When I was a child, we were told that we should eat low fat margarine, not butter and low fat yogurt not full fat. These ’pretend’ foods were the new heroes, while the natural alternatives were vilified as being artery clogging monsters.
Most people now know that a diet rich in natural unprocessed foods is the best path to follow, and animal fats in moderation, are not as bad for our health as they were once thought to be. In fact plant derived fats and oils are positively good for us.
It’s interesting where all this misinformation came from in the first place. Was it just to increase sales of processed food, thus lining the pockets of CEO of big companies?
Take breakfast cereal. Who on earth thought about manufacturing them? Mr Kelloggs perhaps? Before it was invented, we ate real food, then we were told that we should eat sugary carbohydrates with milk on top, first thing in the morning. Two of my least favourite things. I’m surprised any of us survived childhood without type 1 diabetes, after developing that extreme Coco Pops habit!
Anyway enough about the past, what do we know now, that can make important changes to your life today:
1. Carbs are not the enemy
We need them for energy, some people need more, some less, but without them our muscles just don’t recover as well, especially after exercise. You can conduct scientific tests (available at EPT) to establish exactly how many you need or you can go with trial and error.
2. There are not as many nutrients in our food as there used to be
Back when we were evolving tens of thousands of years ago, the food we ate was more nutrient dense, free range and we did a lot more and wore less clothes. A couple of areas that modern man needs help in are Omegas (specifically EPA and DHA) and Vitamin D. Most people need to take supplements, but again you can test to find your exact level of supplementation for you.
3. Your overall health is directly linked to your gut health
Having a balanced microbiome, can ensure that you don’t suffer from a number of diseases; colon cancer, Crohn’s disease, colitis, diabetes and obesity have all been shown to have links with gut bacteria. Increase your probiotic consumption as a baseline, but we can test your GI tract for a variety of conditions too.