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You are aware that your diet has an incredible impact on your health, and you want to change it.But reading online, in magazines, or talking to friends (or even talking to some health practitioners), everyone has THE ultimate diet that you should adopt: vegetarian, vegan, high fat, low fat, high carbs, low carbs, high protein, low protein, keto, paleo, Mediterranean and so on?
Is it SO confusing that it puts you off even before taking the first step, right?
Let’s set things straight.
In fact, the question should be simple:
Am I eating a diet that supports my health? Or am I eating a diet that makes me sick or impacts my illness?
I had the blessing of growing up in Paris, France, born to parents who were already quite old to have their first child, and therefore decided to do their best to stay alive as long as possible. Also at the time, markets with fresh, plentiful local food were the main place to do your shopping. My parents went to the market for fresh produce twice if not 3 times a week. My mother, who was able to stay at home, cooked everything from fresh ingredients. Food was her pride and her way to share her love with my father and me.
So I grew up knowing the importance of fresh food. In those days fresh breads were baked every day at the local bakery, dairy was from local family farms, and vegetables and fruits were mainly locally grown without pesticides or herbicides (or any other -cides, which means killers). Even though not called organic, our food met the criteria. And luckily for us, GMOs had not yet raised their ugly head.
When and How Did the Diet War Start?
In 1993 a landmark paper was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that named the actual causes of death in the US. Diet was on the shortlist of the lifestyle factors blamed for half of the deaths in USA in 1990! This paper gave rise to the era of nutritionism, which journalist Michael Pollan called “the beginning of the diet war”.
Dr. David Katz, Director of Yale’s Prevention Research Center and Yale University School of Public Health, one of the most respected nutrition scientists in the world was asked to mediate the diet war. The question he was asked was what is the best diet?
The summary from Dr. Katz was that there is no evidence that any diet is better than any other on a long term basis. Nonetheless, diet is such an important part of health that instead of focusing on distractions and confusion, we should focus on the basics of what to eat and what NOT to eat.
I'd like to recommend a great book by Dr. David Katz, “The Truth About What to Eat, Why Pandas Eat Bamboo and Why People Get Bamboozled”. He has a great sense of humor!
I agree that most of these types of diets have their place and at times can be very beneficial to your health and part of fighting disease. However, I'd like to address the confusing battle between ideologies, as well as the lack of scientific validation supporting them.
I was vegetarian for 30 years, and a vegan for 5 years, but it was for my own personal reasons. I did not become vegetarian or vegan because I was confused and did not know what to eat. Many Americans are so confused and frustrated by the competition of conflicting dietary options that they just keep eating the Standard American Diet ( SAD and really sad ).
However, the basis of what to eat and what NOT to eat is 70 to 80% agreed upon across all these diets.
Eat A Wholesome Diet Rich in Plant-Based Foods
This means avoid completely or stay away from:
· Anything with preservatives, additives, dyes or that is processed in any way
· Anything “fat-free” or “low fat”
· Frozen dinners and processed snack foods
· Anything which contains hydrogenated or refined vegetable oils like corn, canola, safflower, sunflower and soybean oil
· All foods with high levels of added refined sugar, chemical or processed sweeteners including high-fructose corn syrup, aspartame, saccharin and sorbitol
· Canned food. Fresh food is best, and frozen is second best.
· MSG
· GMO at all costs
. Fried food and buttered food
It may sound simple but it takes a bit of practice at first as unhealthy ingredients can be hidden in some prepared food. It's best to follow these rules:
1. If you buy anything with a label, read the whole label and especially the very small print. Be on the alert for any word that you don’t know, words like natural, preservatives, any form of added sugar, or any added vitamins. DO NOT BUY and clear your kitchen of any of these items.
2. If bought in a health food store therefore I trust it. WRONG! Read labels very carefully no matter where you buy the food.
What to Eat:
• Good fats are very important in your diet. My favorites are organic unrefined coconut oil, organic cold-pressed unrefined olive oil, and organic unrefined avocado oil
• Avoid hydrogenated or refined vegetable oils like corn, canola, safflower, sunflower and soybean oil or any food containing these oils
• Vegetables: aim to eat a “rainbow diet” which combines as many colors as possible each day as colors mean different nutrients. If possible organic but better to have a variety than not. If not organic, wash thoroughly. Dark leafy greens, cruciferous, root vegetables like carrots, beets, turnips, and sweet potato. Prebiotics like onions, garlic, and shallots
• Fruit: again better organic if possible, favorite berries, local fruit and in season, variety
• Dairy: eat butter from grass-fed cows, and raw milk and yogurt from grass-fed cows. Avoid margarine, all fake butter and spreads ( If not allergic)
• In general stay away from white food like white rice and white potatoes, especially if you need to watch your glycemic index or have diabetes. Do eat all the white bulbs like onions, garlic etc. as great probiotics
• Herbs and spices: Go wild and inventive!
• Some must-have spices are: turmeric, ginger, cayenne, rosemary, tarragon, parsley, cilantro, thyme, and oregano
• Grains: best is organic rice sprouted brown rice or organic quinoa
• Nuts and seeds: whenever possible organic
• Beans and legumes: better organic, a great source of colors
If eating animal products :
• Don't eat farm-raised fish. My favorite selections are wild-caught salmon, sardines (cheap and excellent source of protein and nutrients), also any wild-caught fish from as pristine as possible waters. If you like tuna, read the label and make sure it's wild-caught and mercury tested.
• Meats: best is organic grass-fed, second-best organic, followed by hormones, antibiotics, and preservative-free. Avoid processed meats. If a product is not declared hormone and preservative-free, GMO feed can be given to the cattle and therefore arrive indirectly on your plate.
• Poultry and eggs: the best are organic, pasture-raised, second best just organic, third-best hormone and antibiotic-free. Avoid the rest.
To learn more about diet & lifestyle and various wellness modalities,
Email me at
mhr@holisticwellnessmhr.com
Holistic Wellness MHR: www.holisticwellnessmhr.com
More about Dr. Katz:
“Diet is established among the most important influences on health in modern societies. Injudicious diet figures among the leading causes of premature death and chronic disease. Optimal eating is associated with increased life expectancy, a dramatic reduction in lifetime risk of all chronic disease, and amelioration of gene expression. In this context, claims abound for the competitive merits of various diets relative to one another. Whereas such claims, particularly when attached to commercial interests, emphasize distinctions, the fundamentals of virtually all eating patterns associated with meaningful evidence of health benefits overlap substantially. There have been no rigorous, long-term studies comparing contenders for best diet laurels using methodology that precludes bias and confounding, and for many reasons such studies are unlikely. In the absence of such direct comparisons, claims for the established superiority of any one specific diet over others are exaggerated. The weight of evidence strongly supports a theme of healthful eating while allowing for variations on that theme. A diet of minimally processed foods close to nature, predominantly plants, is decisively associated with health promotion and disease prevention and is consistent with the salient components of seemingly distinct dietary approaches. Efforts to improve public health through diet are forestalled not for want of knowledge about the optimal feeding of Homo sapiens but for distractions associated with exaggerated claims, and our failure to convert what we reliably know into what we routinely do. Knowledge, in this case, is not, as of yet, power; would that it was so.”