“What’s in Your Wallet?” – we have all seen the wildly successful, oft-repeated and potentially thought-provoking ad campaign from Capital One. Well, I’m borrowing their idea and morphing it slightly, to offer a little challenge of my own – “What’s in Your Bathroom Mirror?” Honestly, the answer may just offer a great deal of insight into your overall heath.
Caution: What you are about to read is OPINION, and OPINION only – but it IS based on experience………..
We live in an “EAT THIS, NOT THAT” world, don’t we? Honestly, if you pay attention to the barrage of competing food authorities these days, you will find yourself spinning around with no definitive answers…… I read with interest this morning, Michael Pollan’s interview in Mother Jones which summarizes his problems with the Paleo Diet. Every day there are “eat this, not that” messages all over the place – in books, by nutrition authorities, and all sorts of miscellaneous people with a “eating right” point of view.
In my experience, I have seen many friends and family wait to hear some input, advice, warning or encouragement from their Drs about what and how to eat. But, what if your Doctor doesn’t give you any of the above or it comes too late in the game? Or, what if you don’t agree with the advice or have experience of your own which is different? I have spent the last 15 years or so trying to figure out how to “be healthy”, or at maximize the control I have over my own state of health. Honestly, I find this to be the biggest challenge of my lifetime – considering my penchant and passion for baking. I have read about or studied a great range of philosophies in this period, with an eye toward trying to minimize the weaknesses in my DNA, personality, and palate. And, I have tried to understand the importance of nutrient-density, calorie and portion control and appetite triggers – and how they all play into what winds up going into my mouth on a daily basis. Bottom line is, I have tried to digest a lot of healthy-eating information, consulted nutritionists on my own and tried to sift, test, understand, apply and work to adapt. Some days I am good, some days, I am a complete failure. But through this all I can tell you what I have learned to be the two most important things in figuring out what to eat and what not to eat: the mirror and listening to your body are the two most important message boards. Here is a list of the most important guidelines based on my own non-professional experience – I am not a Dr. or nutritionist, for sure – but I have performed several self-experiments over the years and found these to be foolproof:
- Use your mirror: if you get up in the morning and your face is pale, puffy, haggard looking, lined or saggy – you are eating and or drinking something(s) that are working against you. Your skin is a great insight into your health. And, how your body processes food overnight is very important.
- Use your mirror: if you get out of the shower and don’t like what you see, you are eating and/or drinking something(s) that are working against you. This includes bulges where you don’t want them, and cellulite issues
- If your body aches – your joints and how they feel daily are a great insight into your health
- If your feet and hands are puffy
- If, after you eat you feel tired or drowsy within an hour or two
- If, after you eat you feel agitated, cranky or hungry again within an hour
- Oral health – what your tongue, gums and teeth are like are key message boards – also your nails and hair
- Gastrointestinal issues – persistent or recurring issues of any kind here are message boards
- How you sleep – what you eat/drink has a direct impact on the quality of your sleep
- Mood issues – food and mood are substantively intertwined
So there is my little list of guidelines to watch for – you can do your own little experiments, adding and eliminating foods and food groups until you find what results in the best outcomes. And, my question for you IS: do you have a doctor who discusses any/all of these issues with you when you go in for your check-ups? If the answer is no, you may want to re-think your selection.
Years ago, I first read about food and inflammation in Dr. Nicholas Perricone’s books about skin health – beginning around 2002. That he was a dermatologist, and not considered a “real” Dr., I believe led to a great degree of dismissiveness around his theories for a long while. Now, many years later , the ideas he discussed have become more mainstream.
So, can I sum up what works for me in the eating department? Yes, I can but I can not say whether this is what would work for anyone else. This is only my own opinion.
- Eat as many and as much green vegetable content as you can each day
- Do not avoid healthy fats such as olive oil, avocado oil
- Minimize or eliminate dairy
- Minimize or eliminate gluten if you feel IN ANY WAY sensitive – and this is not just gastrointestinal – for me, gluten causes joint pain, mood disruption and food cravings
- test your sensitivity to other grains and eliminate those which don’t agree with you
- Minimize or eliminate sugars not found in food; avoid foods which cause blood-sugar spikes
- Choose highly-colored foods
- Read any and all labels on foods you buy in the store – avoid ingredients you don’t recognize as food
- Eat as much organic, free range food as you can
- Learn all you can about nutrient density
- Enjoy nuts and seeds as snacks unless you find they do not agree with you
- Enjoy legumes as sources of protein in lieu of meat for several meals a week
- Drink Lemon-Fresh Ginger “tea” every day
- Eat a half avocado every day
- Make your own salad dressings and judiciously
- Learn about night-shade plants and see if you are sensitive
- Eliminate any foods you find create mucus, give you a headache or make you stuffy – this includes snoring! (chief offenders – citrus, dairy, sugar, wheat, alcohol)
- Avoid “white” foods – when choosing, avoid particularly, white sugar, white potatoes, white rice, white bread
- Alcohol is NOT an anti-aging, quality-sleep-inducing or nutrient-dense food group – http://www.healthylivingmagazine.us/Articles/292/
- Manage your plate – try to keep veggies 2/3 – 3/4 of your plate
- Know the difference between grain-fed and grass fed – animals eating a mostly/all corn diet means you are eating the same, and, if you are sensitive to corn, you should avoid meats where the animals are corn fed
Try this out for one to two weeks and see if you feel better, lose some mid-section bulge and weight, sleep better and see if your face and body skin look better. I have also found this to be a great deterrent if not “cure” for the cold virus – not kidding
One of the very interesting things about human nature to acknowledge – especially for someone like me who loves to bake (and I write this today as much as a self-reminder as anything else) – it’s important to realize there is a great deal of time and disconnect between what is pleasing to the palate – and even other sensory perceptors, on the input side, and what is not pleasing to the body and it’s health on the post-ingestion side. 🙁
Please feel free to disregard this as complete conjecture on my part. No hurt feelings here. I’m just sharing my own experience.
🙂 Sorry if any of this is bad news – but certain things are undeniable – our challenge is to acknowledge the connection between what goes into our mouths and how we feel – short term and long term and what we want for ourselves now and in the future – some foods work well, some don’t………