Monday, January 5, 2015

a nutritional summary of 2014

I learned a lot of things in 2014. About passions, hobbies, myself. I also learned about the things I put in me, and how it affects me.

We have heard things like, "what you eat, is what you are" and vague commands such as, "eat your veggies," but haven't really understood why.

Here is what I have been learning, and hopefully it will encourage you to do your own research and find what works for you.


Lets eat real food. Meat, veggies, nuts, fruits, grains. 

Processed foods have added chemicals to make them clean, appealing, and mass producible. Also they are normally filled with  refined sugar, which your body cannot properly digest.


Fat doesn't make you fat.
Fat is essential to your body. Excess sugar, makes you fat. Sugars found in natural foods are digested along with fiber, so you can break down the sugar you are ingesting. Coke on the other hand, doesn't have any fiber, and therefore skips down to your liver, which can't properly digest it, sends for a massive insulin spike, that turns the sugar into fat.

Do not trust the labels that you see at the supermarket. Low fat, fat free, skim milk. Because you take the fat out, the food tastes bad. Therefore sugar is added to make the experience more pleasurable.

There are bad fats, like trans fats, that are found in processed foods. Small amounts are found in some meats and dairy products. Look for hydrogenated vegetable oil on the label of the products you are buying as this is the cause of trans fat, even if it says 0 grams.

Add lots of Fiber to your diet. 
Fruits, legumes and nuts, vegetables, whole grains.
Fiber helps to move foods and carcinogens through your digestive tract. It also helps to lower blood cholesterol levels and control glucose levels (so that the natural sugar you intake can be properly digested). Also make sure to drink lots f water as this helps your body function smoothly.

Your gut is a sensitive environment.
There is good bacteria and bad bacteria in your body. You promote one or the other by the things you eat, and the growth of one or the other effects your body in a positive or negative way. A healthy looking person on the outside, may actually be heading in the direction of diabetes, if that person is consuming junk food. Exercise doesn't make the bacteria in your large intestine healthy, the food you eat does.


Why I choose organic, free range, and vegetables when I can. 
Since the food industry has such great control and power, we don't have much to say except to promote what we do care for. That is, voting with our dollar. Yes, better ingredients are more expensive, but the consumerist mind set has driven down prices to a point where it is artificially cheap. Filled with chemicals such as round up, pesticides, genetically modified organisms, we do not know how these altercations are going to harm our bodies and the effects it will cause in the generations to come. Already, American children are becoming some of the most obese children, with higher risk of diabetes than any generation before.

As I have more conversations, and learn more about nutrition, I am inspired to eat in a way that is beneficial to my body, to the growing industry of real food, and to the generations to come.

Elon Musk, founder of Pay Pal, Tesla cars, and SpaceX has inspired me with some of his philosophies. He isn't waiting around to help the world, but is taking initiative, and that is what we need to be doing as well.


Bibliography with improper citations and other resources:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/high-fiber-foods/art-20050948

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w94D45txSxo (ABC 2 part series on gut bacteria and how the food you eat can lead to diabetes, asthma, depression or a healthy, more fit life style)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2381335/ Fed Up

http://authoritynutrition.com/foods/

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/#axzz3O0GxeQRU

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