Food, food, food. Feeling good, or feeling less than good? Or, just plain feeling like crap?
No, do not click away from this post. Please. Stay right where you are, and at least read me out. It's been a long time since I've ranted. I have been on best behavior, so humor me.
Oh, how I have been struggling as to whether I should write this post, or not. I receive e-mails with questions, and comments quite often. For those that do not know of my consulting practice, I do have one. Do questions irritate me? Of course not. It is my job to answer them, and many are hungry for truthful information. What can irk me a little are the comments comparing nutrition to hocus-pocus or alternative therapies, with the side-comments of, "Oh, you are THAT type of practitioner". Excuse me, but which type do people mean? I don't know. Perhaps I should start a question/answer column on this blog.
I do like to refer people back to biology, chemistry, and physiology, for those of you that have studied that particular subject. What do people really believe their bodies run on? Where do they think their energy to move about comes from? What keeps their immune system fighting internal terrorism, and products that come from ordinary metabolism, as a result of eating?
I sometimes wonder how people think, yet I do know that the public is daily bombarded with incorrect information. So, in regards to that, I do empathize with the confusion. If the media yells out a correlation between a single chemical toxin and cancer, people are on it like a hot potato, and even though it does not quite work like that. Yes, and despite the fact that people tend to be skeptical to whatever else the media yells at them.
Am I a health nut? No. Actually, I am not particularly fond of nuts, even though I know that they are good for me. Am I fanatical about nutrition? No. If I were a fanatic, then the mainstream public would never listen to me. Do I have goodies in my cupboard? Yes. Is there wine in my buffet? Yes. Is shooting for immortality the goal of my nutritional advice? No. I'll leave that to the fanatics.
I do not believe that people should get all wound up, and worried about their occasional goodies. What we eat between Christmas and New Years is not the problem. The little extras in the weekends, are not the problem. The base-diet is important to consider. Making the base-diet a little more quality-based is the clue. As long as we spend hard-earned cash on eatables, why not get something in return for that money?
On a side note, I also see people killing themselves on single-nutrient fad diets, and for the sake of losing those extra pounds. High-protein diets were once "in". Women died from this diet. The latest fad over here in the US is the South Beach Diet. Oh, don't even get me started on that one. With a little correct information people would learn that just by trading out some of their current fats for more quality fat, this actually reduces those extra pounds around the midriff. You can read my post entitled, Love Your Fat!
So, what do I promote? Balance, and wellness. Aches, pain, mood-swings, irritability, exhaustion, lethargy, depression, etc. are not "feel-goods" folks! Why would we want to be experiencing this as the daily general rule of thumb? Go figure. We may as well feel good as long as we are here on this planet. Actually being able to enjoy one's retirement years is also a good reason. It is never too late to feel better.
However, and it is a whopping, "however". I will be brutally honest. Do I care and chase after those that show themselves little regard? No. There is no purpose in doing so. Adults willingly decide how they choose to treat themselves. For the most part, anyhow. Newfound knowledge will sometimes change their decisions. Knowledge is good. I do care very much about the children out there. Even if adults run themselves into a ditch, they should reconsider dragging their children down with them in the process. Children should be a motivating factor to seek additional knowledge.
I have been asked to recommend ONE book. Which book do I feel correctly reveals the myths and facts about your body, nutrition, and consequently your health? Which one would I choose? Simple. I would choose, The China Study. This one book, in my opinion, provides a foundation of knowledge that empowers and enables the ability to weed out faulty and incomplete information being served on a silver platter, each and every single day. I would go as far as to claim that you need not ever read another book about these subjects upon finishing, The China Study.
An impeccably designed study by a scientific researcher with decades of experience, ethically funded, and detailed down to the last "t" being crossed, The China Study, is known as the most comprehensive study of health and nutrition ever conducted. Now retired, Dr. T. Colin Campbell has been a truth-seeker for over forty years. This is far from a boring read. It is engaging, comprehensible, fascinating, and startling.
