Drinking Water:

I’m relishing the feeble irony of having the first entry in the eating section be about drinking.  The most recent formula I’ve heard for how much water to drink in a day is this: take your weight in pounds, divide by two, and drink that much water in ounces.  

1. -When to drink: A couple ideas I’ve found helpful are to train myself to drink a big glass of water first thing in the morning, and to always drink a glass of water *before* meals.  It makes sense to drink water in the morning because you lose a considerable amount of water through sweat while sleeping, and thus usually wake up dehydrated.  I’ve heard that drinking water during or immediately after a big meal can (a) dilute your digestive juices and (b) wash partially digested food through your stomach too quickly.  If your meal contains a lot of vegetables, which it ideally should, you won’t be thirsty while eating anyway.
   

2. -Water bottles: Nalgene bottles have become improbably popular.  The clear ones leach a subtle amount of plastic into your water, which isn’t good.  The ugly opaque HDPE bottles are better.  Metal bottles are better still! 
   

3. -Water on your back: I started using a Camelbak backpack and I love it.  It’s easy to drink a lot more water when water is always on your person!  I recommend getting either the freeze-tube kit or an end cap to keep the bite valve clean.
   

Fresh Juice:

A second entry not on food.  Ha!  Making juice is fun.  Plus it’s better for you than the pasteurized stuff they sell in stores, which by definition is no longer alive.  Not that it’s not a whole lot better than soda, and it does contain fiber, which is good for you.  Anyway, juicing gets old fast if your juicer is a pain to clean - the Omega 8005 has a few parts that you just throw in the dishwasher, so clean up is a breeze.  For OJ, juicers like this one are incredibly cheap and effective.

Learning to Cook:

It’s easier to eat healthy stuff when you know how to prepare it yourself in a way that tastes good!  I’m still a rank amateur but I want to get better.  I took a one-day cooking class in San Diego in last fall, and I received a couple cookbooks for Christmas: The New Now & Zen Epicure, and The Raw Transformation.  Hmmm...  Can you still call them cookbooks if the recipes don’t involve heating food?

Going Vegetarian:

I still occasionally eat meat, but I’ve got to agree with Einstein: vegetarianism is probably the way of the future.  If you want an informative book that will give you a push towards cutting out meat, I highly recommend The Food Revolution by John Robbins. 

Nuts:

Nuts are really good for you, but they’re usually found roasted, salted, beer battered, etc.  Better to get them raw, which has the added benefit of not making your hands all oily.  Nuts are an intrinsically dense, dehydrated food, and they actually become easier to digest if you soak them in water overnight before you eat them. 

Food Allergies:

Yes, it’s quite possible that you regularly eat foods that trigger an immune response from your body.  It’s called a food allergy or a food sensitivity.  This can drain your energy and make you feel bad in a whole host of ways.  Long term, my doc tells me that food allergies can contribute to leaky gut syndrome.  I wrote a blog post about food allergy testing here.  If you don’t want to pay for an allergy test, you can start by paying attention to how you feel a couple hours after you eat.

Not Eating:

Eating takes a lot of time, and frankly it takes a lot of energy too.  Giving your body a rest from digesting solid food for a day or two can feel liberating.  You can experience amazing mental clarity and energy.  Usually though, you feel pretty crappy first.  One theory why is that when you aren’t putting food into your body, your body burns built up toxins for fuel (much like a garbage fire).  You feel great once it’s over.  My favorite way to take a break from food is with freshly squeezed fruit & vegetable juice, herbal tea, and lots of water.  It’s important to keep your eliminative organs working during a fast, and this fasting kit can help with that.