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Deanna Minich is an internationally-known nutritionist and author who recently published the book, The Complete Handbook of Quantum Healing: An A-Z Self-Healing Guide for Over 100 Common Ailments. Deanna provides a unique perspective to optimal nutrition and diet for health for a number of reasons. First, Deanna views nutrition as part of a holistic approach to health that also must account for the aspects of food and eating that influence not just the physical body, but the emotions, mind, mood, and spirit. Second, she incorporates her experience with yoga and Eastern traditional medicines into her work on nutrition. Third, she has lived in Europe for four years, spoken extensively to international audiences on nutritional therapies in South Africa, Taiwan, Australia, Mexico, Canada, and Europe, and received her Ph.D. from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, all collective experiences that give her a global view into the best methods for achieving a lean and a healthy body.

Deanna will be speaking at the BioSignature Convention in Las Vegas over Labor Day weekend 2012. She agreed to do an interview to give the Poliquin readership a glimpse at what she intends to cover in her talk, which is titled “Nutrition for the Soul.”

What will you talk about at the BioSignature Convention?
The title of my talk is “Nutrition for the Soul” and my intention is for the audience to be exposed to a different aspect of food than they might normally be aware of—one that is more expansive, and encompasses science and spirituality, the practical and the poetic, as well as the literal and the symbolic. What I have uncovered is that food can go beyond basic nutrition—calories, grams of fat, and levels of micronutrients—and into the realm of catapulting our personal growth.

Consider all the aspects of eating that impact our being—physical, emotional and spiritual. There are the physical aspects that include the nutritional information such as the amount of calories and the macronutrient makeup, but it’s also important to look at how eating affects us on an emotional level. For example, it’s helpful to be aware of how food influences our moods and our thoughts.

Nutrition for the soul is about exploring the experience of food by being mindful about eating. Think of the spirituality of eating and the interconnectedness of food. Take a raisin, for example, and be aware of all that went into growing the grape that became a raisin. There was sun and some clouds and rain, and a grapevine that was tended by a farmer. Then those grapes had to be harvested and dried to become the raisin. I want us to explore the poetry of the raisin and go into food at a deeper level than normal.

Why should people come hear your talk?
I provide a perspective on nutrition that is rooted in science and yet, embraces the experiential aspects of eating. When you look at who I am as a speaker, you see that I have a Master’s degree and a PhD in Nutrition, so you know that I have a strong background in science. To me, science is about the pursuit of truth, and as part of the pursuit, I believe we have to look broadly with curious minds, to find the threads of patterns in the tapestry of life.

On the one hand, you have the scientific constructs that look for truth such as with a placebo-controlled research study. On the other hand, there is the truth of experience. For example, I’ve been doing yoga for more than 20 years and now I teach it, and I have learned that there’s a lot more to truth than what we study in the lab. Truth is a lot more experiential. I like to bring science together with intuitive experience. For example, we know that the human brain seeks pleasure—a pursuit that is intuitive and an experience probably all of us have had. We also know that pleasure can help us absorb the nutrients from our food, which is a more scientific angle.

There’s quote from Michael Pollan, the author of The Botany of Desire and Food Rules, that I like. He says, “The more we know about nutrition, the less healthy we become.”

I have noticed that many people jump from diet to diet. Essentially,  fad diets and diet books may work for awhile, but their effects aren’t long lasting. You can have a nutritious diet that restricts calories and should lead to weight loss, but it doesn’t,. The reason is that people still struggle with certain aspects of food such as the ones that aren’t often talked about like emotional issues, or even the memories we associate with food and eating occasions that imprint our eating behavior. Often, people scratch the surface with a diet, but there are many layers to nutrition and ideal weight management.

So, what is this really about, these deep lifelong struggles with food? I think there’s an insatiable quest for something deeper. I want us to acknowledge that there’s something deeper behind the eating experience that we can tap into. Yes, we need to understand the science behind nutrition, but we need to also account for something more to the food—emotion experience.

One of your recent books is called Chakra Foods for Optimum Health. What do chakras have to do with nutrition and why should a group of health- and fitness-minded professionals be interested in them?
The word,“chakra” is an ancient Sanskrit term to refer to a spinning wheel. Essentially, these ancient East Indian yogis were using the chakra term to denote areas of the body where there was much activity and energy. Looking at the placement of the chakras with Western eyes, we can see that these places just happen to align with the endocrine glands in the body. The chakras have a symbolic association, and through my study of yoga and Ayurvedic medicine, I realized that the seven aspects of the chakras all connect in some way or another to foods and eating. The first chakra is associated with the adrenals, and is about survival and making sure we get the energy to run our bodies through food.

