I think out of all the health and wellness info floating around out there, this topic is the most confusing by far. Wouldn’t you agree?
Let’s see, there’s vegan, paleo, SAD (standard American diet), vegetarian, keto, carnivore, omnivore, AIP, pescatarian, mediterranean, Adkins, plant-based, meat-based, taste free (ha! had to throw that one in there 🙂), blood-type, raw, gluten free, low amylose, GAPS. I’m sure I’m forgetting a few, but you get the idea. I mean, good god! No wonder we are all freakin confused!
We are going to look at this from several different points of view….
First and foremost, to give you something simple, start by cutting out processed foods. Your taste buds might love them, but your body and cells hate them. These foods have led us into the obesity epidemic, which has brought on illnesses such as Type II diabetes and heart disease. The companies that produce these foods (for profit) use what’s called the “bliss point.” Never heard of it? Well, it is defined as “the point where the levels of saltiness, sweetness, and richness were perceived by the consumer as just right.” This is what gets everyone hooked on these ultra processed foods.
Unsure of the foods I’m referring to? Here’s a (somewhat) small list:
Cookies
Cakes
Bread
Crackers
Donuts
Candy
(Almost) anything in a box (e.g. mac and cheese, spaghetti, or ramen noodles)
Frozen pizzas
Frozen dinners
Potato chips
Margarine
Cereal
Chicken nuggets
Soda/Pop
Energy drinks
Like I said, the companies that produce these are experts in getting you hooked. So, cutting back and/or getting rid of them is much easier said than done. I’ll give some tips and tricks towards the end of the post, so sit tight.
Next, I need to mention the documentary “The Perfect Human Diet.” It was put together by a writer named CJ Hunt, and it can be viewed (for free) on YouTube or Amazon Prime. He goes in search of the “perfect human diet” by interviewing anthropologists who study bio-molecular anthropology (which is a fancy way of saying genetic analysis to study human evolution). These scientists have studied the bones of our ancestors (Neanderthals and early modern humans from France).
The awesome thing with this documentary (unlike others out there… *cough cough - Forks Over Knives - cough cough) is that he doesn’t have an agenda that he’s pushing. He comes from an angle of genuine curiosity to see what truly made us human. I highly recommend you watch it!
But in case you haven’t and/or you don’t watch it, he found that the big turning point in our evolution is when we started eating animals, especially the animal fat. That is where our brains grew exponentially in size. They did also eat other things, but animals were our turning point.
Lastly, a lot depends on the person. If I’m being honest, I’m not an advocate of the vegan diet, BUT… I know there are some people out there who have thrived on it - i.e. Fully Raw Kristina. One thing to keep in mind is that she eats a SHIT TON of food because it’s hard to get enough calories on raw fruits and veggies.
For most of us those vegan and vegetarian diets aren’t going to cut it. It might for a bit when you are first getting away from the SAD diet/ultra processed food, but it eventually catches up…. There are a lot of vegan influencers out there who have started eating meat again.
The key is to experiment some on yourself. See what works and what doesn’t. And go with foods that you enjoy and stay away from those you hate (although sometimes it’s good to eventually try those foods again… our taste buds do change).
To make it even simpler, go with whole, REAL foods. Those include your meats, fruits, and veggies. It can also include foods such as nuts, seeds, dairy, and canned fish or olive oil. Just be careful with those though because you are starting to get into the processed territory, and they like to sneak in things like industrial seed oils.
I’m going end with some coaching tips:
Grocery shopping
You’ve probably heard this one, but it’s a good… don’t ever shop while you’re hungry.
Shop (mainly) the perimeter of the store. They are all set up close to the same… you walk into the produce section, followed by the meat section, then onto dairy. The few things to go to the inner aisles for are things such as olive oil, nuts/seeds, and canned fish. Certain frozen foods are good too such as frozen fruits and veggies.
When you do grab something in a container look at the ingredient list! If there are a. more than about 3 to 5 ingredients, b. anything you can’t pronounce and/or have no f*cking clue what it is, or c. see any industrial seed oils, put it back on the shelf! Here are two examples. The first is from a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal, and it’s a triple whammy! 1. 13 ingredients, 2. What the f*ck is Trisodium Phosphate?, and 3. There’s canola oil in it. The second is from a bottle of the Whole Foods 365 brand olive oil. There’s one ingredient and we know what it is… olive oil. Yay! I think we have a winner!
At home:
Cook at home. You have complete control of what goes in your mouth when you make it at home. With how busy we are this one can be easier said than done.
Make building your plate simple… half veggies (and no, corn does not count… that’s actually a grain), 1/4 to 1/3 meat, and the rest should be filled with a healthy fat like avocado. Do that for each meal and you’ll be way ahead of the game!
Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps! Shift just one teeny tiny thing for a week or two. It might not seem like much, but that’s good because it makes it extremely doable. Then once you’ve mastered that small change, add onto it. Eventually, it has a snowball effect, and before you know it, you’ve revamped your entire way of eating! This is going to look different for everyone, but that’s good because it means you can tweak it to fit into your life. Here’s an example:
Let’s say for breakfast you normally stop at a coffee shop (need to be quick because we are always in a hurry) and grab a sugary coffee and a pastry. For lunch you have a sandwich on white bread with chips. Then that midafternoon crash hits so you head to the vending machine and grab a candy bar. For dinner you run through the Wendy’s drive thru because, once again, we’re always in a hurry. Then, before bed, you are ravenous and stressed so you sit in front of the tv with a bag of chips and a glass of red wine. Okay, that’s our starting point, now for the tweaks…
For the first week, let’s trade out that midafternoon candy bar for a meat stick and an apple. Let’s start by doing that on only Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
For the second week, we turn that into Monday through Friday.
For the third week, instead of a sugary coffee, you just get a coffee with heavy cream on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
On the fourth week, that turns into Monday through Friday.
Get the idea??
One last thing I want to mention is to keep in mind that changing your diet is going to be HARD! There’s no way around that, especially if you are starting from the standard American diet. Sometimes keeping that in mind makes it just a tiny bit easier. You know what can be really helpful though? Having support. Now I’m more than happy to coach you through it, but having any kind of (good) support system will help… friends, family, nutritionist, etc. Either way, don’t do it alone.
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