You Are What You Ate

Have you noticed this?

Have you noticed how there’s a ton of advice and information out there about what drugs to take, but rarely do you hear that if you change your diet and lifestyle, you can dramatically improve your health and drastically slash your chances of illness in the first place? Most of the time these drugs only treat the symptoms and don’t improve your overall health, but yet we’ve known about the immune system and how it works for decades. Vitamin D, anyone?

Well.

Most people who know me personally know that I am never shy about offering my opinions on health-related matters when asked (and sometimes when not asked)… So after years of thinking about it, and after much encouragement, we have decided to start writing them down so they can be shared. It breaks my heart to see so many people suffering when they could potentially feel better in a matter of weeks with appropriate lifestyle and nutritional changes. This information is out there, but most people don’t have the time or energy to wade through it and curate it, nor do they have the training to be able to decipher all the scientific jargon.

And let’s face it. Our government has proven itself over the course of American history to be really BAD at making health recommendations. And the medical establishment, what many call “conventional medicine,” is not much help to you either. If you have a car wreck or fall off a ladder, go into sudden labor, or have any number of unexpected health emergencies then yes, doctors and nurses are your best friends, and here in the U.S. we have the best trauma care in the world. But bring up any chronic concerns, and they don’t look for the root nutritional problem, they only look up which drug to prescribe, because that’s how they were trained in medical school.

And believe me, though humans are very good at figuring out difficult problems, they are also very good at making problems more complicated than they really are. Your health issues are not unsolvable, they are definitely not your inheritance, and most importantly, they are NOT inevitable with age.

The truth is out there.

Your body was designed to work in a very intricate way. It requires certain basic nutrients to work properly. No amount of man-made synthetics are going to make up for this need.

So let me start by making a very simple statement that has been validated over and over again by science. I personally don’t understand why it is so hard for people to comprehend this age-old truth.

Here it is:

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT.

In the past, I have explained this concept to parents this way: Look at a newborn baby, 20 inches long and 8 pounds in weight. Now look at a high schooler, 6’3” tall and 160 pounds in weight. Where did all that material come from to build that body? 152 pounds of matter doesn’t just magically “appear.” It is not hiding perfect and dormant, waiting to expand out of that newborn baby’s body. Remember how we learned in science class that “matter cannot be created or destroyed”?

IT CAME FROM THE FOOD.

The vital building materials that your child’s body uses to create mass networks of neurons, strong tissue and bone, adaptive metabolic pathways, efficient elimination machinery, responsive hormonal controls, rigorous immune function, and an unparalleled and unrivaled communication system comes from the FOOD that your child EATS.

EVERY. SINGLE. BITE.

For their entire life.

What does this mean for you? Look down at your own body. 

YOU ARE WHAT YOU ATE.

Really think about that for a moment. Let it marinate in your brain for at least a few seconds.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU ATE.

I know this seems like such a simple concept. So simple, in fact, that we have no trouble tossing it out of our minds completely. Who cares? Too simple.

But simple doesn’t mean wrong.

Simple means understandable and uncomplicated.

Simple means you should be able to reverse years of damage, chronic disease and illness and be restored to a healthy properly-functioning body, JUST BY CHANGING WHAT YOU EAT.

And as it turns out, that’s true.

My passion has always been research and learning, even from a young age. I have spent countless hours pouring over and ingesting information on health and wellness. I have sorted it and categorized it and classified it innumerable times in my head. Well, it is time for me to thoughtfully share it. Hopefully in a way that is easy for you to understand and apply to your own life.

Now is the time for you to take control of your own health. Stop living in a daze, ingesting information from sources that do not have your best interests at heart. You must change the way you think about food and eating in order to change your life, and don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise.

Am I going to encourage you to exercise? Yes.

Am I going to encourage you to get good sleep? Yes.

Am I going to encourage you to get outdoors and in lots of sunlight? Yes.

Am I going to encourage you to surround yourself with real community? Yes.

I am going to encourage you to do many things.

But after you fix the way you eat, these things won’t seem daunting or unattainable. They will become natural. Your body desires and requires these things to function optimally. Your body wants to live exceedingly and thrive abundantly. That is how it was designed. 

So let’s get to it.

Precisely, we are going to next answer the question: WHAT IS FOOD? 

The answer may surprise you.