We are pleased to announce a new concept in diet designed to help you to lose weight, stay young, energetic and most importantly -healthy. Rainbow DietÔ is a nutritional breakthrough because it incorporates all the different colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet into the food we eat. Foods with a variety of colors have different healthy nutrients: vitamins, minerals, microelements, antioxidants, etc. We will identify the most useful foods for your condition and create one personalized nutritional plan, which will address not only your weight goals but your health concerns as well.
It is our specialty to provide you with the most comprehensive nutritional plan for the best of your health, excellent weight management and longevity. As soon as after your first session you will have a typed personalized program which will discuss everything you should be eating, how much of it and when. Your plan will be primarily based on our in-house testing, your medical and nutritional history, your food preference, your lifestyle choices and your personality. We are confident that after just one visit you will have a much better idea on how to eat healthy, stay slim, fit, and looking and feeling fabulous. Be assured that we will pay close attention to all of your needs in order to help you achieve wellness and harmony in your life.
See the article "Why Rainbow Diet?" below.
Learn how to:
-get your complete Body Fat Scan analysis
-understand your Metabolic Test results
-get your customized Rainbow DietÔ program
-take high quality supplements to support your health
-achieve your desired weight
-sign up for TSFL Weight Management program
-improve or even reverse your medical condition
-stay away from illness ( build strong immunity)
-exercise productively
-get the latest research and breakthroughs in nutrition
-prepare delicious and healthy meals
-find ways to engage your family in wholesome eating
-train your children to stay away form junk food and eat "rainbow"
-signed up for “the best of supermarket” shopping lessons
-live the concept "aging is not an option"
Why Rainbow Diet?
By Dasha Braverman BS, RPA-C “Let the food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”
Hippocrates (5th century B.C.)
Long before the development of modern pharmacology in the 1800’s the forefather of medicine, Hippocrates coined the creed for contemporary nutritional philosophy, “Let the food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”. Food indeed is in the midst of a medical revolution. Nutrition is being challenged and redefined if not every day then with each diet book that appears on the market every 2-3 months. Today the subject of nutrition is perhaps the hottest one in the country. With new scientific advancements and technologies much of the nutritional information in the medical mainstream has become overly obsolete. Like one of the nutritional gurus points out, “The evidence for nutritional therapy is becoming so strong that if doctors of today don’t become nutritionists, then nutritionists will become the doctors of tomorrow”. On the other hand, the staggering statistics of obesity and degenerative diseases reflect that there is a greater need for change – bearing in mind that these disorders stem from faulty nutrition.
The truth is (and all of you Harvard big shots now know it) that unfortunately western medicine never really paid attention to the importance of nutrition. The result is - our “fast food” addicted nation which increasingly obese, alarmingly malnourished in spite of its bulk, more prone than ever before to diet influence disease such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and many others.
An average person is generally misinformed about the relationship between food and overall health. Ironically, much of the confusion comes from nutritional gurus themselves. A stroll down the wellness aisles of Barnes and Noble or surf on the web will leave the casual observer baffled from contradictory messages. As a result we are a nation of unsuccessful dieters. Here are some true examples.
In the 1980’s Pritikin diet banished animal protein from the American’s table. Simultaneously, and with a greater intensity in the past decade the Atkins diet eliminated fruits, complex and whole grain carbohydrates like brown rice, telling us to stick to bacon, eggs, and cheese steaks in order to get lean and healthy. Later, The Diet for Your Blood Type made us all aware of our blood type but did not make us any thinner or healthier for that matter. To top it all few gurus now recommend juicing as a part of a successful diet, some of them claiming it does not matter what you eat as long as you urinate frequently. And let’s not forget the latest trend which is to eat all the raw foods or what I call a “sushi diet”. I am sure by now you are in panic, and rightfully so. You may wonder why none of these diets work well for us. The answer is very simple – we are all different. Each of us has a unique metabolism, needs, genes, medical histories and health problems. What works for one may not necessarily work for the other. All the above mentioned diets are way too extreme. I suppose moderation in not as easily marketed as something more extreme. Would like to read specific criticism? No problem.
