One of the concepts of the Total Health Makeover® is that eating mostly “wet” foods at a meal will improve your digestion and help you with weight loss. Fill 2/3 of your (9″ or 10″) plate with wet foods, and the other 1/3 with concentrated foods for a healthy meal.

So what are wet foods?

Foods that are high in water content – either naturally, or by the way they were prepared – are “wet.”

• Most fruits are wet foods.
• Many vegetables are wet foods, especially when they’re steamed.
• Some prepared foods, like soup and smoothies, are wet foods.

Okay, so what are concentrated foods?

Foods that have a greater density (remember high school science class? density is basically cramming more molecules in the same space) are harder to break down. We call them “concentrated” foods. There’s nothing wrong with eating concentrated foods – in fact, they offer wonderful nutritional benefits. Just don’t fill up on them. You already know how that makes you feel – it’s basically the traditional Thanksgiving dinner feeling of Too.Much. and It’s.Not.Moving.

• Animal protein is a concentrated food.
• Starches (grains, starchy veggies like potatoes) are concentrated foods.
• Legumes (beans) are concentrated foods.
• Nuts and seeds are concentrated foods.
• Dried fruits are concentrated. You know, because they took out the water.

Remember – 2/3 wet and 1/3 concentrated foods. It’s easy if you serve a green salad and a side or two of veggies with your concentrated food entree. Your digestion will thank you. And so will the scale.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 11:46 am and is filed under Articles - Ten Steps and THM Basics, Detox, Menu suggestions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.