I will now step down from my soapbox. I have placed this book in my Amazon widget to the right, so that you can all read the reviews, and take a look at it. I have the foundation of knowledge, and more than just a tad bit experience under the belt, which enables me to recognize rotten apples when I find them. It's my job to use this foundation in helping others to discover truth, which again helps them to achieve greater independence.
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13 brilliant comments:
What doesn't help are TV shows. The shows in the States are filled with fit looking attractive people and there seems to always be the token fat person... who compared to the rest is huge.
In England the TV Shows are not as bad. But we get a lot of US TV. And these "stars" do diets that are just not fit for your worst enemy.
I have also found as I have gotten older that when I was younger, it is all about the body I had. Now? I am not that fussed. Could I lose a few KG's? Oh hell yeah. But I enjoy the life I have. When I decide it is desperate times, I will do something about it. People who live their life for how their body looks like should without a shadow of a doubt read that book.
Ah, Sy. I agree about the body images being presented by the media.
But, this book is for me, it is for you. It is for everyone. It is about our basic health, and the fundamentals in taking care of it. We tend to feel alright in our teens, twenties, and thirties. Yet, as we age, we sometimes wish that we had been a little nicer to ourselves. So, it's not about the extra few kilos. It's about future chronic pain, and illness. Those nasty things that throw a pooper on our life-party, and can end up constraining us the last couple of decades that we live.
I write that not to create fear, because it is also about feeling better now. Having more energy, more stable moods, etc.
That is true, but on the other side of that, I have always been for the here and now, and not in 30 years time type of guy (which means I am soooo doomed in a few years time!). To know that when I was young enough to be active (and stupid!) that I did that. One of the problems with getting older is that you cannot really do a quarter which you can as a child/young adult.
The one given in life are things like Cancer. The healthiest of healthy people get it. That is the one problem with life. You just never know what is going to come next. A bus mounts the kerb, or you choke on a nice piece of steak etc
It is absolutely 100% true that I could look after myself better then I do now and have the fun I have now though. And sometimes it takes a big kick up the behind to realise that.
Although my mood swings...had them since I was a kid. Man am I ever moody!
I do think, Sy, that we grew up in a time when average healthy nutrition was more of the norm. So, this gives us a slight advantage where the future is concerned. At least it tips the odds a fraction. Living with daily pain is NO fun.
I am mostly worried about the kids. Scientists are pretty sure that the younger generation today in the US will be the first generation to NOT outlive their parents. Which means a bad hit to the gene pool, in some respects.
Take the example of diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is usually the type we acquire in our elderly years. I have never seen a young patient with this type in all my years as a Nurse (over in Norway). The numbers of children with this type in the US per today is staggering. This of course, sets them up for disabling and painful illness in their not so distant future. There are kids over here that are having to check their cholesterol, and that are on blood-pressure meds. It is disturbing to say the least.
That is true. We did grow up in a very different generation to now. It is scary to think that there is a whole that big in the gene pool that a generation could end up getting wiped out though. But unfortunately, all the time the fast food people are in bed with the legislators, there will be no change at all. Wasn't it the McD's salad that had more calories in it then the burger?
It wouldn't surprise me. It is so nasty! Even worse are the gains made by the pharmaceutical companies. It would be a dangerous thing you know, if people were actually informed about their health.
A very interesting post, and also points raised by you both in the comments. I agree with everything that's been said, even though that sounds naff.
I do believe in living for today, that's very much my philosophy in life for many reasons, and I'd rather enjoy myself and eat what I want as opposed to being fit and earning an additional three years on my longevity, spent in an alzheimers clinic or geriatric ward not knowing my own name.
But, I also appreciate the need for balance with health and weight... oh boy do I ever!
I'm an on the fence kind of guy here.
My solution? What I'm doing now, shedding the pounds and getting fitter without a diet, just a change in lifestyle which still allows chocolate and wine, lowering the blood pressure and reducing my waist size, but still enjoying life.
