Healthy Eating
Most people in our culture eat a diet that is highly refined and very processed. They think that kind of diet is “normal” because everyone else eats that way too. However, such a diet is anything but normal, since this type of diet never existed prior to the past several decades. Just a couple of generations ago our ancestors ate a diet that was far different from what we consume today.
And what is the result of the diet most of our neighbors eat today? Food Matters. Adult obesity in this country is over 60% and childhood obesity is over 30%. The Harvard Nurse’s Study found that female fertility decreases by 40% in women that consume the equivalent of one serving of french fries or chicken nuggets daily. The fertility of males has decreased by 50% over the past 50 years. If male fertility continues this trend, it means that the last fertile male has already been born! Diabetes has increased by 17% in just the past two years! And all of the “diseases of aging” are increasing at an alarming rate specifically in those countries with the highest intake of processed food. What is wrong with this picture?
The vast majority of our entire food supply is controlled by agribusiness and the fast food industry. Agribusiness focuses primarily on raising huge amounts of grain because it’s the cheapest and most profitable way to create the most amount of calories. Much of the corn produced for Archer-Daniels Midland Corporation is used by them to manufacture 80% of the world’s supply of high fructose corn syrup. Is it just a coincidence that the increase in the rate of diabetes exactly parallels the increased use of high fructose corn syrup? Concentrated sugars in any form increase inflammation in the body as well as the “diseases of aging”
Refined grain plays a dominant role in our modern Western diet. We have toast or cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and bread or rolls for dinner. And most of the animal protein we eat is fed a diet of mostly grain. “You are what you eat” is not only true for us, it is true also for the animals we raise. And when we feed them mostly grain, the nutrients we get when we consume most commercially raised beef, pork, poultry and farm raised fish are primarily the nutrients found in grain.
Grain has an abundance of oils (Omega 6 oils) that create inflammation and are deficient in oils that control inflammation (Omega 3 oils). All of the diseases of aging are linked with increased inflammation. This is no surprise when you consider how much grain and grain-fed animal products are in our diet.
Grain is also deficient in the amino acid Tryptophan, which is essential for our brain’s ability to make serotonin, which prevents depression. Is it any wonder that the incidence if depression is so high in a society that eats so much grain? Of course, many other factors contribute to this problem as well including hormonal imbalance, sub-optimal Vitamin D levels, functional hypothyroidism, etc. Most of these other factors are also caused by the unhealthy diet and lifestyle choices that we make.
Much has been said of the “diseases of aging”. But these diseases aren’t caused by aging alone. If that were the case, then everyone would get the same diseases at a certain age. These diseases are the result of a complicated interplay between our genes and the dietary and lifestyle choices we make. They are not caused so much by how old we are, but instead by how long we’ve been making too many unhealthy choices and not enough healthy choices. Check out The Blue Zones for an excellent video showing how your environment and choices shape your health and longevity.
You can’t get healthy by treating disease. Health is much more than just the absence of symptoms. Health is a state of optimal physical, mental, emotional and spiritual function. This is only obtainable to those that consistently make healthy choices in their lives. At Baxter Health Center we help our patients understand more about how their choices impact their health so they are able to make healthier choices and experience dramatically improved health.
