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Welcome to first world problems! Everyone has an idea about what the perfect diet should look like. For most of us we no longer have to eat seasonally. We can eliminate entire food groups and find replacements for those groups. Today you can completely tailor your eating to your ideology. Of course, everyone believes that their way of eating is the best. They are adamant that they have the best diet and they will berate you online if you disagree with them.
Social media reminds me that humanity is bored and we need real hobbies rather than arguing with strangers on the internet. Are the vegans and carnivores lying about their health experiences? What about the doctors who advise the keto diet and those who advocate for the mediterranean diet? Is everyone insane? How can all of these different ways of eating work for different people?
Something All Diets Agree On
The thing almost any diet agrees with is the removal of fast food, processed food, and too many sweets. When you’re out and about what food is easiest to obtain: fast food, processed food, and an overabundance of sugar. If you’re not paying attention these 3 things can easily make up the majority of your diet. Since most eating strategies omit these things it’s no surprise that people see a health improvement when they eliminate them. As a health coach I have nothing beneficial to say about these things in terms of health. My #1 advice is to avoid them as much as possible.
Excess sugar breaks down the connective tissue collagen which is the supporting structure for all of the body’s tissues. Over time excess sugar consumption typically leads to Type 2 diabetes. People with Type 2 diabetes are at higher risk for hear disease, liver disease, kidney disease, glaucoma, Alzheimers, dementia, cancer, and neuropathy.
The vegetable oils found in fast food and processed food are inflammatory and according to Dr. Cate Shanahan, author of Deep Nutrition, they damage your DNA. Vegetable oils, polyunsaturated fats, are oils made from corn, soy, canola, cottonseed, sunflower, and safflower.
For the average person it may seem impossible to avoid these things. Let’s face it, they’re cheap, easy to find, and they’ve been engineered to taste good. The problem is that a diet filled with these things more often than not leads to chronic disease. It makes me wish that the cheap prices included future health care costs. “If you eat this odds are your future doctor bills will address one of the following: diabetes, heart disease, liver disease, alzheimers, dementia, autoimmunity, cancer, accelerated aging, and more”…..really, no one is talking about the health benefits of junk food. It simply makes sense that when they are eliminated a person will feel an improvement.
What Should You Eat?
Do I think it’s possible to improve your well-being beyond what you’ll get from removing junk food? Absolutely!
Tailoring an eating strategy that’s perfect for you depends on your genetics and your current state of health circumstances. Almost everyone agrees that real food is the best thing you can eat for your health. I say almost everyone because fake meat, vegan meat & some conventional sausages, is too processed to be healthy for anyone.
You should eat real food. Food without boxes, bags, or ingredient labels.
Should you eat more plants or more meat? Is a high fat diet right for you? Should you eat high protein? How many carbs should you eat in a day? This would become an impossibly long blog post if I gave scenarios for every person out there. You can check out some of my other articles to help get you started: Paleo For Beginners, Is Your Diet Making You Fat, and 6 Simple Steps.
This is why I tailor my coaching to your specific needs. I’ll ask you a lot of questions about your current health and where you want to go. Things like your level of insulin sensitivity, previous diet and exercise history, genetics, leaky gut, and countless other things all play a role in determining what the perfect diet is for you.
Is It Right For You?
The biggest mistake we make in the modern world is our government sets ONE dietary guideline for everyone. We are all individuals with different backgrounds and health conditions. To say that what works for one person must be 100% copied for everyone else is ludicrous.
I control rheumatoid arthritis with food choices. Chocolate and white potatoes are two of my worst offenders. Does that mean that I tell absolutely everyone with joint pain to avoid those things? Nope. I may float it out there as something to pay attention to if the basics aren’t getting it done for them.
If your current eating strategy doesn’t leave you feeling your best everyday then odds are it’s not the right strategy for you. What really fires me up are the physicians who tell their patients that food doesn’t matter. They tell you it’s your genetics, your family history, and therefore you can’t do anything about it.
What I Know For Sure:
There are branches of science called epigenetics and nutrigenomics that tell us how much food matters. You can turn your genes on or off with food, lifestyle, and exercise choices. Think about it, every cellular process in your body needs nutrients. Where do those nutrients come from? They come from the things you put in your body. They can also be hindered by the things you put in and on your body.
No matter where you fall on the plant / animal spectrum simply eating real, unprocessed, whole foods can have a dramatic effect on your overall health.
I’m curious. Leave a comment below and tell me how you’re eating and if you think it’s working for you and why.
Originally posted on March 23, 2019 @ 16:12
