My Thoughts on a Healthy Diet
I have personally developed a healthy relationship to food and have decided to dedicate part of my career to help others do the same. I'm still not always perfect because sometimes I love a high quality pastry or pizza and that's okay. I can stop at one. That wasn't always possible.
I have worked with enough people to see us either starving or stuffing ourselves at astronomical levels. We are suffering and don't know what to do about what we eat, which is a life sustaining act. It is so common to either be eating refined carbohydrate hydrogenated fat processed animal product rich foods or eating such a short list of foods (keto, 30-10, Paleo, etc) that we are living in deprivation. This is not necessary.
The best diet is a variable diet made of food that comes from the Earth or Goddess or God or whatever your belief, and not a factory, with vegetables as the main ingredient. I base this premise on the study of Blue Zones, or populations that have high expectations of living into their 90s and 100s healthily and happily. There are five populations in the world called the Blue Zones and these people live in Loma Linda, CA; Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica; Loma Linda, California; Ogliastra Region, Sardinia; Okinawa, Japan; Ikaria, Greece. As you can imagine, there have been investigations into lifestyle to determine what they do that may contribute to their long life. So... what do they have in common?
- They eat a mostly plant based diet, but have a little meat and dairy too. They eat vegetables, whole grains (not much refined), beans (so much research leaves beans in the health food category), nuts, seeds, fruit. Fish and seafood are common. They also regularly eat fats like olive oil and butter. Vegetables are central.
- Obesity rates are low.
- They live active lifestyles where it's built in to daily life, not just pumping iron at the gym. Walking or riding bikes to the store is the norm.
- They get plenty of sleep, no less than 7 hours per night.
- They don't smoke or drink excessive alcohol.
At Morton Holistic, optimal diet is discussed in most visits unless client would like to avoid the subject. I love sharing recipes, exploring new vegetables, and also discussing why I promote cooked over raw. It all has to do with Botany and stomach acids. Stay tuned!
Buettner, D., & Skemp, S. (2016). Blue Zones. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 10(5), 318-321. doi:10.1177/1559827616637066