10 things to eat everyday

If you have issues with gluten, then chances are you have absorption issues as well. If you are unable to absorb enough nutrients from your food, then the nutrient deficiencies you incur as a result are likely causing you trouble physically, cognitively and emotionally. And if you're eating a typical American diet, then your nutrient deficiencies could be pretty severe. The older we get the worse it gets. I know this is a problem for me, so I resolved recently to try to include 10 things (listed below) in my daily diet to make sure I get enough micro-nutrients to maintain my health as best I can. And I can definitely tell a difference in how I feel and function since beginning this about a week ago. It's easier than I thought it would be.

10 things I try to include in my diet everyday to make sure I'm getting enough micro-nutrients:

Beans

Berries, plus 2 additional fruits

Cilantro

Green vegetables

Garlic

Mushrooms

Nuts/seeds

Onions

Probiotics/Fermented food

Turmeric

It doesn't require a lot of each of these things to get what you need. A small serving of beans, berries, greens and nuts or seeds and a really small amount of cilantro, garlic, turmeric and onions is all you need. Just one small mushroom is enough, but I never eat just one -- I love mushrooms. And if you don't like fermented foods, which a lot of people don't, and I've had to force myself to acquire a taste for them, then just take a good probiotic supplement. For the fruit, I usually make one a citrus fruit for the vitamin C and the third one is often a banana or a glass of merlot. I don't know if I should count wine as a fruit or not, but it's easy for me to justify -- it's made from grapes and has antioxidants and resveratrol, so why not count it? Some nutrition specialists may agree with me and some may not. But until I decide otherwise, I'm counting it as good for me.

Scrambled eggs are a great place to add onions, mushrooms, garlic, turmeric and cilantro. I can get all that in with breakfast and take a probiotic capsule, and then all I have to worry about later are the beans, greens, fruit and seeds or nuts, and I have two more meals to get those into. Lunch could be a salad that includes sunflower seeds, berries and mandarin orange pieces with a side of beans or maybe just throw the beans on the salad. And dinner might include some sauerkraut, capers, pickles or olives. If I have a banana as an afternoon snack, I've got all 10 items on the list. 

Or I might make a bean soup that includes mushrooms, onions, garlic, kale, cilantro and turmeric and eat that for lunch all week at work, have berries and yogurt for breakfast and sauerkraut with link sausage for dinner with sesame or flax seeds on top of it. If I squeeze lemon or lime into the water I drink throughout the day and eat another piece of fruit as an afternoon snack, that's all 10. 

It's not always easy get all 10 into my diet every single day and some days I may not be able to do it. Life gets busy, and I don't always have time to make sure it happens. It requires planning and sometimes the plan goes out the window and that's ok. I just try again tomorrow. No big deal. But the better I do, the better I feel.