With Pritikin diet it is very easy – most of us need animal protein to stay healthy, not only for its high levels of iron and vitamin B-12 but also for essential amino acids like tyrosine which boosts energy levels as it triggers neurotransmitters including adrenaline and dopamine. My mother always said you need a degree in nutrition before you can be vegetarian. And she was right. I see so many vegetarians who are not even close to eating properly. In fact often, they are tired, have weak bones and yes – are overweight.
As per Dr. Atkins diet, eating high on protein without the complex carbohydrates can tax the organs with waste elimination, especially kidneys. As a matter of fact, if one has poor controlled diabetes, then being on this diet could really compromise its kidneys functions. In parallel sense the animal protein residue (or animal fat) can accumulate in the arteries and threaten heart health even though a meaty low carb diet may indeed strip away excess pounds and thus make a person appear thin and fit.
There are other diets like eating raw food which by the way can leave you with some surprising visitors called parasites or Weight Watchers that virtually lets you eat any junk food you want as long as you control your portion size. We can go on and analyze many more but we will spare your time.
So to carb or not to carb? I say it is time to pay your respects to customized nutrition. Fortunately, this is exactly what we do. Did you know that the most harmless substance could be dangerous to your health? Someone famous said it is the dose (not the substance) that makes the poison. And this is absolutely true. For example, we have all bought into the “8 glasses a day” credo which by the way is brilliant marketing on the part of the water companies, but not such a great idea for individual experiencing adrenal exhaustion which is often a result of extended period of stress. Constant flooding your body with water can flush out vital minerals out of the body. This includes disrupting the activity of sodium/potassium pump in the stomach. Loss of Potassium can lead to heart arrhythmia and most extreme cases even to cardiac arrest (usually coo morbid factors do exist). Customized nutrition however, can ease your fears because you will know how much water to drink and when. Your personalized nutritional plan will pay close attention to maintaining your mineral balance and this is just a tip of an iceberg. What about your restaurant portions which are almost always double what you really need. Not to mention that they are often way too salty and/or too greasy. And how about when you should be dining (keep in mind most of us get it wrong and overwhelm their digestive system that results in acid reflux. What type of food you should be eating based on what type of person you are (i.e. too calm or too anxious)? Are your headaches related to your food choices? How many calories you should be eating if you an athlete verses if you are a stay-at-home mom? … All of these questions could only be answered with a customized plan, not Atkins, Pritikin, Weight Watchers or any other extreme diet. Still not convinced that customized nutrition is the answer? Just take a stroll down the cereal aisle in your grocery store and you will be bombarded with all kinds of health claims “lowers cholesterol”, “part of a healthy breakfast”, “helps lose weight”, etc. It almost seems like one needs a master degree in nutrition to pick the right cereal. So what is the right customized approach to healthy nutrition? We call it the Rainbow Diet.
