Guest Post: Stay Well, Fire Your Doctor – Part 1

Now follow a series of guest posts from my good friend Cerebral Tickle. I absolutely love reading her stuff and although she has been quiet on the blog front she is planning a come back. I look forward to it. Thank you so much for the posts you have written for me. 

Stay Well, Fire Your Doctor – Part 1

We live in a time where there is an obesity crisis. What was once considered to be well overweight is now the norm, and the norm is now viewed by many as being so skinny that it appears to be unattainable. Why?

There are 2 reasons.

The first and most important is our eating habits.

Most, if not all of us have studied the basics of nutrition in school. We know about the 5 (or 7 in some cases) portions of fruits and vegetables per day, 3 portions of dairy, balanced meals consisting of a variety of food from all 6 food groups, etc. Why have we strayed from what we learned?

Simple. Our taste buds have been damaged. As food processing plants look for ways to cut costs, things like sugar have been replaced by the very cheap, quick and easy to produce HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup), and salt by MSG (Monosodium Glutamate). Just like any habit forming drug, they are addictive. The more we have, the more we crave, and the more we crave, the more we have. At the end of the day, we end up consuming way more calories than our bodies need of food like substances which are of little or no nutritional value. Our bellies feel full but we don’t feel satisfied, and that is because our bodies, smart as they are, are craving the nutrients which they have been deprived of.

Not only are our bodies being damaged by all the negative effects of increased body fat percentages, water retention and lack of nutrients, but many of these manmade products have nasty and unwanted side effects which are damaging to our health.

Instead of focusing on what those are and why they occur, why not go back to what worked for mankind since it existed?

Our bodies need macronutrients and micronutrients. The former is carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Everything else falls under the latter category. An ideal diet for the average person with no health ailments and dietary restrictions is for each meal to be 40% carbs, 40% protein and 20% fat, with an unlimited amount of fruits and veggies both with meals and as snacks. Where you take your macros from, are entirely up to you. We all know that there are ‘good carbs’ and ‘bad carbs’ and there is a plethora of information available out there to guide everyone on good carb choices. Same goes for protein. It is an individual’s choice whether he/she wants all of his/her protein sources to be animal based, plant based or a combination of both. We all know what foods provide healthy fats (avocados, coconuts, nuts, olives, seeds, cold pressed oils, etc.) and which don’t.

Eating healthy does not mean starvation or deprivation, and any diet which completely eliminates any food group is something which cannot be sustained in the long term and therefore cannot be healthy.

I urge everyone to eat a balanced diet of healthy, natural foods, and more importantly, instill this into your children. The world we live in is far different to the one in which we grew up, and if those of us who know better could end up obese in our adult lives, then imagine what the case will be for our precious little ones if they are never given the knowledge and practice of selecting, nutritious, dietary options.