So, I thought to myself, why not tackle one of the most controversial issues in the health space on this rainy Saturday afternoon? I could have answered, “because people will get upset and send abusive messages!”….but I’m going to take the plunge and see where this goes. My intention is to provide information from my readings and personal experience, with the genuine desire to provide some helpful information for anyone wanting to understand more about how they can use nutrition in their healing journey.
I’m not a particularly trendy person and do try to stay away from being dogmatic. Case in point about not being trendy: the very therapies I practice are currently rather obscure and little known to even those who have invested a lot of time into their health and the various healing modalities available. Every time I do a social media post I battle within myself between knowing that I have to include some education about what I do, yet also that people don’t want to read screeds of information.
Anyway, to food!
The best talks I’ve heard to date are 1. “Nourishing Traditional Diets” by Sally Fallon, and 2.“Vegetarianism Explained” by Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride. I’ll to link them in at the bottom of this blog…
I guess my greatest critique of current trends in nutrition, discussions about nutrition, and where many herbalists, naturopaths and even spiritual healers/guides/clairvoyants sit is the emphasis on plants. I interpret this as a pendulum swing from the western diet and the typical characterisation of how we eat is the focus of meat – steak, bacon, salami. Meat has been associated with the over-worked, under-exercising, type A, alpha male who is over-weight and in danger of the various lifestyle diseases that have plagued the modern world: heart disease, type 2 diabetes and associated risk factors such as the presence of visceral fat, high blood pressure combined with high cholesterol. Thus, I think part of the plant-based movement is the effort to swing everyone away from these diseases. In effect, we are encouraged into a diet that might be most appropriate for an overweight, sedentary white male in his 50s or 60s.
This is likely only part of the picture, I also wouldn’t question the truth that a wholefood, plant-based diet is incomparably better than the average western diet. Also, it depends on what health conditions one is susceptible to. I have never been a vegetarian, but I have come close. I would certainly have called myself plant-based. There are many benefits of eating this way, such as it being cleaner and therefore better for your liver and colon (to an extent). It causes you to be mindful about what you eat, search out variety and gets in plenty of fibre (which is very helpful for a lot of people – not so for others), and antioxidants which bind to toxins and help carry them out of the body.
However, speaking from the perspective of a woman who has encountered gut issues, a sluggish thyroid, fatigue, back pain and painful periods, a focus on plants typically lacks good quality fat, bioavailable protein, many essential minerals as well as the fat-soluble vitamins. I felt I had to eat more frequently, would feel full but not satisfied – cold and tired actually, my energy levels would boost and then crash.
What was I eating?
Generally, meat or fish five times a week, but my main diet consisted of vegetables – both starchy and non-starchy, a buckwheat bread that I made myself, nuts and seeds, hummus, quinoa, chia, bone broth, eggs. Before I went gluten free, I had cereals and rice, and plenty of fruit. Most would say it wasn’t a terrible diet at all. In fact, I might even get 5 stars for it! Granted, no fermented food in there.
However, it wasn’t feeding me…probably because having had gut issues since childhood I was both fat and protein deficient. I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t build muscle when I was eating exactly as I was told I should. The other issue is that our soils are not as fertile with nutrients and healthy microbes as they used to be. Lean meat is another problem, which is explained beautifully by Sally Fallon. Without fat we cannot absorb or make vitamin A. Instead, we use it in order to assimilate the protein. Thus, we become deficient in both. Once we run out of our vitamin A stores, we can’t benefit from protein. No traditional culture has ever eaten meat without the fat.
I suspect most of us enter puberty with a nutrient deficiency. The fact is that the traditional western diet is actually based on bread and cereals. Wheat and sugar are present in almost every packaged food. Many of us grew up on canned spaghetti, baked beans and two minute noodles, with gingernuts, chocolate wheatens and milk arrowroot biscuits to fill the gaps in between. Oh and white bread. And possible a sugary cereal for breakfast. If we got substantial food for dinner (I will be eternally grateful Mum!!) there was still a strong possibility that something came from a sachet or a sauce bottle (sugar, wheat and preservatives). I acknowledge that things have changed a lot in 20 years, and parents are actually doing a mighty fine job at feeding their kids in comparison. Unfortunately, we who were under-nourished (through no fault of our parents – they really didn’t know) are now having kids, and could it be that they are starting life with some inherited deficiencies?
So what are you suggesting wise-guy - I hear you ask. Firstly, focus on bioavailability and nutrient density. Absolutely keep up a variety of plants, but focus on a variety of freshly sourced animal foods. Meat with the fat still attached – this is a wholefood. Organs – yeah, I know, gross – but they pack the greatest nutritional punch. Particularly liver. Organs are important. You can find recipes to make them tasty, and or can add a small serving with whatever else is on the menu. Warkworth butcher does the most amazing black pudding. If you like corned beef, try tongue. It’s like a more moist version. If you consume dairy, try to source raw milk and organic cheese. These food contain enzymes that are good for digestion.
Cook with fat, not oil. We have almost forgotten that before margarine and industrial plant oils we had dripping, butter and lard. Plant oils are not registered as food by our bodies. They tend to build up as toxic waste in our tissues and have been associated with higher cancer risk. We don’t have the digestive hardware to assimilate them safely. But fat, we do. Sure, not a great idea to combine fat with wheat or sugar on a regular basis, this changes how your body digests it – i.e. saves it for storage and burns the readily available glucose first. Fat is essential for absorbing vitamins A, D, K2, and E. It acts as a carrier for other minerals and vitamins. It is essential for making cholesterol which is a building block of our reproductive organs. It also needed for healthy brain function.
When I started to focus on animal protein and fat as my main fuel source I was amazed at how stable my energy was, that I felt warmer, stronger and…better poos…if that’s not too much information. My digestion was more comfortable, and I had fewer episodes where I experienced bloating and discomfort. I wasn’t thinking about food all the time and felt more satisfied after each meal.
To summarise, the plant-based movement has contributed to a greater awareness of the need to eat wholefoods, and move away from a diet of excesses of everything as well as dependence on processed foods. However, it falls short of supplying our bodies with bioavailable nutrition. There are many other aspects of this conversation that could have been included in this blog, such as differing opinions on what sort of diet is best for the planet (hint: the answer actually isn’t to stop eating meat), the importance of where you source your food – both plants and meats, the reasons why plants are not as easy to feed ourselves with as meat, as well as what human history can tell us about food. These issues are addressed in the talks below. Enjoy!
Nourishing Traditional diets:
https://youtu.be/Orfjk3L4kCE
Vegetarianism Explained:
https://youtu.be/gq3zRBU9msc