Rainbow Diet is a nutritional breakthrough because it incorporates all the different colors of the Rainbow into the food we eat. Why we called it such? First of all, rainbow itself is a natural phenomenon and we wanted to emphasize foods that are natural (i.e. not processed, without additives or preservatives, etc). Also, it has a full color spectrum. According to the latest literature, it is essential to choose food with variety of minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, bioflavonoids and other nutrients. Another trick is there is no white color in the rainbow which represents all the white flour, salt, sugar, butter, etc we should avoid. Rainbow concept makes it easy to remember not to eat the “white junk” which is the most significant concept of this diet. Just as example, let’s see what really happens when we consume white food. The predominant element nutrient that makes up most of the simple carbohydrates is white refined sugar. When ingested, simple carbohydrates rapidly raise blood sugar and insulin levels and then get rapidly absorbed by small intestine into the bloodstream. Due to high blood sugar levels the brain signals the pancreas to secrete large amount of insulin to take care of the situation. High insulin causes severe cravings for the same type of extreme food. Sugar also causes rapid elevation in Serotonin (brain chemical), which is responsible for lightness and elevations in the mood, followed by a rapid fall. When serotonin levels fall we experience low moments. Ever wondered why you crave ice cream or a cake when you are feeling down? Well, now you know. As a Serotonin levels fall, Dopamine (another brain chemical responsible for brain energy) levels remain unchanged and high compare to serotonin, which creates feelings of anxiety, stress, physical tension and emotional distress, which is associated with hypoglycemia. Now, we have to calm down and so we eat more carbs or sugar thus entering a vicious circle over and over again. Consequently, the person never experience deep satisfaction. Eating simple carbohydrates has extreme effect on the body and mind; it tosses us around from one extreme emotion to the next. And with dessert it is even worse. Most of deserts contain fat (cream or chocolate, etc) which also have to be metabolized. Now you have high blood sugar, high insulin and high fat. Usually you burn 50% sugar, 50% fat, but when glucose and insulin levels both are high, the body decides to burn only sugar to protect itself against elevated blood glucose levels. Instead of burning fat, the body stores all that fat! The overall effect of desert is weight gain, low energy and feeling of tension.
Now, let’s see what happens when we consume complex carbohydrates, say a bowl of whole grain cereal. Whole grain is a complex food, meaning it is composed of long chains of sugar and bound within the food’s fiber. The sugars inside complex carbohydrates have to be broken free from both their chains and the fiber before entering the bloodstream. The breaking starts thorough chewing by the enzyme in saliva knowing as amylase. In order for those sugars to be absorbed and utilize by the body, they must be broken down inside your intestine and freed from the fiber. All this takes time and efforts. Absorption of these sugars is slow and methodical. The sugars are broken free and taken by bloodstream over the course of many hours, which is why complex carbohydrates provide long-lasting energy. Also whole grains are rich in amino acid called tryptophan, which increases your brain serotonin. The long-lasting presence of serotonin provides us with a sense of well-being, optimism and balance.
Hopefully, by now you can see how the Rainbow Diet is the balanced diet. Not only it advises us against simple carbs and promotes whole grains, and it also promotes variety. And by eating variety one is less likely to be deficient in essential nutrients because again you are eating all the different fruits, vegetables, spices and herbs. Rainbow Diet is a true balanced diet. We apply rainbow concept to fruits vegetables, proteins, spices, grains, herbs, etc. Here are few examples. Vegetables include root, round, leafy and green vegetables that are all different colors. They are abundant in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, bioflavonoids and phytochemicals. Complex carbohydrates are whole wheat grains, millet, brown rice, barley, oats, quinoa, buckwheat and others. They are all absorbed slowly by the body, thus keeping glucose and insulin low and provide long-lasting energy. Their mechanism of absorption gives a unique ability to prevent the steep decline in blood sugar levels that gives rise to hypoglycemia and its characteristics symptoms, such as fatigue, mood swings, and food cravings. When you are in a balanced state, you more likely to make choices that sustain balance. And this is what Rainbow Diet is all about. It creates long, gentle rises and falls in blood sugar. This diet is rich in fiber, which makes digestion easy and regular. Finally, varieties of lean protein source pack this diet with essential amino acids, omega 3 oils, iron and vitamin B-12 that are all necessary to stay healthy. Rainbow diet promotes weight loss, without hunger, cravings, or feelings of being out of control.
