Eating right hard isn’t it? The best foods are not quite as appetizing or just not readily accessible.

After 40 years of deep research on the best “Diet,” (a term I abhor) and sifting through hundreds of scientific papers, reading all the diet books from Atkins to Zone,  I have compiled these 12 simple rules for exceptional eating.

These rules apply to everyone, particularly those combating cancer.

Beyond dieting, these 12 eating rules should rid your psyche of the old way of thinking (i.e. calorie counting) and adopting a new way of thinking – eating real food.

12 Simple Rules to exceptional eating:

1. Do not eat ANY food with guilt, — bless the food with your mind and ENJOY it!

2. If your grandmother does not or would not recognize the food, it’s probably NOT A FOOD.

3. Spice it up. The health benefits of spices are Mother Nature’s gift to us.  **Learn the “art” of using spices and use them readily.

4. If the food takes a long time to spoil or it doesn’t spoil, it’s not good for you. All good food spoils within a relatively short time.

5. If the ingredients list is more than 4 unpronounceable words, it’s probably chemical junk.      Best foods have just one word as an ingredient, e.g. broccoli

6. Limit sugars, fruit juices and white flour foods as much as Godly possible. Yes fruit juice too.    It’s only marginally better than soda.  Very few exceptions.

7. If eating MEATS, no problem. Just know that meats are “high stress” proteins meaning they can take up to 12 hours to digest. Best to eat earlier in the day and Best if the animal source was eating their natural diet before it ended up on your plate, e.g. Cattle should eat grass not cornor grains. Chickens which are really birds eat worms not corn feed.

8. Drink 6 to 8 glasses of CLEAN water a day. If eating lots of fruits and vegetables, only 4 to 6 cups a day is needed. Tea also counts.

9. Portion control – is OK to leave food on your plate – better not to load the plate to begin with

10. Eat mostly plants, especially greens. They are filled with tons of plant chemicals that are more anti-carcinogenic. Eat from the Organic Only List 

11. Exclude diets of exclusion; low-fat this, low-carb that, diet this, low sugar that. If you are going to have ice cream, have the real thing. See rule #1.

12. Buy foods from LOCAL FARMS or FARMERS MARKETS (even if it’s not labeled organic) first, then health food stores.