We live in an extremist society. People carry everything to extreme. That is especially true in diet and nutrition.
Every day you see some new report about how a certain food or nutrient is good for you, and people start loading up on it. Then you see a report on something being questionable, and people drop it like a hot potato.
Can you really eat too much Kale?
Now the Kale stories are hitting. Healthy eaters have been loading up on kale to the point where farmers are having trouble keeping up with demand. Now reports are surfacing that indicate that too much kale can affect your thyroid. (read article here)
The thing is, you body needs lots of different foods and nutrients in combinations that are only achieved through a balanced diet.
We heard salt is bad. People cut down on salt. Now the truly healthy eaters who don’t eat packaged or fast foods that are loaded with sodium may now be deficient in sodium and iodine. Sodium is an electrolyte. It is essential. Too little can be as bad as too much.
Angelina Jolie (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Raw foods and vegan diets are falling out of fashion as people discover that they develop unexpected health problems. There was quite a buzz a couple of years ago when the Pope and Angelina Jolie went back to eating some meat for health reasons.
Eggs were made evil many years ago. Turns out that eggs are a rich source of many nutrients. And they are suggesting that eating cholesterol does not determine your levels. Your body makes cholesterol. Your levels are mostly genetic. Common Sense will tells you that people ate eggs for hundreds of years.
How about fat?
Did you know you can eat as many vegetables as your stomach can hold, but unless there is some fat in the same meal, your body cannot process the nutrients?
Did you know that your brain is primarily fat? Could this be a reason for the increase in Alzheimer’s and Dementia?
Now its true that we ate too much fat, especially if your family is from the south. Now many people are eating too little. Does that mean we should go back to frying everything in bacon grease? Absolutely not! But you can use olive oil, coconut oil, real butter, and eat good cuts of meat.
Still stay away from Trans fats. I’m with Jack LaLanne – if man made it, don’t eat it.
Single vitamins are routinely singled out as being super nutrients. Take calcium for example. People were loading up on calcium. But in order for your body to use the calcium, it needs magnesium – which most people are deficient in these days.
But, you might say that the RDA levels are too low.
That is true for 2 reasons –
1. Supplements are meant to supplement a healthy diet, not replace it.
2. We are getting fewer nutrients from our food due to overfarming and industrial food production.
What about the health food darling – soy?
Soy was initially recommended for women going through menopause because it mimics female estrogen. Now there is soy in everything. Put on your Common Sense hat – Do you think that much female estrogen is good for anybody? The real reason for it is that it is a cheap filler. Usually there is big money to be made on hot trends. Don’t think they are looking out for you. They are looking for ways to increase profits.
So how do you know what to eat?
Easy. Eat a balanced diet of fresh real foods.
Forget the hot trends. Use Common Sense!
Do you want to lose weight the healthy way, without eating gross foods?
