp).
If you
Symptoms of acute dehydration
do
purchase
a
water
filter,
make
sure
to
change
the
that you should watch out for
include headaches, fatigue, dark
filter regularly, or it wont do you much good. Also, if
urine, dizziness, dry skin, and
you feel strongly about having a filter on your kitchen
constipation. Something else
sink, consider putting one on your showerhead,
to keep in mind: A more subtle
as well. Your skin is your bodys largest organ and,
form of chronic dehydration may
unfortunately, readily absorbs toxins.
contribute to the development
I bring a bisphenol A (BPA)free reusable
of health problems, such as high
blood pressure. Water regulates
plastic water bottle with me whenever I leave the
so many bodily functions: It helps
house, and I fill it up as needed. (BPA is considered
to keep our body temperature
an endocrine disruptor, a chemical that can intersteady, lubricates our joints,
fere with the balance of hormones in the body and
cushions our organs and spine,
cause damaging health effects.) This is much more
and aids in all our metabolic and
detoxification processes. Make
environmentally sound than purchasing bottles of
sure to stay properly hydrated.
water, since precious oil is used to make plastic
bottles. Though they are recyclable, millions of tons
of plastic bottles are thrown away every year, and
they will never decompose. Whats more, there is evidence that much of
the bottled water on the market is no more than tap water in disguise (and
a 2008 study by the Environmental Working Group concluded that bottled
water often contains a wide range of pollutants).

Another reason to have water first thingeven before you have
breakfastis that you may be better off keeping some of your water intake
separate from your meals. Many alternative health practitioners advise
against gulping large amounts of water with food, because this may dilute
your stomach acid or weaken your digestive enzymes. If you feel like you
dont digest your foods well, then try backing off on mealtime liquids.
Practitioners of Chinese medicine discourage their patients from drinking very
cold water for a similar reason (they believe it squelches the digestive fire).

If you dont like to drink plain water, then try squeezing some lemon or
lime juice into your morning water. I find it easier to drink water that way, and
water with citrus has a reputation for being an excellent cleanser. Drinking
lemon water with a bit of honey first thing in the morning is an old-time home
remedy for weight loss. (An alternative is to drink lemony spa waterwater
in which youve also floated berries or cucumber slices and herbs.)

I just dont really buy the old adage that everyone needs to have eight
8-oz/240-ml glasses of water every day. We all have different needs for

16

ONE SIMPLE CHANGE

water intake. I suggest consuming lots of fruits, vegetables, and healthy drinks, and listening to your
The 2003 to 2004 National
body. Drink water when you are thirsty, and pay
Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted by
special attention to drinking more when exercising
the Centers for Disease Control
vigorously or spending time outside in heat. It's also
and Prevention, found detecta good idea to keep an eye on your urine. When you
able levels of BPA in more than
are properly hydrated, it should be very light yellow
90 percent of Americans over
(though certain vitamin supplements and vegetaage six. It is used in food and
bles like beets do color your urine, rendering it an
drink packaging, including many
plastic water bottles and the
unreliable indicator).
lids of most food cans. You can

And what about sparkling water: bad or good? I
limit your exposure to BPA by
love the stuff, to be honest, but I only drink it in modchoosing alternatives to plastic
eration because carbonated beverages are acidic and
for food and drink storage (I use
can weaken your teeth and bones when consumed in
glass whenever possible) and
by not heating food in plastic
excess. I will discuss this issue further in chapter 34.
containers in the microwave.

Keep in mind that you can, indeed, drink too
Its also best to limit your use of
much water, and that doing so may be dangerous.
canned foods, unless the cans
When you drink far more water than your body needs
are labeled BPA-free.
over a short period of time, you can dilute the concentration of sodium in your blood. Sodium acts as
an electrolyte, carefully controlling the fluid balance in our cells. If excess fluid
enters our brain cells due to the presence of too little sodium, seizures, coma,
and eventually death can result.

QUI CK RE VI E W
M

Drink a tall glass of room-temperature water within

ten minutes of waking up. Add the juice of half a lemon
or lime for better flavor and potential cleansing benefits.
M Everything you eat and drink affects your hydration: A diet
high in fruits, vegetables, and healthy drinks will keep you
properly hydrated.
M Sip water throughout the day but dont obsess about drinking eight glasses of water. Listen to your body and drink
water when you are thirsty. Keep an eye on your urine (if it's
very light yellow, that's good).

03 / DRINK WATER FIRST THING

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