• Most find nutritional factors easier to control than their thoughts and emotions.
• Certain nutritional factors make dramatic differences in your ability to think clearly, stabilize your moods and enhance your overall sense of well-being.
• We can assess your nutritional needs with more accuracy than your mental-emotional needs.
• We can effectively address your specific nutrition needs with targeted nutritional programs. It is much more challenging and involved to address any mental-emotional needs with similar specificity.

Let's now look at the dietary fundamentals that will lay the foundation you will need in order to optimize the results of your targeted nutrition program.

Contrary to what some might have you believe, this area of nutrition, your daily food and beverage choices does not require a degree in nutrition, just common sense and common practice. In order to make this work, you can start with the following choices:

• Choose simple whole foods. Those that Mother Nature has always provided for us.
• Eat them in their natural form, or as close to it as possible. Less processing generally means more nutritional value.
• Eat as wide a variety of this minimally processed, whole natural foods as circumstances allow. This maximizes your exposure to various nutrients while minimizing your repeated exposure to potential contaminants (e.g., pesticides, insecticides, etc.).
• Pay special attention to ensuring sufficient high quality, low fat proteins in your diet. Your health coach will help you to calculate your daily protein requirements. Divide your daily protein requirement by 15 to determine your daily servings. Now, go to the Quadrant I, Proteins (see "Choosing Health, The Food Equivalent Chart"), and choose a 15 gram serving of one of the proteins.
• Balance your 15 grams of protein with 2-3 cups of low starch vegetables at as many of these mini meals as possible.
• Be moderate with your starch intake. Stick to the less processed whole grains and whole vegetables.
• Balance starch/carbohydrates with quality proteins wherever possible.
• Be sure to get at least 3 pieces/servings (½ - 1 cup) of fresh fruit and 4-6 cups of fresh vegetables every day.
• Reduce animal fats (fatty meats, dairy fats) and eliminate hydrogenated oils, trans fats and processed vegetable oils (i.e. all fried foods, margarine, commercial salad dressings, oils, sauces, confectioneries and baked goods).

Instead, substitute:

• Monounsaturated oils for low heat stir-fries, light sautéing, salad dressings and baking (e.g., olive oil, canola and almond oils).
• Omega-3-rich, properly shielded (from air, light and heat) oils, such as flax, pumpkin and walnut for salad dressings and sauces. These nutritious oils are not to be cooked.
• Drink at least 8 glasses of pure water daily.
• Substitute herbal and naturally decaffeinated teas for caffeine containing beverages and sodas (including chemical containing 'diet' drinks).