Easy Nutrition

Fall is a natural time for detoxifying, cleaning up your diet, or beginning a new health habit. Fall is the season of change, of harvest, and of new beginnings (figuratively). Grow your personal arsenal of health tricks by following the Rule of Threes.

3 colors
Every time you eat a meal (snacks don't count here), choose 3 different colored foods. Not only will this amp up your vitamin intake, your plate will look more appealing and you'll satisfy your visual appetite as well. It's true that we eat with the eyes (Ayurveda places much more emphasis on this than does western nutrition), so creating an appealing visual palette will result in a happy, satisfied, postprandial tummy.

3 categories
At each meal, aim to choose something from 3 of the 5 major food categories (dairy, meats/beans/legumes, vegetables, fruits, whole grains). Your body is a very intelligent organism and absorbs nutrients more effectively when they come in a mixed bag. One of the best examples of this concept is how Vitamin C enhances iron absorption (so squeeze some fresh lemon on your salmon, eat a fresh tomato salsa with your rice and beans, or have a slice of orange with your duck).

3 breaths
Take three deep breaths between bites to slow down your mealtimes and allow your belly to rest. Unlike the "chew each bite 50 times" technique, this method of mindfulness-based eating allows you truly pause and enjoy the process of nourishing yourself. It will also discourage over-eating because of the volume-pressure relationship between the abdominal and thoracic cavities; when you inhale deeply you expand the thoracic cavity and compress the abdominal cavity. As most of us know, it's difficult (and uncomfortable) to breathe deeply when we've overeaten; inhaling deeply between bites gives you the opportunity to stop BEFORE overeating.