I think you're right about the fast food culture though, which is a by product of the hectic life we lead, where people want fast and easy and end up choosing junk food for convenience. There are people who honestly believe that a McDonalds hot apple pie is enough to qualify for their daily fruit portions.....ye gods!
I'll have to check out the China Study book. I struggle with my weight, which fluctuates wildly. I've found that my overall helth is better when I avoid sugars, salts, and preservatives (and additives).
I try to drink mostly water. I try to consume lots of veggies and fruit. I still eat my meats in good portions. When I stick to that and focus on fresh foods, my quality of life is much improved.
floog. The present USDA food pyramid now has added the french fry back to the veggie group. Oh, believe me. It's not something old that they have forgotten to take out. This is the most recent revision. It came as a result of the industry crying that they had lost gigantic profits in the last revision where it was taken out. *sigh*..
kdawg...you got it, man! Good sensible thinking, and way to go! It is the simplest of things that make huge longterm differences. People just think that it is more complicated than it is. No wonder, with all of the conflicting literature out there.
Weight problems. Ugh. The bane of my life. I was never fat as a child; we simply didn't have enough money or enough food. The weight crept up especially after the children arrived. There have been periods when I could happily say that I was the fittest amongst all my friend even though I was still marginally overweight. Sadly not now; with a reoccuring cartiledge problem and lack of time I now weigh more than I did during any of pregancies. I'm utterly mad with myself; everyday I think this will be the day when I finally can say "no" and it will permanent. My dilemmas; I like food(which I believe is very much linked to not having enough as a child and overcompensating) I need to exercise rigourously and frequently, I eat when I'm anxious.
Fortunately, my bad habits don't extend to my children who are some of the fittest and most atheletic children I know; I agree that parents who allow their children are guilty of inadvertant negligence.
I am daily furious at myself for allowing myself to get like this. If you've something your sleeve that will work for me Tamera I would forever be indebted! Why is it that we can fly to the moon and we can't develop an effective weight loss pill....AGHHHhhhh..
I appreciate your honesty, Jane. That weight-loss pill. Oh, they are out there. But, what is the use, when it doesn't provide for our health? By that I mean, having more daily energy helps us to feel happy, and then we enjoy more. And, yes! Good nutrition provides those benefits. It is simple biochemistry. If we feed the brain what it needs, it works for us.
I think we all need to relax more about loving food. We are supposed to! If we didn't, we wouldn't eat..and, wouldn't live very long.
Relax, and start with one little change at a time, incorporating it as habit. Like increasing water-intake. Focus on that for a month or two, and then add one other little change. JUST an example. It's only changing our focus of love to better foods, and enjoying the change in how we feel as a result.
I would rather be a joyful active 85 year old with 5 kilos too many on good foods, than a skinny-bones sitting in a wheel-chair the last 20 yrs. of my life, unhappy, and not being able to partake in life...IF it should be that bad, and I had to be at an institution b/c of it.
You are too hard on yourself. You are also allowed a little extra! You have born children! The body tends to change after that.
I really do recommend that book just to really understand things that we do not hear otherwise. I learned so much from it myself. It will definitely be a recommendation to future clients. The media gives us such wrongful information about nutrition..not only dieting. Although the Western world is obsessed with it. I think it's easier to change habit by telling myself that I wish to feel better. It is much more positive.
Sorry for the long answer. Can't help myself!
Interesting thread. I discovered long ago that Omega 3 fats were one of the big keys to health, Tamera, and, therefore, 2 tablespoons of Cod Liver Oil daily solved a lot of problems.
I just turned 82 in January, and, maybe when I hit 100, I will stop overdoing it and cut back to just 1 tablespoon a day.
Brilliant comment, Jack. You have in your tablespoon one of the best secrets to longterm health. It is an across-the-board measure that covers cellular protection/function, immune system support, and protects from degenerative cognitive illness. It is a miracle liquid.
In Norway, we begin to give our children fish oil at a very young age. Mine started at the age of 1.
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