Paleo, Vegan, Vegetarian, Oh My!
If you're reading this, I'm going to assume that you've experimented with changing your diet at least once. Whether you stopped eating things with faces, went gluten-free, or piled more veggies atop your plate, most people will experiment with their food choices at some point, usually in an effort to feel better. My patients always have lots of questions regarding diet and nutrition, and over time, I've noticed a troublesome theme. See below...
If I Burp Up This Pizza One More Time I Swear I'm Gonna....
After the 2nd hour of burping up the sausage and pepperoni pizza she had for dinner that night, Anne promised herself that she was going to change her diet for good. She was constantly exhausted, masking her persistent acid reflux with medication, and worst of all, she was forever farting in public and avoiding accountability.It was time for a change.Anne slept well that night knowing that she was committing to a healthier way of living. The next morning she went online, hoping to gather some ideas for a grocery list. Thirty minutes later, Anne was overwhelmed, confused, and ready to drive a couple of blocks to grab a McMuffin and some hash browns. Spending a little time on the web made something glaringly clear - there is absolutely no consensus about which diet is best for health. Anne began to wonder if perhaps there wasn't actually a "right" diet?Perhaps a McMuffin wasn't so bad after all? Right?
The Dietetics Debate
It's nearly impossible to find clear guidelines when it comes down to what a healthy diet entails. Even when you think you've found a diet that seems manageable, you can expect to find a plethora of criticism and 'research' that will argue against it. Go ahead - do a quick web search. (I'm about to rant for a bit, so if you already know how confusing the world of nutrition and diet can be, and you just want some straightforward suggestions, skip to Eat This: 10 Simple and Sustainable Dietary Guidelines).These days, the Paleo folks dominate the blogosphere, followed closely by the vegans and the green smoothie enthusiasts. Then, of course, there's the bacon people - carnivores who will share all kinds of creative ways to incorporate bacon into a doughnut, a smoothie, or a fry pan of scallops. Then they'll provide you a list of all the reasons why eating swine is divine.There's a ton of information out there about food, in the form of blogs, books, tv shows, documentaries, and it can quickly get overwhelming. Don't get me wrong - I think it's great that people are talking about the culture of food, and debating dietetics. But when your average Gina needs some basic help restocking her fridge with healthier choices, it's simply not helpful to be bombarded by partisan food politics.Because let's be honest...it's not the vegans or the paleo peeps that are looking for answers. If you're managing a blog with 200 different recipes for green smoothies, then you've probably found a regimen that works for you, and thanks for sharing.It's the folks who are looking to move away from the standard American diet (SAD) that could use a little help. And when you're reaching out to the average American who consumes the SAD diet, it's best to put all dietary extremism aside in order to affect realistic change.
Different Strokes for Different Folks
Even the most basic dietetic debate (meat/no meat) has been going on forever. At this point, both sides can cite research/give anecdotes all day long about how their diet is the right one. The vegetarians tell us that eating meat will expedite dying. The carnivores tell us that not eating meat will expedite dying. The debate can get downright incendiary. Just peruse the comment sections of any blog with big ideas about diet; the threads are a bloodbath of insults. Perfect strangers berate each other over what they like to put in their pie holes.In fact, it was only 3 years ago that Lierre Keith, vehement paleo and author of The Vegetarian Myth was smashed in the face with a pie (filled with cayenne pepper) by some protesting vegans at the Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair, which, I can only imagine (considering the name of this fair), is a place where anti-dogmatic ideas are meant to be vocalized, and perhaps debated in a red hot fashion, but not manifested as a mean-spirited, pie-throwing act of immature pugilism.So not cool, all this rabid dogma around something as sacred as...food. In fact, let us first remember that 842 million people in this world do not have enough to eat before we go throwing pepper pies at carnivores because they prefer to cook their kale with pork belly. And just so you don't think I'm harshing the vegan mellow - it's also not cool to tell a stranger, at a potluck, all the reasons why you eat meat and why they should too as they spoon a steaming bowl of vegan chili into the opening of their GI tract.Dig?
Okay, So What Should I Eat?
I suppose in a basic way I am philosophically aligned with a particular approach to eating. I do believe that much of the benefit of the food you eat comes from how it was grown/raised, how mindfully it was prepared, and how you felt when you ate it. In other words, food is/has qi, just like everything else, including yourself. I believe that, as best as possible, we should hold respect for the land, plant, and/or the animal from which our sustenance derives.Eat This: 10 Simple and Sustainable Dietary Guidelines is an blog post about my recommendations on how to navigate the crazy world of diet and nutrition. Just FYI - my first rule is simple: relax, and do your best to eat some of your meals with people you like. If you're digging your teeth into a B.L.T. while Uncle Tony rants about his no good stinkin' ex-wife (your sweet Aunt Marie who divorced him 12 years ago for bucketloads of good reasons and who you'd rather be sitting in that chair), then follows up with a monologue about his love for our governor and the threat of the Ziki fly, well.... that food probably isn't going to sit so well.I guess what I am trying to say is that if you're dealing with a world that's hard to swallow, sometimes your food becomes hard to swallow, too. My best advice for this is something I've had to learn by trial and error, specifically around the holidays (I KNOW some of you can relate). Anger, frustration, resentment, and sadness aren't ideal background emotions to eating - they tend to constrict or scatter the qi. In other words, it's hard to digest food when your body enters into "fight or flight" mode instead of "rest and digest." Consider speaking up to Uncle Tony, or moving your plate to the kid's table. Some people no longer attend events/dinners/holidays that they know won't be nourishing to the spirit (and therefore, the digestion). Here's a great article on navigating this.And more importantly, here's to many more gatherings that include good food, good people, and good times.