How the 80/20 Rule is Essential to Your Diet Too

Did you overeat during this holiday season? Perhaps you are feeling the effects of too much rich food and need an easy reminder to help you make better food choices?

It’s not uncommon to feel digestive discomfort like abdominal pain, heartburn, bloating, gas and constipation after all the holiday feasting that — let’s face it — is tough to avoid. Often, the trick to getting back on track is having a plan. The 80/20 rule provides just what you need – a guideline for bouncing back from holiday indulgence and an overall roadmap for health and wellbeing.

What is the 80/20 Rule?

You may be familiar with the 80/20 rule in business and management as a guideline for how to work smart. In a similar fashion, the 80/20 rule in Body Ecology is a guideline for how to eat smart.

The easy-to-remember 80/20 principle is one of 7 healthy eating principles that set Body Ecology apart from any other program in the world.

Body Ecology uses the 80/20 rule as a guideline for quantity, quality and balance of acid/alkaline, which are outlined below.

The 80/20 Rule and QUANTITY

You know how you feel when you overeat: stuffed, bloated, and uncomfortable. Maybe you even have some indigestion. No doubt about it, overeating severely weakens your digestive system and makes it difficult for your body to process the food you need for energy.

Instead of stuffing yourself, give your stomach room to digest your food by only filling it to 80% of capacity. Leave your stomach 20% empty to help your body digest.
Listen to your body and eat slowly so that you can notice when you feel full. Keep 20% of your stomach empty, and you’ll feel better after each meal instead of worse. Your body will thank you!

The 80/20 Rule and QUALITY

So what kind of food should you eat to fill your stomach 80% full?

There has been so much written about high protein, low carb diets that it can be difficult to decipher how to plan your meals. The Body Ecology system of health and healing uses the 80/20 principle as a guideline for planning your meals for maximum nutrition and healthy digestion.

For optimal health, meals should consist of 80% land and ocean vegetables and 20% should be either a protein OR a grain. Grains and proteins should not be combined in the same meal. For more, read about the principle of food combining in the article: A Review of the 7 Key Healthy Eating Principles.

This will ensure that your body gets the vitamins, minerals and fiber it needs without the strain of trying to digest too much protein or starch.

The 80/20 Rule and ACID/ALKALINE

To maintain health, your blood must be slightly alkaline. The foods we eat and the lifestyle choices we make impact our body’s ability to maintain that alkaline state.

Foods can be alkaline, acidic or neutral in your body. Your goal would be to have a balance of alkaline and acidic foods so that you can maintain the alkaline state of your blood. If you get out of balance and your blood becomes too acidic, you become more susceptible to illness and disease.

To maintain the alkaline balance of your blood, your meals should be made up of 80% alkaline-forming foods, like vegetables, with 20% acid-forming foods, like meat.

For a comprehensive outline of foods that are acid, alkaline and neutral, read The Body Ecology Diet.

The 80/20 Rule in Practice

• Eat slowly and chew your food well to help digestion.
• Stop eating when you’re satisfied and become familiar with the feeling of 80% full.
• Look at your plate before you eat: see if land and ocean vegetables take up 80% of the space. If not, subtract some starches or protein and add more vegetables!
• Eat plenty of vegetables and other alkaline-forming foods whenever you eat acid-forming foods like meat.
• Learn which foods are more acid or more alkaline so that you can choose balanced meals whereever you are.
  For more on balance and other Body Ecology principles, read An Overview of the 7 Key Healthy Eating Principles.