For some people, the idea of ‘good nutrition’ is about as clear as muddy water.
Why?
Because truthfully there is A LOT of NOISE about this topic.
The doctors say to eat low fat, low salt, and low cholesterol diets. (meanwhile, they look like the waistline of their trousers are about to burst and their faces are so swollen and red that they look like they are going to explode any second and get doctor slime all over you)
The schools teach the food pyramid.
Your dietician is recommending soy milk and whole-grain bread.
Then you have the flip side…
The groups that go against the conventional grain.
The Weston Price movement that advocates fats, fermented foods, organ meats, butters, and soaked grains.
The Paleo diet – no sugar, no carbs, high protein, high fat.
Vegetarians – No meat (in my experience, many are actually PASTA-tarians)
Vegan – No meat products at all
Raw Foodist – These are people that don’t subject their food to cooking, as cooking destroys enzymes needed for proper digestion.
There’s still Keto, Bulletproof, Fodmap, etc.
Then there are the healthiest groups of traditional societies on the planet:
The Masai tribes in Africa that traditionally eat no vegetables – vegetables are for their animals to eat.
The Eskimo in Alaska – traditionally eating only whale blubber and ocean meats/vegetables.
There are so many different schools of thought around nutrition that it can send your head spinning!
Well, let’s look at a simple example that I think that we can all relate to and we can go from there.
Let’s take a car.
A car needs petrol/fuel/gasoline in its’ tank in order for it to run. That’s how it was designed to work. No petrol, no go.
Say you were in a hurry and short on money…could you put water in the fuel tank and expect the car to run?
No, of course not!
How about a handful of sand? Nope again!
Even though both water and sand both fit into the fuel tank and are both easy and cheap to source, we all know that they are BIG No, No’s!
They will wreak havoc on your car and could eventually or quickly lead to a premature visit to the junkyard.
Your body is exactly the same.
It was designed to be fueled by natural food sources. Food that comes from the earth and is in its closest natural form. Plants, animals, fish, clean water.
If we put anything else into it, then we begin to wreak havoc on our bodies. Our ability to function and maintain health becomes compromised, leading to possible disease and a premature visit to … well, you get the point.
FOOD is defined as “ Any nutritious substance that people eat or drink in order to maintain life and growth.”
Processed foods are NOT in this “nutritious substance” category. These kinds of foods are the havoc-wreaking yuckies that we want to AVOID.
Why?
Because your body was not designed to eat:
things that come out of a box, out of a bag, out of a dispenser, out of a take away window, out of a plastic wrap, out of a plastic tray with a plastic tear away top, out of a foil wrapper, out of a microwave, things that taste like cardboard but look like a food, things that are individually wrapped, things that taste WAY too tasty (you know…that bag of chips that you horke down in a nano-second because they just taste SO good…and kinda make your lips itch afterwards).
But the grocery store is selling these items…they must be food, right?! Certainly if it was bad for us it wouldn’t be on the shelf, right?!
I mean, the entire grocery store is filled with boxes, cans, bags, plastic bottles, jars, etc.
If we took it all out we would probably starve!
Just like the car example, just because the water and sand fit into the fuel tank doesn’t mean that they belong in the fuel tank.
Just because the ‘food item’ is on the grocery shelf, fits into your mouth, tastes good, and is easy and affordable doesn’t mean that it is food.
Edible doesn’t equal food or“maintaining your life and growth”.
Our bodies were designed to eat REAL food.
This is STEP 1 in healthy eating. EAT REAL FOOD.
What you do from this point is up to you.
Everyone is different. There is no ‘one size fit’s all’ when it comes to nutrition.
Can your body thrive as a vegetarian eating no meat and no processed pasta?
Or do you function best with the Paleo diet?
Or maybe you are just like us…we don’t hail any particular ‘diet’.
We are REAL people that eat REAL FOOD.
About 95% of the time we eat REAL FOOD.
No processed foods, no fillers, no artificial ingredients, no preservatives, no crap!
Just eating a diet that is REAL.
Here is a handy list for foods to avoid:
- Prepackaged Foods (is it in a bag, box, wrapper, etc?)
- Processed Foods (how far removed is it from what God has created? Ie corn/corn flakes, wheat/pasta)
- Heat and Eat Foods (frozen foods, frozen “healthy meals”, ramen noodles, soups, beans, etc)
- Microwavable Foods
- Pre-seasoned Foods (meats from the meat dept., food with seasoning/flavor packets)
- Flavored Bikkies, Chips, Sauces, Etc.
- Premixed Sauces that you add to Meat Etc
- Anything Instant (coffee, rice, oatmeal, etc)
- Anything prepackaged with dried fruits (store-bought muesli, granola bars as they usually contain preservative and artificial colors)
- Anything with Artificial Colors
- Anything with Artificial Flavors
- Anything with Preservatives
- Anything with Numbers in the List of Ingredients (in Australia and Europe)
- Anything with a Long List of Ingredients that you can’t Pronounce
- Anything that is Marketed to Children (juices, cereals, yogurts, etc.)
- Anything that is individually packaged (lots of children’s lunch box items, chips, granola bars, flavored tinned tuna, etc)
- Food Made with Vegetable Oils (these are rancid – sunflower, canola, soy, palm, safflower)
- Food Marinated in Vegetable Oils
- White Breads, White Flours, White Rice, White Sugar, Table Salt (best to use Organic Flours as they are not genetically modified and chemical-free)
- Commercially Grown Fruits and Vegetables (organic fruits and veggies contain the most nutrients and are chemical and GMO-free!!)
- Anything with Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein (it is a form of MSG)
- Anything Fried (chips, donuts, chicken, etc)
- Margarine (made with vegetable oils. These are rancid. Best to use real non-salted butter)
- Soft Drinks, Diet Soft Drinks, Energy Drinks, Flavored Milk and Coffee Drinks