Although nutrition and diet is covered in more detail in the final part of the ten day challenge (eliminate acid addictions) - the tenet of this part of the challenge is that there are seven key distinctions to ensure that your body receives maximum nourishment:

1. Break your fast (breakfast) with only fresh vegetables, vegetable juices and/or green drinks until noon.
This is an approach of Tony's that has been modified over the past five years - you may have read Unlimited Power or have been to UPW and heard/ read the 'only fruit til noon' concept.  On Get the Edge and the PowerTalk with Dr. Young, Tony admits that this approach was wrong due to the highly concentrated level of sugar that consuming only fruit til noon would provide.  His discovery of the alkaline/acid approach to health has led to the creation of the new approach above. 

Green Drinks are the mixture of green powders (such as Ultra Greens, SuperGreens, Beyond Greens, Alkalive Greens etc.) and water (preferably alkaline, pure water).  For vegetable juices, raw, alkalising soups and other breakfast ideas, see our detox, alkalising recipes.

2. Properly combine your foods for maximum nourishment and energy.
Many research studies have proven that different foods and drinks cause different reactions in the digestive system.  If foods are poorly combined, the chemicals that are secreted to digest these different foods can cause negative reactions and can lead to foods not being properly digested.  The outcome of poor digestion is that the nutrients cannot be properly extracted from the food and whatever foods are not properly digested by our bodies will be 'digested' by harmful microforms in our bodies (such as yeasts, causing candida for example) and can cause the formation of mucus and cold like symptoms.

However, that does not mean that food combining has to be confusing or difficult!  While there are a million equally confusing food combining charts out there - just a few simple principles should be followed to make sure you effectively combine your foods.  Our bodies are not designed to digest complex meals, particularly not some of the classics we feed ourselves when we consume starch and protein together (i.e. almost any kind of sandwich, fish and chips, meat and potatoes etc). 

Food Combining Rules:

a) Low sugar and high water fruits (alkaline fruits) and vegetables combine with almost anything on their own.

b) If animal protein must be consumed, mix it with vegetables or alkaline fruits only.  Do not combine with starches, acid foods or oils.  Vegetable proteins, however, can combine with all alkaline fruits and vegetables, as well as good fats and oils.  In other words combine fish or meats with high water vegetables, instead of rice, pasta, bread or potatoes.

c) Starches should be combined with low sugar and high water content fruits and vegetables.  Do not combine starches with animal proteins or acidic foods, oils or high-sugar fruit.

d) Eat high sugar fruit on its own in all instances.

e) Good fats and oils can be consumed with vegetables and low-sugar fruits and also starches.

Low sugar fruits are: avocado, tomato, lime, lemon, non-sweet grapefruit and peppers/capsicum.

3. Do not eat when you are stressed
Eating when stressed is a surefire way to guarantee that you are going to eat too much, as well as too much of the wrong foods.  Eating when stresses also increases the likelihood of hurrying your meal, not chewing properly and therefore poor digestion.  This article covers stress and eating in more detail.

Eating should be enjoyed slowly and in a relaxed frame of mind.  Your body will thank you for it. 

4. Eat comfortable amounts of food
Overeating is an easy mistake to make.  In fact, it is a habit that so many of us have formed that we find it incredibly difficult to notice when our bodies have had sufficient amounts and no longer require us to carry on eating.  I imagine that this habit formed for most of us in our early years when we were not allowed to leave the table until we had finished our dinners! 

We need to train ourselves to be able to pick up on the signals our body sends us when it has had enough!  The most straightforward techniques for doing this include:

a) eating slowly and taking breaks during your meal - this will give your body a chance to register the food consumed and send the signal to your brain to stop

b) portion control - by giving yourself much smaller portions you reduce the risk of overeating

c) make 'picking' meals whereby you lay out lots of different salads, dips, dishes etc on the table and start with very small portions.  This effectively combines the above and ensures you do not continue to eat because you do not want to waste the food you have cooked

d) start your meal with a soup or salad starter, then give yourself a five minute break before your main meal

e) avoid eating in front of the television or while doing other activities as this will distract you from the messages to your brain that you are full

f) learn to associate pleasure to leaving at least something on your plate - do it the Chinese way and leave a little on your plate to show you are full!

More portion control techniques can be found here.

5. Do not drink water with your meals
Drinking during meals has been said to hinder digestion, but personally I feel that this also contributes to the point above in that it could hinder your accurate assessment of how much you need to eat.  Some research has also gone as far as to cite a link between drinking during meals and oesophageal cancer.

Whatever the reasoning, your body derives all of the water it requires for digestion from the foods we consume and so there is no need to complicate your digestive process.

6. Eat organic foods whenever possible
While still being priced slightly more expensively in the supermarkets, the benefits of organic food far outweigh the financial costs.

In this study, which reviewed 41 other research reports comparing the nutritional content of organically grown and standard vegetables, fruits and grains, it was found that there are significantly more nutritional value in the organic crops.  For instance, the organic crops included 27% more vitamin C, 21% more iron, 29% more magnesium and 13% more phosphorus.  These foods also had 15% less nitrates than standard foods.  More interestingly, the study found that while consuming five servings of organic foods met the RDI for vitamin C, standard, non-organic foods did not. Source: "Nutritional Quality of Organic Versus Conventional Fruits, Vegetables, and Grains," by Virginia Worthington, published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2001 (pp. 161-173)

7. Do not eat directly before sleeping
Eating directly before sleeping is riddled with troubles.  First and foremost, the food will not be able to be digested properly.  Eating so close to sleeping also directly effects the quality of your sleep, inducing fatigue and irritability. Eating fatty foods right before you go to sleep will also slow down the emptying of the stomach, exacerbating indigestion, and spicy foods can lead to heartburn and indigestion.