We need to grow a pair!

Hi Everyone!

Yes. I'm walking the line of crudeness because I'm fed up!  Honestly, if I hear one more client say that it's okay that they're having the bag of chips because they are made with whole grains, I'm going to lose it! Honestly, how do you expect to achieve your goals if you're not willing to take out the garbage?

I'm not even sure who to be mad at any more!  I think we all have some culpability in this mess. Let's take a look at how each group plays a role in the obesity epidemic (both creating it and not helping to solve it).

Consumers/Clients

I think that the current food system is the way it is, because we (the consumers/clients) are a bunch of pushovers (not my first choice of words) who are so terrified to give up our vices like junky foods that we know are killing us that we choose to believe the BS claims that are made by food companies about said food items. For instance, these chips are okay because they are made from whole grains, or these cookies are organic.  I mean, PLEASE!

Message: We vote with our dollars, so don't buy processed food anymore & eventually there will be no market for it and similarly, the cost of good quality, real foods will decrease.

Government

The governments who supposedly police the food industry are absolutely culpable & they are made of educated people, so they are not stupid, therefore, I can only conclude that they are driven by money and secondary gain.  There is no other logical reason why in the face of clear evidence that TRANS fats kill humans by well known cardiovascular mechanisms, that they would impose a law to require that the amount of trans fats within a food product be shown on the label rather than make it illegal for the food company to use that item in the foods they make!  WHAT THE HECK!?  Think about it, governments make money on allowing poor quality foods into the market place & people get sick & then there's money to be made on the treatment of those illnesses (preventable ones).  So tell me then, where is the motivation to stop the cycle.  Nowhere for the governments regulators.

Message: Nobody has your back, other than you.  You need to take responsibility for your own lifestyle choices.  Don't you put your health, life & vitality in the hands of people with more to gain if you are sick than if you are healthy.

Nutrition Professionals

Practioners

The nutrition profession including Dietitians, Nutritionists (practitioners), Researchers & Professors.  All of which work very hard (I know I am one) to tow the company line (i.e. the food groups or pyramids or whatever), and most of them (this is where I consider myself different) do NOT question those concepts, they just keep teaching them.  This is where things become ugly for me.  I have a real Masters degree (thesis-based) & am pursuing a PhD all in Human Nutrition, so I believe I can read, interpret & critically appraise the research.  Unfortunately, many of the practitioners in the profession can not, do not or are not willing to do this.  This has lead to the promotion of the low fat diet for instance for the last fifty years or so.  You can see my post on some of my issues with the low fat diet and why that's a huge problem.  And the thing is, the evidence is out there to lead practitioners away from this but most are either too busy or just don't bother to review it.

Researchers

This brings us to researchers and professors. Researchers & Professors are, for the most part positions that are research driven and depend upon production & publications for their institution.  Unfortunately, Western medical research practices are based on supposed gold standards (i.e. randomized clinical trials) that really only work for pharmaceutical drugs, no coincidence that the majority of medical research is funded by these companies and that most medical decision trees produced for physicians and psychiatrists either end at or have as a major part of their treatment a pharmaceutical drug (that's for another rant, though).  I have many research colleagues and friends who consider the current state of nutrition research a joke.  I unfortunately have to agree with them.  They are mostly in the physical sciences like chemistry and physics, both of which I have minors in.  The major difference in my opinion is that those physical sciences have a unifying theory, which guides all research in that discipline to be in line with those principles.  In medical & health research it's more of a crap shoot of random trials & outcome measures.  Many will argue that there is no medical unifying theory, but that is crap!  The unified theory of biology should be and is EVOLUTION!  I talk about that unifying theory in a prior post here.  If nutrition researchers would simply ask does this study/finding/research question that I am proposing make sense in light of evolutionary biology, then this would prevent millions of dollars from being wasted on stupid projects that provide zero insights into human health & disease.  And by the way, food companies are also spending billions of dollars to fund research projects.


Professors

Professorships are research-dependent and therefore all of the research criticisms discussed above apply.  Additionally, however, most of the time there is a regulating body (i.e. college or other guiding body) that dictates the competencies and content that are required to become a certified health professional.  Unfortunately, these practice recommendations are based on the assumption that the last fifty plus years of lifestyle based research has been sound and that the principles of many of the early low fat proponents was correct (which is now known to be false).  Yet, each new generation of nutrition, health and medical practitioner are taught the same strategies to prevent and manage/treat cardiovascular disease, diabetes, kidney disease, etc... without any regard to human evolutionary biology.  This is absolutely a critical mistake and the most frustrating part of all is that this is a relatively easy one to fix.