The second site is where the ovaries and bladder reside, a place in the body that is connected to the “water element” or the aspect of flow. Typically, we think of flow as it relates not just to substances moving in and out of the body, but also the emotions. This symbolic center allows us the opportunity to look at how food influences emotions and behavior.

The third chakra resides at the point of the stomach, right underneath the diaphragm, in the center of the body, and aligns with the pancreas. The symbolism of this connection is that it isabout balance and how we transform and assimilate what is in us as much as what is outside of us.

This center is very stressed in many people today. We need to balance our everyday interactions and activity withthe amount of energy we are putting out and taking in, both physically and emotionally. The balance is influenced by the stress we feel, and how we eat and live. For example, if we are always eating on the go or taking in more than we can assimilate in a meal setting, we will have a problem with balance of the third chakra. For example, we might feel indigestion, bloating, or acid reflux, which are all sensations that let us know that we are not digesting or in balance.

The fourth site is a favorite for many people; it is the heart, and the heart is close to the thymus gland, an important gland for immune function. This is the symbolic realm of love and nurturing of self and others. Many times, food is used to show love. For example, moms use food such as making cookies for their kids to show love. For Valentine’s, we go out to dinner and exchange chocolates to show love. Certain foods may help or hinder our hearts, such as green vegetables, which can benefit the cardiovascular system by contributing nutrients like vitamin K, folate, and phytosterols.

The fifth chakra, lodged in the throat, nestled close to the thyroid gland, is a vessel for how we take in food, and what we say. In ancient traditions, it is often associated with truth and authenticity (such as “speaking your truth”). If we apply these symbolic concepts to food, one could say that this center is about searching for truth through food.

Many people are looking for a “true” way to eat. They experiment different eating styles. For example, think about how identity is connected to what we eat. If you are a vegetarian or gluten-free, or a big meat eater, that will probably be a part of your identity, but it is also related to how we maintain integrity and authenticity in our food choices. For years now, people have been talking about “mindful eating” and having awareness of what we eat and how that impacts our energy.

The sixth chakra, or the pituitary gland, which is at the level of the forehead and back into the brain area,represents intuitionand how we let our sense of knowingguide us in making food choices. On a basic level this is about how we shop for food or how we plan our meals.  For example, do you use intuition to guide food choices or do you make a grocery list and follow it?

The seventh site, at the level of the pineal gland, is an important center for our bodies as it relates to creating rhythms based on light. The ancient symbolic meaning of this place is about spirituality, or connection to something or someone greater than ourselves. I like to view it as the place of interconnection with all of life, even as something as little as a shriveled raisin!

In one little raisin you see all the connection that food brings when you think of the sun rays that gave it energy, the moon that shown on the grapes, the soil in which it grew, and the farmer that tended the plant. We have this whole micro and macrocosmic connection every time we eat a complex meal.

What can your work with food and chakras tell as about achieving hormone balance and optimal body composition?
As I mentioned, chakras refer to where the endocrine gland activity is located on the body. They areneuroendocrine pivot points, each symbolizing some aspect of our existence, which I referred to in describing the chakra connection with food.

Additionally, each gland is said to be associated with a vibrational frequency, and this frequency translates into a color. Slower vibrations are linked to the warming colors like red, orange, and yellow, which metaphorically link to the lower chakras that are more “body” focused. The finer, faster vibrations are the cooling colors like green, blue, and purple, all connecting to the chakras of the upper body, or heart, mind and soul.

These colors or vibrations can be associated with food colors. For example, red foods can be high in vitamin C (like cherries, pomegranate, strawberries), giving support to the adrenal center, which needs vitamin C for the production of stress hormones. By fueling these different points with the optimal diet, and being mindful of the emotional component to the food—endocrine connection, it’s possible to become more balanced hormonally.

The endocrine pivot points and their food color are as follows:
1)    Adrenals/testes—red (survival)
2)    Ovaries – orange (creativity)
3)    Pancreas – yellow (balance)
4)    Thymus – green (love)
5)    Thyroid – blue (mindful awareness)
6)    Pituitary- indigo-purple (intuition)
7)    Pineal- white (spiritual interconnectedness)

What is the importance of detoxifying the body?
Today we are not only affected by food and water toxicity but even our thoughts and actions can be toxic. Detoxification is a way of making sure the body is balanced both physically, mentally and emotionally. I suggest that when clients do a physical detox that they also do an emotional detox and keep a journal because lots of feelings of grief and sadness may arise. It’s important to realize detox can be done in multiple ways for better health. In one of my books, Chakra Foods for Optimum Health, I talk about “chakra detoxification,” or taking each of the seven aspects of ourselves and clearing them with nutrition and mental-emotional techniques.

