Over the last decade I have done a ridiculous amount of research about nutrition. It started with the basics most people understand: counting calories, eat less than you burn to lose weight, 3500 calories equal 1 pound of fat. The problem is that information isn’t really helpful when it comes to figuring out the right way to eat for health. In searching for the truth, I have learned some interesting and pertinent things along the way. Maybe you know these little jewels of info. Then again, maybe you will be totally surprised.
1) The odds are stacked against you. Nutrition education is antiquated and incorrect. The government nutrition guidelines are only appropriate for a very small percentage of the population, and food companies are focused on doing whatever it takes to make money. Count the amount of lobbyists that lobby the government to make rules and regulations work for their benefit is proof…..follow the money.
2) Most food available at stores is not real food, its more of a “food-like substance.” Our bodies have not evolutionarily kept up with the changes in our heavily processed food. Processed food bypasses the built-in hormonal responses that trigger feelings of satiation and hunger suppression. Unfortunately, that leads to overeating, insulin spikes and storage of a lot of excess energy in our adipose tissue (body fat).
3) The majority of the food produced these days is purposely made to addict our population. Food companies want to make money. They do this by producing a product as cheaply as possible and make it hyper-palatable (extremely tasty) to make sure you will purchase it often. Most of the food products contain additives
and preservatives (chemicals) to make them last longer and plenty of sugar and trans-fats to addict even the strongest willed adults.
4) Many of those whom we consider “experts” don’t really get it right. It’s not totally their fault. They aren’t educated correctly. Doctors get very little nutrition education. Their advice isn’t any better than an average opinion. Even dietitians are taught science based on old, now disproven information. Science is always updating, improving as well as disproving former theories believed to be fact.
5) There is no one right formula that meets everyone’s needs. While eating unprocessed, whole, clean food is a start, picking up a “cookie cutter diet” online is never the right way to go. There are too many variables involved for one formula to work for everyone. The best way to decide what is right for you is to educate yourself by listening to current authorities who aren’t compensated by beneficial parties (food companies, pharmaceutical companies, etc).
There is no way to know everything. Those who know the most realize there is so much more to learn. Many scientists, doctors and nutritionists are constantly learning, researching, doing experiments based on new and updated information and always looking for answers, especially when current protocols have proven to not work.
The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results. Yet that is what our current nutrition guidelines do, repeats old concepts that have now been proven to create inflammation, illness and disease.
To understand the right nutrition for you, it will require finding the right experts and coaches, educating yourself in more than just standard guidelines. Start your own journey one day at a time, one concept at a time, one truth at a time. Your body will tell you what you need to know…..if you will listen.