Message: You can't always put your faith in credentials.  Just because someone has a certification or degree, doesn't mean they're good at what they do or even know about or truly understand the current research, it just means they were able to complete coursework & do well on a test. I am a certified health professional, I have many colleagues and only some of them truly understand the current research. Be sure to do your own research and then discuss it with your certified health professional.  If they are completely closed, fire them & find another who is more open and versed on the research.

So. What the heck can we do about it?

It's an easy fix, but not a quick one.  I learned everything I could (and still am by the way) about evolutionary biology and then use these principles to filter all of the latest research findings through and see which ones still make sense or try to figure how they might fit.  Also, I use these evolutionary principles to adjust my prevention and treatment protocols so that they are more in line with evolutionary biology.  There are many non-certified Western and Alternative medical practitioners that have been doing this for some time, I applaud the honest ones for doing this.  I think it's time that we in certified Western medicine caught up!

Message: It's through this practice of selecting professionals that are more open-minded & versed on the literature, that health professionals will ultimately expand their knowledge and be accountable to you, the client.  Also, we have to stop always citing old studies as the basis for our current treatment practice, research question or curriculum and seriously attempt to integrate the evolutionary biology approach.


Thanks for reading my rant!  I hope you found it useful as well as entertaining!  Honestly, I feel better for having wrote this, so thanks for giving me an audience.

Have a great week!

Take care,

Dan T

Hunger. The Primal Trigger!

I was listening to a podcast by Maximusmark and he was interviewing Art De Vany, who I like to call the Godfather of Paleo/Primal! Anyway, they were discussing some of the concepts in Art’s book The New Evolution Diet, and talked about hunger as a motivation for exercise. Art described studies on mice and how when they were well or over fed they were reluctant to move, but when they were hungry they would move much more. A recent study examined this in male rats and found that ghrelin increased food intake and decreased spontaneous physical activity, while agouti-related peptide (AgRP) and neuropeptide Y (NPY) both increased food intake, AgRP decreased, while NPY transiently increased spontaneous physical activity. It seems that intake of about 15-20% below calorie needs improved physical fitness in mice. It seems that it would make evolutionary sense for humans to become motivated to action (often by hormones or neurotransmitters) in order to be able to fight or flight, or procure food, win a mate, etc… This is interesting, because it’s been shown in human children that excess body weight (overweight/obesity) is associated with decreased physical activity but not the other way around. Of course in today’s modern food system, it seems difficult to eat a diet that is not obesogenic (promoting obesity). 

This got me thinking. There is a massive amount of literature on diet and hunger, specifically the satiety (fullness) effect of many foods. One study examined macronutrient composition on satiety and eating behavior as well as weight loss concluded that there were no significant differences between a high carb and a high protein iso-energetic diet protocol, however, this study did not look at carbohydrate restriction, which have been shown to absolutely associate with greater fat loss and satiety in both controlled studies and self-reported populations. Furthermore, it’s been shown that low fat diets adversely affect energy availability in the weight maintenance phase & therefore shouldn’t be used (at all in my opinion) over the long term. Furthermore, a review of all the popular diets concluded that the low carbohydrate diet protocol was the most effective at producing fat loss and metabolic improvement, at least in non-diabetic, premenopausal overweight/obese women.  I know from my experience working with thousands of clients seeking fat loss that most start out being incredibly hungry all the time when they are "dieting".  Obviously, because they are doing it wrong!  In this case, hunger, a primal cue that was essential to our survival, becomes somethings that prevents us from obtaining our goals!  That means that our approach is wrong.

There has been much research into the physiological and biochemical pathways that regulate hunger and attempts by science to control or suppress hunger, more often than not this involves a marketable product. Probably the most interesting thing to me is that a significant chunk of hunger research was done & contributed to by BIG FOOD companies. Now from a business perspective this makes sense because they profit from consumption of food products and any information that helps a company drive users to consume more will make them more profitable. Unfortunately, these "good business practices" by the food industry translates into health concerns for us including but not limited to overweight, obesity, diabetes and heart disease. In essence, the current strategies used by food companies and allowed by governments are making us fat, sick and eventually dead! Therefore, we need to limit our exposure to as many of the “processed foods” as possible.