How do approach supplementation of nutrients outside of diet?
It’s essential. The food supply we eat doesn’t typically have the level of nutrients it had when our ancestors were evolving, and we are constantly being exposed to environmental stressors. If our food was more locally grown, had better soil, and had abundant essential nutrients, supplementation might not be so critical.

The reality is that our food is not abundant in these nutrients and we live stressful lives, rapidly burning through the essential nutrients due to stressors. I suggest starting with a probiotic because if you have an unhealthy gut you will have problems with detox and excretion. Plus, if your “gut isn’t right,” chances are you will be off on many levels, including being unable to absorb the nutrients you eat fully.

Many people do well with a probiotic because we have more bugs in our own body than we do healthy cells, and if we can get that into balance, it does wonders for our health. Even though I refer to something as simple as a probiotic, supplementation is much more complex than this and should be guided through a qualified healthcare professional. One of my books, Quantum Supplements, goes into supplementation more in-depth from a holistic approach (physical, emotional, and mental), and of course, aligns to the symbolism of the chakra centers!

How do you coach eating a balance between protein and carbs? Do you suggest high-protein diets?
I try to meet the individual where they are. I don’t believe a high/low view, but it’s about finding the right balance individually. High-protein eating will tend to make an individual feel more “grounded” or present in their bodies, whereas high-carbohydrate diets will cause a depletion of our “balance” center that we discussed earlier. In general, processed grains are often not ideal, especially with high rates of gluten intolerance and immune disorders. When people gravitate to eat more veggies with phytonutrients, they have more success.
Phytonutrients, thousands of which are found in veggies and fruits, are pivotal to our health and well being. Looking at clients’ food diaries, I see a lot of brown and white and yellow foods, I don’t often see a lot of rainbow colors—blue, red, purple, yellow and green—that are needed for all aspects of health.

How do you incorporate physical activity and resistance training into your work?
Physical activity is essential because it’s not just about energy burning and weight loss, but also about circulation and oxygenation in the body. Aging happens when we lose the sense of flow in the body. Often, this lack of fluidity and transport of nutrients happens in the brain, heart, and gut. We need to think of physical activity in relation to the larger concept of keeping energy flowing because this will help slow down the aging process.

Here are some tips I like to give clients to help them maintain the flow of energy during the day:
1)    When you are in the office on a conference call, get five pound weights and stretch bands and work with them while talking. No one will even know you’re doing it!
2)    Try to get up out of your chair and move as much as possible.
3)    Fidgeting is a great way to keep flow going. You can burn a substantial amount of calories just by fidgeting alone!
4)    Use an elevated, mobile desk so you can stand up and sit down while working.
5)    Rather than sending emails, go talk to people face to face. It may be a more fruitful interaction!
6)    When you have to be sedentary, stay hydrated and take regular walks to get water.
7)    Lunchtime is the time that the metabolism is burning brightest. It is the“fire time of the body.” Try to go for a quick walk even just for 15 minutes to get fresh air, especially after you’ve eaten. If you don’t eat too much you can do a moderate walk after eating.
8)    Wear a pedometer and track your steps. Shoot for 10,000 steps a day and take the stairs as often as possible. Park far away in the parking lot so that you have to walk more.

What do you think of the meat and nuts breakfast?
Protein is important in the morning. People often skip breakfast after sleeping and detoxing at night. We need protein to get us going and the amino acids in the protein will help with detoxification processes in the liver.

Actually, I like the idea of a high-protein breakfast and the research on nuts shows moderate amounts of nuts are very good for reducing cardiovascular risk because of all the phytonutrients and good fats they contain.

Do you have any tips to support brain function, nutrition?
I suggest a full programmatic approach and using foods that feed the brain. Here are some tips:
1)    Take curcumin, which is found in the spice, turmeric, because animal studies have shown that it mayhelp to prevent beta amyloid aggregation in the brain.
2)    Eat lots of berries because they provide antioxidants that make their way into parts of the brain that are essential for optimal learning and memory.
3)    The brain is very affected by glycemic index foods. Manage your glycemic index. In fact, there is a new term, “type 3 diabetes,” which refers to a specific condition in which insulin is unregulated in the brain.
4)    Physical activity can also help brain function. A recent study found that individuals who walked one hour per day three days a week increased grey matter in the brain. Without activity, your brain will start to atrophy and neuronal plasticity will decrease.
5)    Shake up your routine and take a different way to work. Stimulate the brain, but also ensure you have moments to balance and rest the brain.

To learn more about Deanna and her work, check out her web site, Food and Spirit.