Eating “healthy” is complicated, hard and confusing. These are phrases as a health coach I hear every day. Let’s tackle that nut (no pun intended) in this post.
What specifically is hard?
- You don’t like to cook
- Have time constraints
- Picky eaters in your house
- Budget restrictions
What’s complicated or confusing?
- Lots of varying voices on nutrition
- Following a plan but gaining weight or feeling poorly
- Family history of certain chronic aliments
- Media headlines are confusing
You might subscribe to one or more of the above characteristics.
Next Questions
- Is your health more important to you than any of the above concerns?
- How ready and willing are YOU to make a change?
If you answer yes even to just one of the two above questions keep reading.
To make things as simple as possible, whatever nutritional path you choose, if it primarily contains real food you’re winning. What does that mean?
Means you avoid all things in a box, package or prepared with a long list of ingredients and processes involved before it gets to your table. Every added ingredient and every added process takes you a step further away from being in control of your health.
Control your food control your health
Across the board it is clear sugar and refined carbohydrates are particularly deleterious. That’s easy to comprehend. Cookies, cakes, ice cream, soda, sports drinks, smoothies and more.
However, think off all the take-out food, such as sandwiches, salads, burritos, bagels, pizza, fried chicken wings, French fries, and Poke bowls. Then add in jars of processed sauces for pasta, salad dressings and pre-packaged store meals and or frozen dinners.
While those items might be “quick” to put in your basket their negative impact on your health lasts much longer. The potential for added sugars, toxic vegetable oils and additives are a far cry from real food. In essence then your food-like product choices are a bigger priority than your health.
Certainly, during and since the lockdowns people are eating out more frequently and utilizing take-out at an unprecedented rate. The fact of the matter is it is very hard to control your food (read health) when it is in the hands of a restaurant or packaged food company. Especially when trying to avoid vegetable/seed oils.
Highly recommended reading further from Chris Kresser, Dr. Cate Shanahan, Tucker Goodrich, MD, and Dr. Michael Eades on the negative health impact from PUFA’s. (Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids aka Processed Vegetable/Seed Oils)
OK, so what can I eat. REAL FOOD.
Real = true, actual, not artificial
Food = any substance taken into and assimilated by a plant or animal to keep it alive, enable it to grow and repair tissue
That differs from FOOD-LIKE substances.
Food-like = resembling food
Substances = a particular kind of matter with uniform properties
Eating whole foods (animals or plants) or foods in their most natural state (fruits, vegetables, butter, cheese, nuts, seeds). Real food does not come with directions, long list of ingredients, chemically manipulated, industrially altered and or in combination with some type of direct process, think fortified or low-fat products (the fat extracted while sugars and additives inserted).
Again, back to the question is your health a priority and are you willing to change. One very big step you can do today is start controlling your food sources. This means you are NOT outsourcing your health to a food company or corporation, who may NOT have your best health interest in mind.
Dr. Robert Lustig, Endocrinologist, Professor Emeritus, and all-around brilliant leader in health who dares to speak out against the deleterious impact of sugar and refined carbohydrates. He has named Type 2 Diabetes a “Processed Food Disease.” A most eye-opening interview here. Another shorter interview more recently with Dr. Lustig and Dr. Bret Sher, cardiologist at the Metabolic Health Symposium is here.
“Nutrition science is from ground to mouth. Nutrition is from mouth to cell. Metabolic Health is inside the cell.”
Dr. Robert Lustig
When you take control of your food, you are in essence powering up your cells. Giving your body a really good chance for energy, vibrancy and high performance. (See post on Food as Performance) Nutrition doesn’t need to be complicated, we can make it simpler. Make it real and return to cooking the majority of your meals.
A word on budget and time constraints
If operating on a strict budge it takes more planning. Organic is not in everyone’s pocketbook, do the best you can and enjoy whole foods. Winning is cooking and eating your own food. Back to the principle if you want to control your health that means take charge of your food. (See interview on Boundless Body Radio on Personal Investment)
Taking a step back to say fast food might be “cheaper” today but, will cost me more in my health in the long run. (Although some will argue a homemade stew might last longer and be less expensive because you get several meals out of it than one family McDonald’s dinner)
On time, in the end it is really about planning. Getting all your household to participate in the meal selection, preparation, cooking and cleaning to get real food on the table. There is no magic bullet or magic wand to make meals. Planning lowers the stress, raises the enjoyment and gives you power over your wellbeing.
Utilizing batch cooking (make big dishes that last longer), plan the week out to use overlapping ingredients, make easier dishes on days that are hectic, delegate tasks to other members of the household, share recipes with friends to stay motivated and most important stay focused on your health.
Final Note
Prior to 1977 when the first US dietary guidelines were issued. The government or anyone else was NOT involved in telling people what to eat. Make it simpler go back to using common sense with a focus on real meals that nourish, provide sustainability, and promote good metabolic health. (See post Metabolic 101)
Highly recommend reading or viewing the work of Nina Teicholz and how the guidelines have impacted health, here’s a video to get started.
Fall season is a fabulous time of the year to reboot and restore with real food.