I have created a list of 4 groupings of foods that I consider processed. Obviously, if you are a Paleo purist, then you will not want to incorporate most of these, but if not, then I would suggest limiting your intake of these processed foods to not more than 3 servings per week and only if you are able to achieve your goal of optimal performance, health and longevity while doing so! There are literally hundreds of thousands of lists of processed foods out there, so rather than re-invent the wheel & add to the confusion, I’ve attempted to add general classifications of foods as well as rules that should tip you off that a particular food is “processed” significantly.

List of Processed Foods:

1) All breads, cereals & pastas - these “plant foods” are mostly GMO & are often milled (finely ground) and then pressed into shaped & cooked. In a nutshell, no pun intended, they are quite highly processed and far removed from their natural state. The only benefit that has been shown by this food group is that the fortification with folic acid has helped to decrease the incidence of neural tube defects and unfortunately, folic acid that is added in many countries has been shown to be associated with increases in colorectal cancer prevalence. This is NOT CAUSAL, but it should raise some flags. 
 

2) Sugar and sweeteners - these are highly refined products whether they have a “calorie value” or not. Both sugar and sweeteners have both been associated with weight gain. Furthermore, in my experience, clients who try to lose weight while using sweeteners are often unsuccessful or only successful for the short term. The way I would normally advise a client is that if they are currently using sugar, they need to wean down to nothing eventually. If they want to use a sweetener (artificial or natural) in the process of doing this over say a month or so, then that’s fine. But honestly, it only prolongs the inevitable, which is essentially a feeling of going cold turkey and cravings for carbs, that one must push through in order to reset the palate.

3) Liquid, pasteurized dairy - firstly, we are designed to drink human milk, and only when we are infants. Secondly, we are designed to drink raw milk, with enzyme and healthy bacterial activity, etc… Pasteurization destroys some pathogens but also destroys enzymes and kills off beneficial bacteria present as well as other micronutrients present in raw milk, including decreasing the solubility of the calcium present. This is not surprising due to the heat-lability of many proteins. Importantly, the diet of the milk producing cow needs to be considered. If that cow is consuming grass as it is designed to do, then the milk fats are healthy, whereas if the animal is consuming grains, which it is not designed to eat, then it is often sick and requires antibiotics, so the combination of pesticides, GMO grains and the pro inflammatory fats from the seed oils lead to dirty milk fats, which. If you can find a clean milk source raw or pasteurized, then use it if you like and don’t be afraid to go full fat dairy in that case. Of course, raw milk is currently illegal in North America, although, it’s the norm in other countries. I would never suggest that the current food system with mass produced dairy shift to raw production, as that would be crazy, however, if the food system shifts to more local producers (once again) and you are able to legally acquire it from a local farmer’s cow, then GO FOR IT! 

4) Fruits & Vegetable juices - specifically, I’m talking about store bought ones that are not labeled as raw. North American food safety protocols dictate that any fluid sold in stores that was once living has to be pasteurized including dairy and fruit & vegetable juices. The problem is that many of the protective benefits that are known about fruits and vegetables are believed to be eliminated be pastuerization due to the high heat. That would explain, why studies have shown that people who consume whole fruits and vegetables live longer & are healthier overall, but these benefits are not present in store bought juices because of the heating. 

I hope that you are able to use this list to help you achieve your goals!

In my opinion, it's not a conspiracy, it's just about making money & that includes the government.  Hopefully, one day, using research into human evolutionary physiology to elicit the response of incresaing consumption of foods, especially in light of the fact that they are destroying our health, will be illegal; but until then we have to stand on guard for ourselves and our families! Let’s not reward food companies for researching hunger triggers & using it against us!

Until next time! Remember to join the MERF movement (I MUST EAT REAL FOOD) & live and play life to the fullest!

Dan T

It has to be a lifestyle change!

Hi everyone!

The end of January is upon us & hopefully you're all well into adopting your new lifestyle goals as I am!  Progress report to follow later with pics & metrics.

Anybody who has been playing this lifestyle change game for any length of time knows as well as I do that the odds of making a successful change seem stacked against anyone.

I think it comes down to the framing of the persons' beliefs about what they are attempting to do.  Over the decades that I've been helping people make changes to their lifestyles (the last 10 of which as an RD) I can tell you that one common theme has emerged to those who were successful vs. those who were not.  This belief was that those who were successful were able to mentally wrap their heads around & commit to the fact that they were making a lifestyle change and not just forgoing some things they like for a bit.  Furthermore, these individuals were also able to replace the intent of the original behavior and avoid the usual roadblocks & pitfalls that more often than not occur with lifestyle changes.  As anecdotal as that is, it's based on 10 + years of experience and real results.  Let's call it results based practice.

