Is there a perfect diet?
Are you confused about what is a healthy diet? How many different doctors, organizations, and experts are telling you what to eat? How do you know who to believe and how do you decide what to eat?
Believe it or not, this answer is relatively simple. Eat real food.
When you eat real food, there is no label to interpret, because real food does not need a nutrition label.
Real food does not come in a box or a bag.
Real food only has one ingredient – itself.
Most of the “food” we eat isn’t food at all. It is a processed product that is commercialized and sold to us for a profit. It may be entirely devoid of any nutrition, but it does allow us to survive. We can function off of highly processed “food”, but in order to be healthy, your body requires real food – food that has real nutrition.
Real food is required for optimal functioning of each and every cell in the body. We have forgotten that we need real food to provide us with the building blocks to make cells, tissues, muscle and hair. Food gives us the substrates for making chemical messengers like neurotransmitters and hormones. And we get vitamins and minerals, which act as cofactors and coenzymes for every reaction that occurs in our bodies from second to second.
While no diet fits every one person, there are certain foods that have a higher nutrient density than others, and those are the foods that everyone should be eating. On the other hand, there are foods with a lower nutrient value and most people are better off avoiding them all together.
The Paleo Diet
I am an advocate for a Paleo-type diet, which focuses on the highest quality, most nutrient dense, whole foods. I appreciate the nutritional content of this diet and have seen quite miraculous healing occur with patients who transition to eating this way. In my practice, I have seen patients lose weight, reverse diabetes, eliminate the need for medications, reduce inflammation and pain, recover from autoimmune flares, lower anxiety, improve mood, and balance hormones.
That is evidence that good nutrition is essential for health.
The Paleo diet includes animal proteins that are raised naturally. For example, wild game, 100% grass fed beef and lamb, pasture-raised pork, chicken, and eggs, and wild seafood all provide excellent sources of essential amino acids and fat.
Carbohydrates are allowed in the diet because they provide essential vitamins and minerals. In fact, all vegetables and fruits are carbohydrates, and all varieties of these should make up the bulk of your diet.
Fat plays an essential role in the making of hormones, cellular structure, and as a healthy fuel source. Healthy fats from coconuts (oil, milk, and unsweetened meat), olives, avocados, raw nuts or seeds should be in each meal.
The Paleo diet does exclude some real foods such as grains and legumes, because these foods can irritate the gut and do not provide much nutrition. It also excludes sugars, industrial seed oils (such as canola, peanut, and soybean oils), and processed foods because not only are these foods devoid of nutrition, they are also inflammatory and can actually contribute to the cause of many diseases.
Eat Real Food
The perfect diet for you, for everyone, is made up of real food. Food that is grown and raised and fed in accordance with nature. It does not require processing or packaging. It does not come in a plastic container, say ‘all natural’ or ‘low sugar’ or ‘low fat’. And it does not have any additives, preservatives, or fortifiers. It has no label and no brand name. It is simply food.
Eat real food and your body will get all the nutrition it needs. You will be much healthier and you will feel much better. Try it. Real food is the perfect diet for you.
