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Original Article By Ed Bauman, M.Ed., Ph.D.
Using a Diet Direction Effectively
The key to successfully applying a diet direction is to build the food plan on top quality whole foods. Food quality is diminished in most restaurants and with most packaged food items. Fresh is always best.
One’s diet direction is a reminder to eat more of certain kinds of foods, such as nuts and seeds in a Building diet, and less of other foods, such as bread products in a Cleansing diet. Having an intention to eat well helps a person decide what to eat and what to pass up. Cookies, candy, ice cream, sodas, and foods with artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives are best left on the shelves, no matter one’s diet direction.
As individuals make more conscious food choices, they are more in touch with how certain combinations of foods feel to them. At certain times of the day, when hunger hits and hits quickly, such a person knows what foods to keep on hand to satisfy hunger while at the same time providing nourishing energy. Almonds with raisins are more nourishing than a Milky Way® candy bar, and the energy that is produced clears the brain and mobilizes the body into action.
Eating for Health is a skill that is learned with the support of a food coach who can serve as a mentor and resource. Replacing depleting foods in the diet with health-promoting ones is a gradual process, but one new food per week will increase a person’s repertoire by four foods per month, or 48 foods per year.
What about parties or a food craving that just won’t quit? It is fine to socialize occasionally with special food and drink. It is what we consume habitually that makes or breaks our health. The key is to not be too hungry or tired before a big occasion, or else overeating and excessive drinking may prevail.
Proper food choices provide a strong nutritional foundation for life; help protect us from the health challenges we encounter, and allow us to live up to our potential as dynamic, creative human beings.
Bauman College Diet Direction
Composition (as % of Calories)
DIET |
BUILDING |
BALANCING |
CLEANSING |
| CARBOHYDRATES | 20–40% | 30–60% | 60–80% |
| PROTEINS | 15–35% | 10–30% | 10–20% |
| FATS | 45–60% | 20–45% | 10–20% |
|
PROTEINS |
4–6 servings daily | 2–4 servings daily | 1–3 servings daily |
| NUTS AND SEEDS | 4–6 Tbs | 2–3 Tbs | 1–2 Tbs (seeds, only) |
|
BOOSTERS |
5–7 times/week | 5–7 times/week | 5–7 times/week |
|
FRUITS |
2–3 servings daily low-sugar fruits |
2–4 servings daily | 4–5 servings daily |
|
NON-STARCHY VEGETABLES |
Unlimited but at least |
Unlimited but at least |
Unlimited but at least |
|
STARCHY VEGETABLES |
1–2 servings daily | 1–2 servings daily | 0–1 servings daily |
|
WHOLE GRAINS |
1–3 servings daily | 3–4 servings daily | 1–3 servings daily |
|
FLUIDS |
4–8 cups daily* |
4–8 cups daily |
4–8 cups daily |
*Amount of water required will vary according to water content of foods and how many other beverages are consumed.
Bauman College Diet Direction: Characteristics
BUILDING |
BALANCING |
CLEANSING |
DRAINING |
| Warming | Warming | Cooling | Stagnating to clogging |
| Concentrated | Neutral | Dilute | Concentrated |
| Stabilizing — Grounding | Comforting — Stabilizing | Ungrounding | Mood/energy swings |
| Slower to digest | Moderate digestion | Quick to digest | Slow to digest |
| Longer lasting energy | Longer lasting energy | Quick energy | Energy depleting |
| Congesting if overdone | Neutral to decongesting | Decongesting |
Congesting |
| Alkaline-forming w/lots of greens |
Alkaline-forming w/lots of greens |
Alkaline-forming | Acid-forming |
| Wild or organic fish Organic or pastured meat & poultry Non-meat proteins:
Limited whole grains; mainly |
Wild or organic fish
Whole grains (nongluten) |
Seeds & their milks |
Commercial vegetable |