Let's break down how these people succeeded.

1) They truly understood and committed to a holistic lifestyle change - therefore, they adopted new daily habits in the realm of activity, eating & sleeping. This means that essentially they redesigned their life with their ultimate outcomes in mind.  This requires time & effort & commitment.  Tim Ferris explains the concept of redesigning ones' life extremely thoroughly in his 4 hour book series.  However, you can do it simply by considering what your goals are & then planning out daily behaviors each week that will move you towards your lifestyle goals (i.e. consuming half my plate in low carb vegetables at every meal, etc...).  The other important concept here is that these people embrace a HOLISTIC change and therefore were exercising more and consuming better quality food at the same time.  Each behavior can feed forward on the other.  For example, if you start your day, as I did this morning, with a 6 am CrossFit class, I am much less likely to each a load of crappy food later in the day, because I believe that would undo most of my hard work & don't want to risk that!



2) They also implemented new thinking strategies and beliefs to help them become the best they could be. This keeps their focus on the goal and not the challenges.  This is critical because of our reticular activating system (RAS) that controls our focus (among other things).  This is the system responsible for you noticing the same model of car that you are thinking about buying or same breed of dog that you just got.  Dennis Waitley explained it best when he said it is like the guidance system in a torpedo/missle.  Without it, we just fly around aimlessly.  Unfortunately, the RAS only knows IMPORTANT, not whether it's good or bad (i.e. move towards or away from) and therefore if we focus on the things we are NOT wanting to achieve (i.e. don't eat the cake), our RAS kicks in understanding only that we value CAKE & then we see every crumb of cake from here to Tim Horton's.  The successful people are able to control their mental focus only on the goal or replacement behaviors, which means they did the work to plan out replacement behaviors, etc...

3) One final important distinction is that these successful people reduced their exposure to or eliminated completely processed foods.  This is extremely important because of the fact that processed foods are engineered chemically (that's correct) to stimulate us to over consume them.  It should be illegal, but it's not.  The bottom line is that if you want to maximize your odds for success remove processed foods from your diet while you are trying to burn fat otherwise you will be regularly undoing the progress you have made!

When I say processed foods I am referring to any food that is changed significantly from it's original form before eating. We're talking well beyond junk foods here (those are so obvious I won't mention them here). Examples of processed foods include but are not limited to:

- Sugar - this is a no brainer.  Sugar is refined & this makes it highly processed & therefore highly available carb source to the body, which in fat burning land is NOT A GOOD THING.

- Grain products - think about it, we don't eat any grains right from the ground or off the plant, 95% are ground or milled before preparation for consumption.  This makes them all highly processed.

 - Legume products (lesser extent) - as soon as these become powders & added to other items or pressed into shapes they are essentially as processed as Grain products, but even when consuming them whole they must be cooked for significant lengths of time before consumption, which makes them moderately processed.  A quick caveat is that some people do fine with these included in their diet due to the "safe starches".  However, for fat burning I would include them as a carb and not a protein.

- Dairy (lesser extent) - this is not really true when dairy is RAW from cow, but unless you are getting it directly from your back yard Heffer or a local farmer, it is often illegal (whether just or not) and the market therefore can get sketchy.  If you look at pasteurized milk, what is it, it is de-fatted sugar with some proteins present.  That's it.  Yes, there are some vitamins & minerals present, but they are actually quite unavailable & there's nothing that can't be obtained from other good quality food sources.  I personally have nothing against well raised high fat cheese, grass fed butter or fermented dairy like good quality raw full fat yogurt or Kefir.

Anyway, the bottom line is once you've shifted your thinking/beliefs to make a holistic lifestyle change and then start implementing those daily behaviors, you are making solid progress!  However, limiting your exposure to those processed foods will insure that you are not driven by chemistry to fall back into your old habits/lifestyle.

I hope this info helps you achieve your goal.

Be sure to check out my new website Dietitian Dan T where you can access this blog as well as my new YouTube channel (subscribe today)!  I'm working hard to bring you my view on the latest nutrition research, as well as practical tips to help you achieve your goals & motivation to help kick start your success!

We're expecting our second child in the next week or so, but I will do my best to continue posting blogs & videos as I am able to.  I will probably look a lot more sleep deprived in the next 6 months worth of videos!

