Nutrition: The 1st Pillar of Health

Feb 1

To recap, these are the 6 pillars of health that I focus on:

Nutrition, Hydration, Sleep, Movement, and Relationships/Connection, Stress Management.

Today, my mission is 2-fold:

To share my own journey with nutrition.
To share the most current opinions on what is impactful, effective and best for our health.

“If the diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. If the diet is correct, medicine is of no need.”

This is an ancient Ayurvedic proverb and provides the foundation of Ayurveda. Over the last 15 years, food has become a main entree in pop culture because we, as a society, are starting to buy into this idea: food matters. Catchy phrases such as, “food affects mood” and “food is medicine” are gaining traction. Culinary Medicine and Integrative Nutrition are now specialties of study. Cooking shows and competitions are among the most-watched shows on TV. “Mindful meals”, “silent meals” and “intuitive eating” are new perspectives on the way that we approach meals. I love this stuff!

Yes, food and nutrition have taken center stage in the public eye. If you care about the quality of oil that you put in your car, think about caring about the quality of food you put in your mouth. I didn’t always, but I do now. It’s never too late.

When I was 14, I bought my first calorie counting book. It wasn’t until 1990 that food products started being labeled with nutritional ingredient information due to the NLEA. Before this, it was a mystery to consumers. The NLEA was signed into law to encourage consumers to make better food choices. The food pyramid, originally developed in 1974 in Sweden, became public. Society had begun to think not only about sustenance for ourselves and our children but the consequences of healthy and unhealthy food choices. An awareness was born! Needless to say, I have been quite interested in this evolution of food and nutrition.

My parents, Polish and Irish by descent, were obese. Their food choices were made with a focus on satiation and survival. People were just starting to talk about counting calories and balancing meals. “You are what you eat” became a popular slogan. I grew up when “thin was in”. Waify models and rail-thin actresses were attractive to me. I wanted to be as small as possible, at any cost. I restricted and deprived myself. There was a time in my 20’s that I only weighed 98 pounds, on my 5’4” frame. Later, I would learn that rejecting food and nourishment were symptoms of a different issue. The disgust that I felt for food reflected my self-hate.

Although I was a well-behaved daughter and “top” student, my strategy was to disappear as I was not getting the attention at home that I wanted from my positive achievements. After all, any attention is better than none.

As time went on and I became a mother and athlete, I began to see food as fuel. I wanted to be a good example of health to my daughters and I enjoyed being a gym rat as well as running and other sports. Working out was as much a part of life as eating, and still is. As I allowed myself to be nourished on a physical level, I opened myself up to being nourished through relationships and self-love. I shed the old belief that food was the enemy and the belief that I needed to deprive myself. I remained conscious of food choices while continually learning about the magnificence of the human body. I developed not only respect for this machine, but a sense of wonder of all that it can accomplish. Karyn Calabrese, a raw foodist and restaurateur for over 50 years, reminds me that “{my} body is {my} only real home and that if {I} don’t take care of it, where will {I} live?” I want to be strong and capable and feel safe in this home.

This is not to say that I didn’t try many different ways: Paleo, Keto, water fasting, intermittent fasting, Noom, Food Fuels, Ayurvedic principles, vegetarian, Vegan, juicing, raw, plant-based, hiring a nutrition coach, working with a functional medicine nutritionist to name a few. Some things worked and some things didn’t.

For the last few years, having gone through menopause, new challenges have surfaced. I needed to start being wiser about choices and portions. I recognized that I needed more water, more vegetables, more fruit, smaller portions, less sugar, to stop eating after 7pm and that an occasional 24 hour water fast is good for my body. Using Ayurvedic principles around eating fruit separately, allowing for enzymes to break them down, and eating according to an Ayurvedic clock works for me. I’ve created my own way of eating that works for me.

The most general and current recommendations for nutrition are for limiting/eliminating dairy, gluten/wheat, soy, sugar and meat. It’s not so much the actual product, but how it has been cultivated in the last 50 years which is what we have to take into consideration. In the documentary, King Corn, you can see how the wheat staff of 1950 is plump and golden yellow; whereas a staff of wheat from today is white and thin. There are so many great documentaries about food, too many to name here, but suffice it to say that it is worth getting to know where your food is coming from and what it is made of.

Just a word about convenient processed foods and GMO’s: there are too many chemical constituents in them to not be worried about putting them in our bodies. We, as a nation, have a massive growth in childhood obesity and the experts are saying that processed foods are the main contributor (Healthline, 2020). Processed foods are so difficult for the body to break down that they cause fatty liver disease in this age group. There was a time and place for processed products, but we are wiser now and we care more about our health. Choose to do without them when you can.

The main concern about meat is that the mass and quick production is enhanced by farmers treating animals with hormones and other drugs. We have been told over and over again that during the brutal slaughter of animals, a flood of stress hormones are released. Who would want to eat that on a daily basis? Don’t get me wrong, people, I like the taste and crave it as much as many of you but have learned to limit my intake of it. According to The Guardian, the processing of meat accounts for nearly 60% of all greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming and having one meal a day without meat (see OMAD) is one impactful thing that we can do to help our environment. Another good reason to limit consumption of meat!

That Sugar Film will give you a new perspective about the relationship between sugar and inflammation. Inflammation has been acknowledged as a “...key factor causing almost all chronic degenerative diseases” (NIH). To improve your nutrition, limiting or eliminating white sugar is another step that you can take toward better health.

I realize that I’m getting preachy here, so I want to divert the attention on particulars and acknowledge that we must all find our way. Nutrition is a pillar of health and wellness, it is worth the time and energy to evaluate, assess your choices and know that moderation is key. Feeling nourished, satiated, and sustained are imperative to living a full and happy life. Small tweeks yield big results and isn’t that what we all want…to feel alive and energized, capable and powerful? After all, “nothing tastes as good as healthy feels”.

So the tip this week, to keep it short and sweet is:

Take the time to connect HOW you feel after you eat. Do you feel “stuffed”, tired, sluggish? Do you feel nourished, satisfied? Do you feel unsatisfied, still hungry? After all, “your body knows long before your mind catches up”, so tune in. :)