“You are what you eat”
I don’t remember much about kindergarten, but “you are what you eat” is one lesson I remember vividly. It took nearly 25 years for me to actually implement this simple concept into my life, and when I did, the results were astounding. Prior to changing to a healthy lifestyle; constipation, fatigue, headaches, sugar cravings, depression; all had gradually crept into my life. It was so gradual, that it just became what I grew to accept as “my normal”; things that I had just assumed were “part of life”. It wasn’t until I learned the concepts and tools of holistic medicine that I saw that “normal” was a matter of perspective, and that our modern perspective is way off! I have seen the metamorphosis first hand with countless patients. When you abandon your acquired bad habits, your inner health will bloom with a force that cannot be stopped.
Certified Healing Foods Specialist (CHFS).
This facet of my practice brings a deeper layer to my approach to health. It allows me to integrate nutritional counseling into my acupuncture practice as never before. Nutrition is an important piece of the natural healing approach. Chinese Medicine has always postulated that what we take in (air, water, and food) is then processed inside our bodies to form Qi or energy, from which all life springs. In modern terms, what we ingest and inhale literally becomes our future cells, hormones, blood, tissue, bone, and skin, etc. It becomes the basis that we have to build from, the raw materials of supreme health. If our foundation of nutrition is faulty, our systems cannot properly thrive. However, we are able to survive. Humans have an astonishing ability to persevere and to remain alive. This is what many of us are doing. We are merely surviving. You might ask, “what can I do to stop this?”
Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation and many misunderstandings about nutrition as it relates to health, disease, and weight control. The mainstream media does much to proliferate the confusion by featuring conflicting statistics and presenting the “latest and greatest” fad diets and superfoods as “cure-alls”. The truth is, we need to deconstruct, analyze, and rebuild our understanding food. You may be surprised to discover that not only your breakfast cereals and TV dinners, but also your egg white omelets, low-fat yogurt, and even your skinless grilled chicken breast leave a lot to be desired in the area of true nourishment. In actuality, they are quietly doing you significant harm.
What should I eat? What shouldn’t I eat?
Our food is supposed to nourish us and provide us with all the building blocks our body needs to rebuild, replenish, and repair itself. Modern American diets including junk/fast-food, health-food store and vegetarian diets alike, are grossly deficient in these key elements. The human body has an incredible restorative ability. It just needs us to provide it with the necessary fuel to do so. What many of us eat is dictated by the necessity for speed and convenience. When we make food choices that way, we end up eating what industrial agri-business has deemed proper nutrition. You better believe it is corporate interest and ‘bottom line’ thinking, not wholesome values, that governs how our food is sourced, grown, processed, shipped, advertised and even cooked. One hundred years ago, before we ate this way, heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer were relatively rare. In stark contrast, we are experiencing epidemics of all these diseases, despite modern medical progress and technological intervention. Our food is creating these epidemics!
There is a widely held misconception that to eat “healthy” means to suffer through endless piles of tofu and sprouts. Nothing could be further from the truth. A truly healthy diet consists of diverse, indulgent and satisfying foods that we all-to-often are told to avoid such as butter, red meat and full-fat raw dairy (from pastured animals). Eating this way is truly nourishing for the body and soul. As a Certified Healing Foods Specialist (CHFS), I can help you sift through the glut of confusing information and provide clear-cut information, research, and guidance. I can help you assimilate a proper and nourishing eating style practically and pleasantly.