Take care & have a great week!

Dan

Pratical Application - My Food Processing Spectrum

My research on choosing the best foods for best results for fat burning & best performance is based on a solid Paleo/Primal research foundation!  With respect to food processing, this translates to our bodies not having the ability to deal with many of the food processing techniques very well.  In some cases food processing increases availability of energy from foods but in many cases our bodies don't recognize the chemical compounds added to foods and often have effects on our bodies that are not good.  However, all of this can often be confusing for some people and put others off completely, therefore, I'm taking a crack at it from a different angle here.

Consider for a moment if everyone limited their exposure to processed foods.  I have discussed this in a previous blog post, which was more theoretical and less practical.  I've gotten a lot of questions about how to apply this and I've come up with my Food Processing Spectrum (below).  This provides a practical tool that people can use to guide them to create the least processed meal options available.

Think of food a spectrum of processing and choose the least processed foods that you can.  I'm not a raw food purist or anything, but be sure to eat more foods that are less processed over those that are more processed.  In fact, for 60 days just omit all foods from the processed side of the spectrum and see how that works for you.

You want to make sure that most of the foods you eat come for the least processed end of the spectrum.  Things that will "process foods" include:

a) Cooking: Bring foods to their safe (bacteria killing) temperatures, but try to avoid overcooking them.  Charring of meats (for example) leads to formation of heterocyclic amines (HCA) that have been shown to be highly carcinogenic compounds.

b) Pasteurization: This is essentially heating to very high temp. Most beverages that were once alive in North America (i.e. Dairy & Fruits beverages) are pasteurized to prevent bacterial growth.  This denatures enzymes that are normally present in the fresh foods. It is currently illegal to sell unpasteurized dairy products in North America.  Putting fruits & vegetables in a blender, however, creates a living smoothie with the entire enzyme profile intact. Canned foods (i.e. fruits and veg) are often pasteurized to prevent bacterial growth, but in doing so many of the plant-derived enzymatic benefits are lost.

c) Blending: Breaks up solids and even cells (depending on your blender).  It can liquefy many of the components and therefore creates a drinkable meal option.  Be VERY careful with smoothies as it's always better to eat your calories vs. drink them!  Depending on the composition of the smoothie, these can be very high in available carbohydrates and therefore cause huge spikes in insulin, therefore stopping fat burning & leading to fat storage!

d) Milling: This is pretty much exactly the same as Blending but with solids (i.e. all grains).  This is used to create flours and much of the original content is removed then added back. However, one of the biggest issues with this process is that it is all done by machine today and the particle size that results from machine milling is so fine that it can penetrate the gut wall and cause overt irritation or at least increase inflammatory response. There is also evidence that some of the naturally occurring irritants in grains (i.e. Lectins, etc...) that are not removed in usual production are causing increased inflammatory responses.  Either way, grains seem to be a bad choice!

d) Freezing: This process cools the food in order to significantly slow down the molecules and enzymes that lead to spoiling.  They are not stopped, but are severely slowed.  The major drawback with freezing some items (i.e. fruits) is that the fluid in the cells freezes and when they are thawed this intra-cellular liquid expands and bursts the plant tissues therefore making things mushy!  Freezing does NOT kill enzymes and is a great second choice to fresh for most people.

e) Chemical additives, preservatives & artificial ingredients: These are the most encountered and least recognized food processing techniques in existence today.  If you eat anything in a package at all, you are consuming these chemical ingredients.  Many are designed to extend shelf-life, decrease cost of production for the food company, and many also have the added benefit of stimulating appetite in consumers can lead to food addiction or over-consumption. Regardless, none of these ingredients are used with your health in mind.  Therefore, we NEED to avoid them as much as possible.

f) Fermentation: This technique is a more natural processing technique. It allows bacteria & enzymes that occur naturally in the foods to work to start breaking down the food into components (example is Eskimos that buried meat & consumed it fermented).  Obviously, this is not without some risk for foodborne illness, but when done properly it can be an awesome way to increase the nutritional value of many food items.

Obviously, there is a lot more to this story, but this seems like a good start.

Be sure to choose the least processed foods that you can on a regular basis.  Try this for 60 days and see how you look, feel & perform!

The Real Deal about Nutrient Losses!

