In a previous blog entry, I mentioned that I was changing my diet. One of my readers pointed me at an article on intuitive eating.While I haven't heard the concept referred to that way, I have seen thesame concept referred to in a couple of different books. And while, intheory, this is a fine concept, the fact of the matter is the vastmajority of us have "out-of-balance" bodies and/or are so out-of-touchwith our bodies that we don't know what it is our body needs.
Thebasic truth is that while the types of food generally available havechanged over the past several decades, the human biology hasn't changedall that much in the past several millenia. The vast majority of peopleeat stuff the human body was not originally designed to digest. Thingslike high frutcose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, refined sugar,refined grains, artificial sweetners and much more. Who knows what kindof signals that human-designed food will have on the body? It can't begood--at least it's not fo rme.
If you think back severalmillenia, what kinds of food were available? Stuff that grew on trees:fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds. Stuff that grew in the ground: veggies,grains. And the occasional "buffalo" or other large beast that washunted and killed. Oh yeah, and chicken embryos (i.e. eggs). This isthe kind of stuff our bodies were made to consume and digest. Peoplewho eat these foods are eating the way nature intended us to eat. I'dlike to find the tree that grows chocolate-covered twinkies. :)
Meanwhile,I am trying to eat food closer to that which is found in nature. Shortof the produce aisle, most grocery stores don't carry much in thisregard, which makes it more of a challenge. Every time I read a foodlabel, I am shocked at the kinds of supposedly healthy stuff that hashigh frutcose corn syrup on it. My local Fred Meyer,which isn't a place we normally buy groceries, actually has a half waydecent "Whole Health/Organics" section. It's about four aisles full ofhealty food, dietary supplements, and the like. It actually "smells"like a health food store. Anyone who has ever been to a proper healthfood store knows the smell I am talking about.
An eye-opening, quick-reading book on the subject of eating healthier is Dr. Mark Hyman's Ultrametabolism",which really gets into what makes human's tick in terms of food. Hebasically agrees with the concept of "eating what you want as much asyou want" so long as the food is real, whole food.
tags: diet, ultrametabolism