Nutrition
"You are what what you eat eats."
- Michael Pollan
Quick start tips for Eating Right
- Only eat organic food free from chemicals, antibiotics, hormones, and GMOs.
- Eat more seafood.
- Mix organ meats into your diet whenever possible.
- Utilize the power of organic spices.
- Drink plenty of quality filtered water each day.
- We don’t recommend dairy for most people. If you use dairy products, make sure it’s organic, raw, and grass-fed.
- Cut out refined, processed sugar and sugar-laden products.
Imagine getting up with the sun and spending the majority of your day hunting, gathering, and preparing food. Imagine the beauty of a fresh kitchen garden, a cold cellar filled to the brim with canned and fermented foods, a few chickens strolling around the yard, and a healthy, happy cow grazing in a nearby pasture. There was once no question about what to eat or where your food came from. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said today.
One scroll through social media or a quick walk through the grocery store is enough to leave anyone scratching their heads about what to eat. Plant-based diets will save your life. Keto diets cure cancer. Grapefruit juice cleanses ward off heart disease. Vegans live longer. Eat raw food. Drink coffee. Don’t drink coffee. Free-range, organic, low-carb, all-natural. It’s no wonder people are so lost when it comes to nutrition.
Do you feel confused about what to eat?
Don’t worry; you are not alone!
We are here to help clear things up.
What you eat is foundational to a healthy body and your 100 Year Heart. Food can either fuel your heart or kill your heart. The good news is that it is possible to eat well and give your system what it needs to operate smoothly.
It’s all about eating the right foods from the right source, reclaiming ancestral eating, and learning what it really means to eat a healthy diet. That’s what this guide is for.
Do you know what Healthy Means?
A 2017 survey issued by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) found that most people have no idea what “healthy” means. Of the 1,002 American respondents, most asserted that being healthy simply meant not having any health problems. For example, nearly 60 percent of those surveyed claimed that their health was very good or excellent, despite many being overweight or obese.
Perhaps one of the biggest reasons eating healthy has become so confusing is information overload. With one “Hey Siri” or lightning-fast Google search, we can gain access to pages and pages of health recommendations, many of which are very convincing.
Other reasons for health confusion include:
Conflicts of interest in food science
Do you know who funds most of the nutritional studies related to food? If you thought it was academia, think again. The food and beverage industry pays for the vast majority of nutrition studies. A recent issue of JAMA highlighted the troubling conflict of interests involved in food industry research.
Consider the case of Global Energy Balance Network (GEBN), a non-profit “science-based” organization aiming to fight obesity. GEBN claimed that Americans should focus more on exercise and less on food to achieve health. Guess who was quietly supporting GEBN to the tune of $5.5 million? Coca-Cola.
If this sugary-beverage company can get society to believe that exercise is the key to weight loss, sales of their products will increase. Sadly, this is one of many examples of the food and beverage industry influencing public opinion.
Food companies have traded diet for “health” culture
If you were a teen or young adult in the 1980s, you certainly remember Tab, Lean Cuisine, and Molly McButter. It was during this time that the low-fat craze also took root. Through the 90s and beyond, many people bought diet products like SlimFast or NutriSystem.
While it may appear that diet culture has died off, the truth is that marketing has simply shifted. As consumers become more health-conscious, the food industry has changed its focus.
Boxes of food-like products are labeled with terms like “keto-friendly,” “only 3 carbs,” or “gluten-free.” Unfortunately, individuals buying them often lack a complete understanding of health and instead buy into the marketing schemes and false advertising.
However, those in the know understand that processed foods are unhealthy no matter the label. People, often unknowingly, consume toxic food disguised as “healthy.” Unfortunately, food industry tactics have led to obesity, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease epidemics.
Increased access to food from across the globe
Our ancient ancestors defined the term “eating fresh, eating local.” After all, they hunted and foraged for food on foot, eating as they went along. Never would they have imagined having access to food from around the world.
Today, we can walk into a grocery store and get our hands on tropical fruit and vegetables any time of the year. And while these foods may have a robust nutritional profile, is it precisely what our bodies need for our climate and area? The worldwide food chain provides access to foods that once were unobtainable.
Our ancestors occasionally enjoyed a handful of berries but never sat down to feast on an entire pineapple. Today, individuals who live in warm, tropical areas may need more access to carbohydrates than those living in colder climates. Not all foods benefit everyone. The enormous amount of food choices can be overwhelming.
The Truth:
Real Food is Medicine.
What if achieving excellent health and your 100 Year Heart was as easy as giving your body what it needs and taking away what it doesn’t need? In the year 440 BC, Hippocrates, a very clever and famous Greek physician, said, “Let food be thy medicine and let thy medicine be food.”
Sadly, with mainstream doctors’ knowledge of food being rudimentary at best, Big Pharma’s brainwashing that has most Americans believing that drugs are the answer to sickness, and Big Food’s lies and leanwashing, Hippocrates has been largely neglected. Yet, the truth remains. There is plenty of science to prove it — food can and should be medicine.
Just as real food is medicine for the body, fake or ultra-processed food (the kind that makes up most of the American diet) is just deceptively packaged poison.
Fuel or Poison?
Fuel your heart
- Wild salmon
- Extra virgin, organic olive oil
- Walnuts
- Organic blueberries
- Grass-finished hamburger patty
- Unflavored mineral water
- Pastured raised eggs
- Organic apples
- Organic sweet potatoes
- Organic coffee
Poison your heart
- Breaded fish sticks