Healthy High-Calorie Foods

by Mandy
(Shelby, NC)

Do you mind me asking what "your" specific diet is? Do you have specific foods you eat each day, a specific time, or schedule of when you eat each day?

I am 25 years old. I am between 92-94 pounds. I would like to gain weight. However, all the advice I get is to eat lots of food that I know are very unhealthy for me AND my immune system function.

So, any advice?

I am looking to make a change in my diet, as well as lifestyle overall.... any recommendations or advice would be helpful.

Also, I find that it is so much more expensive to buy healthy foods. What a bummer!

Over the past several years, it seems as though I have gotten sick every 3 weeks or so. NOT FUN at all! I'd like to change my lifestyle of eating & living so this possibly doesn't continue happening.

Thanks,
Mandy


ANSWER


Hi Mandy,

I eat according to the guidelines on my healthy food tips page.

The foundation of my diet consists of:

• organic fruits and vegetables


• grass-fed beef, pastured pork and free-range chicken (from local farmers)


• organic free-range eggs from my own hens


• raw milk from grass-fed cows


• organic full-fat diary products (from grass-fed cows when possible)


• nuts and seeds (organic when possible)

I'm sure you'll notice that most of these foods are not low fat.

Natural fats have been wrongly demonized for far too long. It's all the highly-refined sugars and flours that are causing so many health problems.

Eliminating processed foods from my home was probably the best thing I have done for my health. That lets me avoid harmful ingredients like soy (all except fermented which is fine in moderation), high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors, MSG, and other chemicals that just should not be in food products.

Healthy high-calorie food doesn't need to come in a box anyway. Actually, generally, UNhealthy high-calorie food comes in a box.

If I were you, I would want to be eating whole foods that are not only calorie dense, but nutrient dense.

Foods like nuts, seeds, olives and avocados are very high in calories but chock-full of nutrition.

Dairy would be a great choice too, if you can find organic full-fat products.

Don't be afraid of saturated fats, they are actually quite good for you. It's the vegetable oils that can be harmful (see polyunsaturated fats for why).

Olive oil would be great too, but only if it is unheated (heating these kinds of fat causes rancidity). I use it as part of a homemade salad dressing recipe.

If you need an oil to cook with, buy coconut oil. Or, yes I'm going to say it, use good old-fashioned BUTTER! Those are the only fats I use when cooking. Both are highly saturated and will not turn rancid when exposed to heat.

Don't worry about making drastic changes to your diet all at once. Slow, gradual changes are fine.

And I am not strict about these guidelines. I follow them probably about 80% of the time.

The other 20% is generally when I go out to eat.

You really have very little control over how restaurants prepare food. Stressing over it does no good, so I just enjoy it.

One final note, since you said you get sick every three weeks or so. Have your vitamin D levels checked.

Most Americans are vitamin d deficient and you won't be able to regain your health if your levels are low. You don't even need to go to the doctor if you don't want to, you can order a test online (see vitamin D testing for where to order).

Best regards,

Melissa
Approach Wellness