10/31/2008

I am an advocate for eating healthy and I believe, very deeply, that food can heal you as well as medicine can. To rely completely on medicine to get well may not be as healthy as you think – if medicines are good for you (and I believe some truly are), would they have all these side effects? Going holistic when it comes to health is still the best way, which is why i endorse Satoko Ozawa in her quest to educate people about super-healthy-foods that they can find in their local supermarket.

Satoko Ozawa knows her food. The board-certified Holistic Health Counselor and member of the American Association of Drugless Practitioners is a master of the art of “defensive shopping.” This means treating the grocery store as a one-stop pharmacy.

Believe it or not, whether you’re battling diabetes, skin disorders, depression, cancer, heart disease or the common cold, Ozawa says all Holistic Health Counselors will prescribe roughly the same regimen:

* Eat less food (five small meals a day) so that you only ever feel 75 percent full
* Decrease intake of animal protein
* Increase fresh fruits and veggies
* Eat whole grains whenever possible
* Reduce or avoid refined and processed foods

Of course it’s not that simple. Certain medical conditions come with food restrictions, and others require boosting or reducing intake of this or that vitamin or mineral. But the best way to stay fit and healthy, Ozawa argues, is to eat healthy foods that are unprocessed. These days, shoppers have such an extensive choice of products, each with increasingly confusing labels boasting dubious health-related claims. Ozawa jokes that ingredient lists now read like a newspaper article.

Companies have integrated additives so well into our food supply that many of us can no longer tell the difference between processed and non-processed foods. Add the fact that you are living in a foreign country and sometimes not sure of what you are actually buying, and the above guidelines become a little tricky. That’s where Ozawa can help.

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