Labels, Part Two

I recently found out the label for the diet I was follow from the fall of 2009 to last fall.  It is called the Paleo Diet and is based upon the principles of eating whole foods like man ate before the development of cities.  You should eat mostly fruits, vegetables and animal protein with a moderate fat intake.  I followed this diet for a long time until I realized that it wasn’t working for me.  I was developing a junk food (in the form of tortilla chips) habit that I craved alongside sugar.  Last fall I added in root vegetables (as it was the season) which curbed the sugar, but caused me to gain weight.  It didn’t make me happy anymore.

This January I have come upon a way of eating that makes me so happy.  I am eating 2/3 raw meals and 1/3 vegan/vegetarian meals.  A truly surprising develop considering my resistance to it when I listened to the lessons for school. I hesitate to label myself that way though, because this is how I feel now.  It developed through the cleanse I am doing and has just suited me.  Will I ever eat animal meat again?  My guess is I will.  Will I go totally raw this summer?  I have no idea.  But right now, this is making me happy. I feel vibrant, energetic and clear.  I am at a weight I truly like and feels sustainable. 

What am I eating that makes me feel so good?  I am eating beans, leafy greens, root (and other) vegetables, and fruits in abundance and whole grains and fats (in the form of nuts, seeds and avocado) in moderation.  Sounds eminently reasonable, right?  You are thinking this doesn’t sound too bad, aren’t you?

Why am I thinking about this right now?  Because I think this is all individual.  This is working for me, but I wouldn’t tell you that this is the healthiest diet and everyone should do it.  Having just read The China Study and Good Calories, Bad Calories simultaneously I can tell you that studies can be interpreted many different ways and that the scientists really don’t have a universal answer either.  My mom hasn’t eaten chocolate, coconut or eggs often for the past twenty years because the prevailing wisdom said not to if she wants to control her cholesterol.  Both those books said something different on the subject.  Somewhat similar, but from a different foundational basis.

So.  Chew on that for a while and then ask yourself, “Is the food I’m eating sustaining me?”  If not, you don’t need to find a diet by name (although I imagine that makes it easier) just try to discover the foods that make you feel good and the ones that slow you down.  Try to remove the ones that drain you and more of the ones that fill you with energy.  Or you can call me .

Book Review: The China Study

Talk about mind-blowing science!  You weren’t?  Well, this eminently readable book blew my mind at first.  This seminal epidemiological study conducted in China shows us the relationship between cancer and our nutrition.

The China Study was conducted over 15 years by T. Colin Campbell in conjunction with two Chinese scientists and a huge team of people.  This is definitely one of those books where reading the introduction is necessary. As the book continues he begins to lose me on some of his extrapolations and I am not sure about all of the science, but I believe the study itself to be highly relevant.  I will continue to read other nutrition books (in fact I found myself cross-checking his data and finding with another book I am reading) in search of the truth for me.

Only read this if you want to know how important your food choices are.  And really really read this if there is a cancer in your family.

T. Colin Campbell is in the the upcoming movie “Forks over Knives”.  So he’s still trying to get the word out 20 years later.  I can’t wait to see it.

Number Four

According to the NaturalNews Insider Daily Digest I received this morning the number Four way to get toxic chemicals out of your body is: “#4) Detox your liver, kidneys and colon at least once a year. “

Yay, me!  Maybe that explains the headache I’ve had for the past 24 hours.

Book Review–Catching Fire

One of my nagging concerns about the Nutrition program I am currently enrolled in is that I won’t have enough nutrition information to help people when I graduate.  Being the librarian/ex-librarian/avid reader that I am, I am spending much of my reading time on emotional eating, diet, and science of nutrition books.  I want to read as many books as I can so I can help as many people as I can.  I don’t think I am so unique as to believe that my life experience leaves me isolated.  Why else would Facebook be so popular?  I believe many people like me want to eat a little better, sleep a little better and live a little better.  This is why I believe this school is great and why I can have a career helping people live their best life. 

I recently finished Catching Fire:How Cooking Made Us Human.  This book started out slow.  I thought I would recommend it to raw-foodies, but 75 pages in I thought they would be offended.  I kept reading and found it more and more interesting.  By the end I really thought the author had a lot to say and wanted to engage in a dialogue with people who thoughtfully ate food.  People who thought that the food they ate had meaning every day.

I find myself thinking about this book a lot recently in my life.  Like why we eat cooked meat and what that means about portion size. (Cooking meat gives us more energy from the food so we need a LOT less.)  We also lost our jaw strength and teeth sharpness in the evolution from habilines to homo erectus and so don’t have the ability to chew raw meat.  Or the time really… I have loved learning more of the science behind our food and how the evolution of humans have brought us here.  The ramifications of this evolution we are seeing now in a society that is over-weight and under nourished.

Read this book if you want to know more.