Holistic Health Coach and Philadelphia contributor April Reigart discusses the mine field of what we eat, how we eat it, where it comes from, and the illogic of modified and processed foods.
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Did you think I was going to presume to tell you what to eat? I can’t do that…nobody can really do that. Many people think that this is precisely what a health coach might do. My goal, as a health coach, is to teach people, firstly, how to listen to their bodies, and then to educate them on what makes foods healthful versus harmful. The choice is always theirs- but I can help to hone that intuition.
I rely on logic and intuition… The best preservative of health is to know your own body and to listen to it.
Now, I am of the opinion that a person eating Dunkin Donuts, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Oreos, et al, everyday is grossly out of touch with their body and its needs. If you truly listen to your body and experiment to find what makes you feel best, there are some foods that will always come out on top. I am fully confident that if any person – regardless of their usual diet and lifestyle – added a large salad to their daily food consumption, they would see some type of improvement to their health.
Depending on the salad, that is.
See the potential of nuance here? Someone with a thyroid disorder would not see improvement if they began to eat a raw kale salad with raw almonds everyday. In fact, they might see an exacerbation of their symptoms. Kale and almonds are goitrogenic- that is, they aggravate the thyroid gland. See what a slippery slope it is to try to tell anyone what to eat?
Someone with colitis or digestive issues would not feel well if they began to eat a raw salad everyday, but would do better with a lightly steamed or pressed salad. Someone with a fructose intolerance (like myself- never heard of that until I did!) would not do well to eat a salad with apples on it. Someone with diabetes or cancer should eat a raw kale salad, but they should not have fruit on it, unless it’s berries- because berries are anti-cancer and low sugar, and the kale should be massaged in order to render the anti-cancer nutrients digestible.
You see how it is one thing to say “everyone can benefit from eating a salad,” but another thing entirely to prescribe any certain foods?
I can talk about eating fresh, organic whole foods and why processed foods are not serving you, but ultimately- that information has to resonate with you, or it is meaningless. In fact, just the other day a person exclaimed to me that “ ORGANIC is a lie – you are living a big fat lie!” I would never argue with a person who feels this way. I only wish them the best, and hope they always have their health. Yet, I am happy to explain why I make the food choices I make for myself and my family, and I always have hope that the logic of it resonates.
For instance, focusing on logic, I always wonder why the word organic gets some people so riled up. For many people, the word organic is synonomous with elitist and expensive. I can only imagine that their perception of organic is being shaped by conventional food companies, and in this case, organic is just portrayed as another marketing scheme.
Look- Nabisco, Kraft, Nestle, etc.- they are corporations. Corporations are in the business of market research and profit. Their sole purpose is to make money: for their executives and for their shareholders. They are not out to better our environment, ensure fair wages for workers and farmers, leave a legacy of health for generations to come, nor to keep you healthy. It’s just not their focus. Their focus is on what sells, and how to convince you to buy more of it. These companies pay researchers and scientists to study and develop flavors that will get you addicted. They know that sugar, salt and unhealthy fats actually affect your brain chemistry- mainly, your dopamine receptors- and will leave you wanting more, more, more. (Yes, your dopamine receptors…their processed foods behave much like crack cocaine.)
Americans eat a huge calorie surplus today…because they’ve effectively marketed junk foods so that they are not only around every corner, but actually seem necessary to us. How could we possibly live without Oreos and Coca-Cola?
We’d live well (in case you didn’t think that was a rhetorical question).
These companies see that natural foods are starting to gain traction and undercut their profits, so they have begun marketing “natural” and “organic” versions of their processed junk foods. This sullies public perception of what it means to be organic. Organic is not another product to be sold. And, getting back to logic, how does organic come to be so suspect, anyhow?
Take an organic potato: a seed is planted, a plant grows, birds and insects have their way with some of the potatoes, and the rest are harvested and eaten. That’s organic. Sometimes those potatoes aren’t pretty, but they taste really good, as they contain more nutrients than their conventional counterparts that were grown in mineral depleted soil. Sometimes it is really hard work for the farmer. Sadly, that farmer doesn’t really make the profit s/he deserves, although he does have to charge a bit more for that potato because of the time and effort it took to grow it. Luckily, though – no animals, insects or illegal immigrants had to become sick or die for that potato. But, yeah, it costs a couple of dimes more.
Now, let’s take the conventionally grown, genetically modified potato. A potato is taken in to a laboratory. (Already sounds like a joke to me. “A potato walks in to a bar…”) Some other thing is also taken in to the laboratory- a fish, a bacteria…something that isn’t another potato. DNA is extracted from the non-potato with complicated tools and techniques. With something equivalent to a giant laser beam- that DNA is blasted in to the DNA from the potato. Badda-bing, Badda-boom…they create a seed from this Frankenstein and plant it.
Sidebar: Some of the biggest producers of these Franken-seeds are actually pesticide companies. Yes, their specialty is poison. Again, it defies logic to me that a company in the business of killing things: need I mention that they are the company that developed Agent Orange – from which people are still affected today? Vietnam was the biggest biological war ever conducted. Thousands of acres of Vietnamese farmland were strategically eradicated by Agent Orange, and people and animals were collateral damage. This is the company CREATING 80% of the foods we eat. A company in the business of killing things is responsible for manufacturing food. Food is supposed to make things live.
Where was I? Oh. My analogy. Organic potato versus GMO potato. Yes, the Franken-potato is planted and then heavily sprayed with chemicals to kill all the bugs and animals that would probably have only become mutated from eating their potato anyhow. But, they must die. And so must the immigrants down in the fields picking the produce, touching all these chemicals, breathing them in everyday. But- you save money at the register. You really pay so much more for these foods – just not at the register – that’s how they trick you. The cost of conventional food as it shows up in tax dollars, farm subsidies, petroleum, environmental burden/cleanup, etc, isn’t calculated.
Another sidebar: These chemicals become agricultural run-off. The death toll is not limited to the field in which the produce is grown. It pollutes nearby watersheds, killing off aquatic life and all the things that depend on it, polluting our drinking water and rendering soil infertile and toxic for decades to come.
(Just look at what’s going on in Flint, MI. To cut costs, river water was piped through the city as potable water. It wasn’t properly treated and many people – children- now have serious lead poisoning. Why is that river water so toxic, anyhow?)
These are facts. So my logic asks me: why do people become so darned suspicious of the organic food, and not of the Oreos? Processed foods are full of products brought to you by chemical companies….genetically modified corn syrup, genetically modified canola oil, genetically modified sugar, genetically modified wheat. Why do people defend these foods marketed for profit, but feel enraged at the idea of a food grown the way it was always grown before the advent of industrial agriculture (which was only after World War II)?
I’d like to point out something that should also appeal to logic and reasoning. Most tribal cultures do not experience heart disease, diabetes and cancer. The Aboriginal people of Australia had no incidence of these diseases UNTIL they were forced out of their traditions and forced to rely on government aid and government food. Now that the Aboriginal people eat conventional western foods (like cheese product and white bread), they are experiencing terrible rates of heart disease and diabetes. The proof is in the pudding. The proof is in the Oreos.
I can’t tell you what to eat, specifically. But I can tell you all of this. And hope you make great choices for yourself, your environment and the generations to come.
I can hope you listen to your intuition and inner logic to guide you. Question everything.
April Reigart is an Institute for Integrative Nutrition Certified Holistic Health Coach, and also certified by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. She holds a Master’s Degree from Tyler School of Art, and lives in Philadelphia with her husband and young son. She is available for one-on-one coaching and health strategizing, and offers free initial health consultations. Find her through her website, on Facebook or follow her on Instagram.