Although rainbow diet is a customized diet, there are some simple guidelines. Each meal should be approximately 80% plant based and no more than 20% animal based. Your plate should look like a rainbow with lots of colors on it. Eat foods that were available 1000 years ago. Unfortunately, in today's toxic society, we are exposed to a large number of oxidizing, carcinogenic and allergenic compounds daily. The good news is that you can easily do something on a daily basis to protect yourself from their negative effects. A diet high in colorful fruits and vegetables has been shown to provide many benefits for your immune system and help fight cancer, allergies and free radicals which can wreak havoc on your cells and tissues. The most important principle is to eat a wide variety of fresh, colorful fruits and vegetables daily with variety of lean protein sources. Regular consumption of these foods can lower your risk of developing many diseases that plague current-day society. The Cancer Treatment Centers of America use the rainbow type diet as the foundation of treatment for their cancer patients and find that it is an integral part in the healing process. In science, a so - called volumetric diet is almost identical to the basic principles of the Rainbow Diet. Here is a brief run down of the different colors and their health benefits:
Reds, Blues and Purples- Blueberries, blackberries, cherries, red and purple grapes, beets and purple cabbage all contain antioxidant compounds that protect your body from the damaging effects of free radicals. The pigments that give color to these foods most specifically protect your blood vessels, cartilage, tendons and ligaments from damage. It is presently thought that consuming these pigments regularly reduces the likelihood of cancer by preventing tissue degeneration that sometimes follows chronic irritation such as smoking or chronic inflammatory disorders. Tomatoes and watermelon have lycopenes that are proven to prevent heart disease and prostate cancer. Red snapper is a great fish – a good source of omega 3 fatty acids. And let’s not forget about red meat packed with essential amino acids that are used throughout our body. Red teas include red zinger, cinnamon, raspberry and others. Red spices are Chile pepper which is known to reduce
appetite, and paprika. Chew on some purple fox glove and receive some digitalis for rapid heart beat. Cayenne pepper can reduce heart burn and passion flower tea promotes relaxation.
Yellows and Oranges- these fruits and vegetables are high in carotenoids which have anti-cancer and anti-oxidant properties. Carotenoids lead to an increase in the number of white blood cells circulating throughout the bloodstream having basically the same effects as the well known immune booster Echinacea. Try to eat at least 2-3 different orange or yellow foods daily. Orange foods like carrots or pumpkin are high in beta carotene and vitamin A. They are also abundant in keratolytic enzymes and offer more than 100 beneficial components for healthy skin of any age. Wild salmon is know for its high fish oil content; omega 3 fatty acids that prevent and fight heart disease, headaches, skin aging, etc. Spices include turmeric, which possesses tremendous anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. This herb used for wound healing, digestive aid, liver protection and heart tonic. Turmeric is sought of protecting against Alzheimer’s disease. Cinnamon is excellent for sugar control as well as stomach ulcer and gum disease prevention. Orange teas are apricot, peach, and tangerine. Yellow foods (citrus family) are full of vitamin C and selenium which are potent antioxidants. Honey, in addition to its antioxidant properties inhibits bacterial growth of wound infecting bacteria. Yellow species are amongst the most healing ones: cumin is used for enhanced digestion, ginger often used for nausea. Yellow teas are lemon peel, eucalyptus, ginger tea.
Greens - Chlorophyll present in all green plants has anti-cancer and detoxifying properties. As far as quantity goes, the more greens you eat- the better. It is recommended to eat at least one serving daily of green leafy vegetables, as they contain many health promoting constituents. In addition to chlorophyll, green leaves are high in carotenoids, bioflavinoids, vitamins and organic mineral complexes. Green leafy vegetables are high in vitamin B-12 and iron. Avocado is high in magnesium and has friendly oils. Green grapes have anti viral properties while 2-3 kiwis a day can replace aspirin for some people as it reduces clotting and lowers artery blocking fat in the blood. Green spices are countless from basil to tarragon to dill, which has been used traditionally as a remedy for cancer, estrogen deficiency and intestinal gas. Dill contains various photochemical that fight infection, bacteria and insects, etc. Green teas are full of antioxidants that protect us from whole array of illnesses. Other green teas include jasmine, mint tea, chamomile.
As you can see Hippocrates was correct in saying that food can be our medicine. You may wonder why no one has thought of this idea since then. This answer we can only speculate about... But the good news we now have Rainbow Diet.