Now, right off the bat let me say that nutrient losses are real; however, I believe that perspective gets lost in the discussion of these concepts

The Taoist saying, "My barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon." is not only a testament to the human spirit of optimism, but it also illustrates a point about perspective, and how we can become fixated on an issue or concept (however minute in the overall scheme of things) and then be ignorant to the much bigger picture. I can't tell you how many times I've had "debates" with clients regarding nutrient loss phenomenon.

 

Although it's real, the overall significance of the effect of losing nutrients in many of the foods we consume is ridiculous to even contemplate, especially considering the abysmal state of food quality that most people who start to debate nutrient losses with me.  I would argue that the effect of food processing on carbohydrate availability is even more detrimental to human health and I will cover this in a future post; however for the purposes of our discussion today we will focus on the effects of food processing on nutrient content.  All of these concepts are reflected by food quality anyway.

The major processing techniques that can decrease nutrient content are:

1) Cooking (heating) foods - heating certain components of foods can destroy certain compounds that would otherwise have been nutritionally beneficial.

2) Freezing foods - reducing temperatures of some foods can destroy compounds that would otherwise have been nutritionally beneficial.

3) Drying foods - removing water can destroy and remove (especially water soluble) nutrient compounds.

4) GMO foods - forced genetic selection for specific character traits that either make for tastier crops or heartier crops pay no mind to nutritional content.  In fact a recent study revealed that GMO corn was "nutritionally dead" with 20 x less nutrition compared with non GMO corn.Additionally, GMO crops can contain components that irritate our guts or that can elicit an immune response, therefore driving up inflammation. 

The Big Picture

I hate the tendency that we have towards nutritionism.  This term, popularized by Michael Pollan, suggests that the only value that foods have is that endowed to them by the individual nutrients that science has identified. This is preposterous because it is shifts perspective to the one nutrient in question (on that given day) and completely ignores the whole food element that the nutrient was part of and how that might play a role in any perceived benefits. 

Food companies have certainly taken advantage of these concepts to tempt us with otherwise nutritionally void foods because they contain a few nutrients that are considered good for us.  Some examples include enriching flour with 13 essential vitamins and minerals (sound familiar), or fruit juice with calcium in it, etc... The challenge with all of this is that these foods are all extremely processed (in one way or another) and as a result are nutritionally empty foods.  They are yummy due to the concentrated sugars, etc... but have little in the way of nutritional content.  Furthermore, adding exciting individual nutrients that are good for us back into a nutritionally void food, does not make that food good for us in any way.  Seriously, let's take fruit or vegetable juices for example. If I take a fruit or vegetable that have health benefits, cook the hell out of them, therefore killing any potentially beneficial enzymes and then blend them into a drink, add some sugar or salt to improve the flavor and then add in some vitamins or minerals (usually from a cheap powder), what do I have as my end product.   A high calorie beverage that has little to no nutritional value, especially when compared to its original form (fresh, whole vegetables or fruits).

Here's a quick tool that I've created that can help you choose the best quality and least processed foods.  This tool only addresses the quality of foods related to processing level and does not consider your needs and the amounts that you are eating.  However, I've seen that people can derive benefits (i.e. fat loss, increased energy, etc...) from simply improving the quality or decreasing the processing of the foods they regularly eat!  Give it a shot for 60 days and see how you look, feel and perform and let me know how it goes for you.  I'd love to hear that it worked, or didn't or what tweaks you made that improved it for your n=1 experiment!


Try organizing the foods you regularly eat into a spectrum of processing (similar to the one I created below) and choose the least processed foods that you can.  I'm not a raw food purist or anything, just be sure to eat more foods that are less processed over those that are more processed.  In fact, for 60 days just omit all foods from the processed side of the spectrum and see how that works for you.

Food Processing Spectrum*



*Created by: Dietitian Dan T for this blog.
This is not a quick fix, it's truly a lifestyle change.  It will be challenging at first, but could eventually become second nature.

Perspective Shift

The reality is that we need to burn down the barns of the food industry (figuratively people, I'm not suggesting anything radical). Only then, will we be able to see the big picture, which in this case is that we need to improve the quality of the foods we eat and see how that affects our health!

Honestly, there is nothing better than cleaning up your diet and living better overall.  Better means more in line with our natural genetic adaptations, which I will cover in more detail in a future post, but in the case of today's topic this means as free from the processed forms of foods as possible.

Till next time!

Citations:

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=61
http://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/processing
http://www.infowars.com/analysis-finds-monsantos-gm-corn-nutritionally-dead-highly-toxic-2/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutritionism