Last week during a conversation with the delightful Miss M (soon to be Mrs M ) I mentioned the large glass of milk I had just drunk. Miss M looked surprised and said ‘but don’t you eat paleo? Why are you having dairy?’
Now Miss M is quite an avid follower and frequent commenter on this page and I figured if she wasn’t clear on my eating philosophy then it was likely many others weren’t either (obviously a fault with my communication) so it’s time to set the record straight.
To begin with, and I have said it numerous times before and I will continue to say it,
‘there never has been one way of eating that's suitable for everyone’
Traditionally people ate according to their environment and availability. World wide, environments were different and thus so was the food that was available.
Food wasn’t tampered with by industry.
There were no government guidelines with blurry conflicts of interest.
No corporate greed with attitudes of profit before health.
It was easy.
Heck being a dietician or nutritionist wasn’t even a profession!
Neither was being a personal trainer and nutrition didn’t need to be taught to doctors. To anyone.
Fast forward to today - a very different story.
While we have certainly progressed exponentially in many areas of our lives, I personally believe in the area of nutrition we have taken numerous huge leaps in the wrong direction to our detriment.
One of these misdirected leaps is insisting on there being one way of eating that is suitable for everyone, be it the food pyramid, paleo, raw, vegetarian, low carb, primal, high fat, vegan, low fat, keto…. you name it. Not one of these is the perfect way for everyone to eat and personally, some of them are ways I don’t think anyone should ever eat as a 'lifestyle' but that’s another story…
Interestingly, fervent advocates for any one of these ways of eating are often people who reject religion because of the dogma and doctrine and yet when they talk about their chosen way of eating they become downright rigid and evangelical!
After some years of trying many diets that I was told was going to be the panacea for whatever I was lacking or deficient in, I have come to a comfortable way of eating and living for ME.
I feel healthy, energetic, happy and content.
No food is taboo for me.
I eat grains, dairy, sugar, meat, legumes, saturated fat, fruit, vegetables - all foods that have/are vilified by some group or other and some which I cut out for many years for no other reason than that people told me they were bad, unhealthy, toxic, fattening. All were foods that generations before me ate without suffering the poor health we do today.
I also eat them in as close to the way they ate them as possible; preparing them in the traditional way, prioritising food grown the traditional way, toxin free and sourced locally and seasonally.
Oh and weekly, (sometimes more) I also drink wine, champagne and a tipple of JW Gold label on ice…
How did I get to this point?
I developed trust in my body. I listened to my body and adopted the wisdom of those before me who didn't suffer the epidemic of lifestyle related chronic conditions.
I know we now live in a quick fix, instant gratification society and the trial and error of listening to your body takes time, especially these days where so many are so far removed from their body and it’s needs, but believe me it’s worth it.
Now just because I can eat what I do, doesn’t mean everyone else can. There are going to be people who don’t do well on some foods, for whatever reason, but that doesn't mean we all shouldn’t eat them…. just you…maybe for now. Maybe for life!
It is also, in part, a sad result of the damage we have done to our bodies and our food by veering away from the natural to try to reach some sort of unnatural utopia, be it by women having chiselled, fat free bodies (highly unnatural and unhealthy), preventing ageing (it’s got to happen, accept and embrace it), increased food production cheaply and quickly, tampering with our food to make it 'better', polluting and pillaging our environment, overmedication, self medication, manipulation of normal life events like fertility and birth…..
Finally and most importantly, I take every measure I can to nurture my body and my soul.
On this page we often say;
“… because great health is so much more than what you eat and how you move.”
You can have the best diet in the world (whatever that is) and move regularly, but all the good can be undone if you:
- are stressed
- don't sleep well
- don’t get daily sun and contact with the earth
- aren’t moving your body in functional ways daily
- have challenging relationships
- live in toxic environments including the cleaning and personal products you use
- don’t take time to smell the roses and breathe deeply
- lack physical skin to skin touch
- don't set your compass daily
- rarely do those things that are meaningful to YOU - your hobbies and interests - what makes your soul sing
Now I’m human so to be honest days and sometimes weeks can go by where one, usually some, of these go by the wayside but my body lets me know and in my work, with what I see daily from people who didn’t listen to their body when it whispered, I would be completely nuts to ignore my body.
So that turned into an essay didn't it?
Quite simply we HAVE to respect our individuality, have faith in our body and trust in our ability to heal ourselves.
Listen to your body - it has your best interest at heart.
Edit: I also eat crap now and then. My particular weakness is plain salted crisp chips