The Truth About Food

Ah yes, food. I am in nutrition school, right? So you’d expect me to write about food.  Okay, let me start with a story.

Last Friday, my friend Betsy joined me for our bi-weekly Mastermind session. We usually hold these meetings over lunch and yes, I usually whip up something easy and tasty, but this week I had been traveling and with no chance to shop, whipped up a superfood smoothie with cacao, maca, blueberries, goji berries, wheat grass, almond butter and a host of other brain and body-enhancing ingredients.  Betsy texted “I’m bringing my own lunch.”  So, OK, I thought. I’ll sip this one alone.

When she arrived, she immediately said, “You are not going to approve of my lunch,” as she slipped out a carton of saltines and a container of cottage cheese from her bag. “I don’t judge people on what they eat, Betsy.” Which is true. What’s right for me will not be right for you, or as Joshua Rosenthal reminds us frequently, “One person’s food is another person’s poison.”

We are doing some tough work together, Betsy and I. She is refocusing her business. I am launching mine for the first time. This is heavy brain work. After a time, Betsy said, “My brain is foggy. I’m having trouble making these decisions.”  “Of course!” I said. “How well do you think your brain functions on crackers and cottage cheese? You’ve got to feed your brain girl! This is hard stuff we’re doing! This might not be the time to lose 5 pounds on a fad diet. Eat real food that will support your goals in your business and in your life.” In other words, lose the weight later, you got bigger fish to fry and you need food to get you there – good food.

So what’s the real truth about food?

THERE ARE NO RULES

That’s right. There are no rules about food. I’m not going to tell you whether or not to eat meat. I’m not going to judge you if you succumb to cravings for sugar. I’m not going to make you drink green juice. But, I will listen to you and teach you to listen to your body, to use your ‘gut intuition’ to make the right food choices to support what you are trying to accomplish in your life right now.

Although there are no rules, there are some good guidelines that I believe in that will help guide you on the path of making the right choices with the food you eat.

Every body is different. You are different from me and are different from your partner, friends and children. What’s right for you might be completely wrong for another.  Here are six factors to consider when making choices with your food:

1. What’s local and seasonal?  We tend to live healthier and make less impact on the planet as a whole if we eat with the seasons. If you live in the Northeast in Winter, like I do, you are likely to feel better eating warm soups than cold salads.
2. What’s your genetic and regional ancestry? What did you grow up eating? What did your ancestors eat? There may be patterns of eating that your body naturally thrives upon and those that it could easily do without. Although much controversy surrounds the blood type diet, it’s a good data point to incorporate into your analysis.
3. What’s your body type? Are you naturally athletic? Do you find it hard to gain or maintain weight no matter how hard you try? Are you naturally prone to putting on a few extra pounds and keeping it there?  Every body type is different and requires different fuel to achieve optimal performance.
4. What’s your age and gender? The food we need to sustain our lives changes over time. What’s good for a growing teenager, will put a mid-lifer over the edge of the scale.  Men tend to thrive on different foods than women.
5. Are you struggling with illness? Have allergies? Gastrointestinal issues? Diabetes? Cancer?  The foods you choose to nourish a body with illness will be different depending on the effect those illnesses have on your body. And food HAS been shown to put illness into remission. Food is indeed medicine.
6. How is food affecting your mood? We also use food to fill holes in our lives. We use food as both a reward and as a punishment. “I worked really hard at the gym today, I deserve to have that chocolate for dessert.” Or, “I can’t believe I didn’t close that deal. It’s been a tough day – I’m going for the burger.” Inevitably, we feel worse after eating these foods and it can perpetuate negative patterns that are hard to break.

Are you getting my point? There is no one size fits all here. And there are thousands of diets available. When life isn’t working well, we grab for the latest fad. And just for the record, diets don’t work.  You may accomplish a short term goal and you’re lucky if you can sustain results when you go back to ‘food as usual.’ What’s needed is a healthy lifestyle that works for YOU. That supports your goals, your brain, and your heart’s desires.

I LOVE FOOD. I LOVE ME.

As I know I am likely to live longer than my ancestors, I want to make and eat really good food that sustains me now and hopefully for many years to come.