Variety in one meal
Oven roasted-wild sockeye salmon: Sauteed-shiitake and straw mushrooms, grape tomatoes and mung bean sprouts; Steamed-carrot, parsnip and golden beet; Raw-yellow bell pepper
Why a whole food diet is best
My main reason for writing this blog is because we all(at least most of us) eat every single day, usually multiple times per day, and eating has more impact on our health than anything else we do in our lives. I feel strongly that a whole food diet of mostly vegetables and fruits with as much organically grown content as possible pretty much guarantees a healthy body. Animal protein, whether meat, fish, dairy or eggs should be a treat, not what a diet is based upon. When animal-source protein is part of a meal, it should be from animals raised on a natural diet, meaning grass-fed beef, dairy and lamb and pasture-raised poultry and eggs. This ensures both healthy animals and a health-friendly omega-3/omega-6 fatty acid ratio plus naturally high levels of vitamin-A.
I also think that the evidence linking saturated fats and cholesterol in the diet to high blood cholesterol levels and heart disease is flimsy at best; diet advice to limit saturated fat and cholesterol intake persists out of habit. People lived to ripe old age for thousands of years eating plenty of butter, pork lard and beef fat before modern practices hijacked our diets by feeding grazing and foraging animals a strictly grain diet, often of genetically modified grains. It is the grain diet that is detrimental to the health of the animals and to our health when we eat the meat, eggs and dairy from them.
Another thing that has changed in our diets within the past 50-60 years is the amount of refined sugars and refined grain flours easily available to us. With the knowledge and technology to produce refined crystallized sugar, first from sugar cane and then from other sources like beets and corn, it became much more prevalent. The same happened with refined white wheat flour. First these were expensive and status symbols for the wealthy that the lower classes yearned for. As sugar and flour became cheaper they saturated commercially available food as the standard of living increased across the globe.
Following are four links to recent articles about research concerning the effects of diet on the development of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, weight loss and refined sugars. All of these links confirm the positive effects of a whole food diet and of limiting or eliminating refined sugar and white flour. Please explore the links and draw your own conclusions.
http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/features/mind-diet-alzheimers-disease?src=RSS_PUBLIC
http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/news/20150513/alzheimers-dementia-brain-diet?src=RSS_PUBLIC
http://theunboundedspirit.com/5-things-that-happenif-you-quit-sugar-for-life/
http://drhyman.com/blog/2015/05/15/want-to-burn-fat-then-eat-more-not-less-food/
Why variety is important for health
I have written before about the importance of variety in the diet and how the nutrients of food enhance each other through synergy. My opinion is that health suffers more as the kinds of food in a diet become more restricted. I know people that eat exactly the same foods for each meal every meal for month after month because those are the foods they like and they think those foods are good for them. Those are not the healthiest people I know. The healthiest people I know are those with adventurous palettes always trying new foods and new combinations of foods. Please follow the link below to an article about this subject of food combinations and synergy of nutrients.
http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/healthy-food-combinations/printer.php
Why making the effort to eat better beats statin drugs
Another topic I occasionally rant about is the prevalence of prescription drugs in modern medicine. There is an entire generation or more now alive that was raised to believe that all health ills could be cured by a pill. Many folks just don’t believe that chronic diseases that are killing them and sucking their bank accounts dry are caused by their eating habits and cannot be cured with a pill. All prescription drugs come with side effects, some of which do not start showing up for years. This seems to to be the case with statin drugs, as well, which became crazy popular with doctors looking for a quick fix for high cholesterol levels. Click on the following links for statin drug problems. Is this really better than adjusting the diet or just a lot easier?
http://healthimpactnews.com/2015/cholesterol-lowering-statin-drugs-worsen-coronary-calcium-tests/
http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm293330.htm