What to Eat for Better Health
Friday nights growing up you could bet that we were having pizza delivered. Waiting patiently for the delivery driver to ring the door bell and hand over a pipping hot box with the smell of garlic, bread, and melted cheese. We would scurry to the kitchen to divie up the slices. I used to love to dunk my folded up slice into a puddle of ranch dressing to cool off the heat, and chase it with an ice cold soda.
Sunday’s, Mom cooked a big meal. She would put on a stuffed roast or make spaghetti from scratch in a large dutch oven. The kitchen and whole house would be engulfed with the smell of onions, spices, and meat through out the morning until lunch time. Most meals on Sunday were eaten on a TV tray in front of the television, so we wouldn’t miss a game of football or 60 minutes in the evening.
No one really talked about nutrition. You knew that fruits and vegetables were good, but sugar loaded cereals and fried pies were always available too. According to the cereal boxes we were getting our essential vitamins and a surprise prize in the box! Diets were for losing weight, and as far as I was concerned, miserable.
So where do you even start? And why does it even matter? These were things I had to ask myself once I found out I had breast cancer. Everyone talks about how sugar feeds cancer, but what does that even mean? Cut out the cookies and cake, and everything will be alright?! It goes much deeper than that, and here is a glimpse at what I have learned.
Food is not a luxury. I know that sounds stupid, but we often times view it that way. It’s obviously a necessity, but we often times are looking for the quickest, cheapest option. Food is not only necessary, but it’s our medicine. Our bodies use food as information. The quality of the food matters too. Sub-optimal nutrition and imbalances lead to biochemical compromise. Once a normal cell in the body is damaged (now a cancer cell) it shifts to a state of energy called glycolysis which makes the cell dependent upon sugar as a fuel source. This is why keeping your glucose levels balanced is so important!
When I started changing my food, the first thing I looked at was processed foods. Think cereal, chips, packaged meals, grab and go snacks, anything that you would find on the inner aisles of the grocery store. Ideally you limit or eliminate these type of foods. At first I just looked for better choices, like “organic” and low sugar options. While this was a great start, there was more to pay attention to. The biggest thing you want to pay attention to is the ingredients. If you are focused on calories - stop it! Calories are just a measurement of energy - that’s it. It does not signify whether the food is healthy or not healthy. The ingredients are priority. You already know that you need to be able to pronounce everything, but did you know that the order matters too? If the first ingredient is water, then the majority of the recipe is water. Likewise, if the first ingredient is sugar then the majority is sugar. Anything that ends is “-ose” is related to sugar: dextrose, sucrose, fructose, maltose, lactose. You will want to avoid food with these ingredients because they are highly processed.
Next, look for what kind of oils are used. Vegetable oil, soybean oil, seed oil, canola oil, corn oil, and peanut oil are all inflammatory. That means that these oils are so processed that they induce an inflammatory response in our bodies. Inflammation is our bodies natural response to injury and invaders. Chronic or consistent inflammation exhausted our immune system and makes us susceptible to disease. Instead look for products that list olive oil and avocado oil. Unrecognizable ingredients are most likely a chemical derivative and not health friendly. Focus on quality ingredients. Avoid ingredients that are highly processed and that have high sugar content.
So what about produce? Have you ever noticed that the produce section is the smallest part of the store?! It’s crazy if you think about the effect that product has on our bodies. Produce is the powerhouse of vitamins, nutrients, and fiber. You want to literally eat the rainbow of colors each and everyday. I try to include veggies with every meal - even breakfast. The more colorful, the more polyphenols. Polyphenols are a class of compounds found in many plant foods. They protect the body’s tissues against oxidative stress and protect us against disease. Just this morning I had a salad, beans and scrabbled eggs - think outside of the box! There is no such thing as breakfast food. Work to include protein, fat, and fiber. Fiber not only aides in digestion, but also in our body’s ability to process glucose. Vitamins and nutrients are like instruction cards to the body. They help regulate your nerves, mood, resist infections, and help process energy. Your body craves fruits and vegetables, and when possible consider organic. Organic means that it was grown without harmful chemicals or pesticides, which is important considering many chemicals and pesticides are know to be carcinogenic. However, organic is expensive. Most discount store offer organic options, and following the EWG Healthy Living guidelines for the “Dirty Dozen and Clean 15” is a great place to start.
Shopping the perimeter of the store will ensure you are eating for better health. Here is what you will want to consider for meats, fish, and dairy. There are lots of marketing slogans to get your attention and make you think you are buying a healthy option. Did you every see those ads for milk that talked about happy cows? I used to think why do I care if the cow was happy, all I want is milk! Turns out the quality of life and health directly relates to the nutrition in the milk. If you purchase a chicken that was raised in a confined concrete cage with not access to sun and fed GMO feed - that chicken felt terrible and was stressed out its entire life. And believe it or not, has less nutrition. On the other hand, a chicken that was pasture raised and fed organic feed was able to use its body to exercise, soaked up vitamins from the sun, and got minerals from the earth. You will get that same nutrition when you eat it. All this to say that pasture raised organic meats are a healthier choice. When it comes to fish, it’s the same premise. You want to purchase fish that was in it’s nature environment - wild caught not farm raised. Farm raised requires farmers to “treat” the water to prevent over growth of disease and contamination, and those chemicals end up on your plate.
I know it’s a lot, so start small! Working with Pink Pineapple Health is a great way to plan and create new routines to take back your health.
Be good to yourself.