Nutrition is an extremely vital role to our health, and dare I say the most important. Even more so than fitness. For many of my clients that have cerebral palsy and are not as mobile as someone like myself. Nutrition becomes a huge part of their journey, why? Because what we find our bodies determines not only what we see in a physical sense, but also how we feel in our minds. Some people don’t even think about that, because the food they consume (for them) becomes about feeling good in the moment.
We can see this time in again, in shows such as my 600 pound life. Food is a drug to help them cope with trauma. And so not only do that need to be taught how to eat properly, but they need a new relationship with food. The problem is, the nutrition world has become as divisive as anything else in this world. There’s the low carb community- keto, carnivore etc., then we have the vegans and vegetarians, and so much. And they all believe that their way of eating is the best.
All the various groups can sometimes get very nasty with one another, and all the more it becomes very confusing. When I was doing carnivore for 2 years, my body and mind felt amazing. My body was lean, joint pain was almost zero and mental clarity was at an all time high. My perception though, of carbs and plants was honestly rather skewed, my thinking was that they were both bad one hundred percent of the time.
And while it’s true that not all carbs are not created equal, in the same vein of thinking not all plants are as healthy. On the carb spectrum, when people think about carbs what do we normally think of? Breads, pastas etc. First we have to be honest about what bread and pasta actually do. For many, bread and pasta are quick spark of energy and even release a lot of the feel good chemicals in our brains. Thus, we keep coming back to them as a means to stay in a elevated state. The same can be said about all types of candy as well, for some people that quick surge of energy might be good. Say for example if a person is a distance runner or one that has a long workout ahead of them. I like to think about these types of carbs like that of a wave in the ocean, it goes up quickly and crashes all the same. And while these types of carbs might be okay once and awhile or even in smaller portions. What I believe is most important, is consuming carb sources that promote a sustained energy. One that doesn’t come with such a heavy crash.
These can range from:
Berries
Broccoli
Kale
Egg plant
Green beans
Avocado
Spinach
And… many of these are high in protein too! As you can see, I don’t think that carbs are the most evil food source in the universe. However, I believe it’s the type and amount of which we consume them.
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In regards to consuming protein on a daily basis, it is no secret that I’m a big advocate of eating meat. This is not a knock on people who choose to being plant based, but only to say that if a person wants a great source of protein every day, its going to come from meat, especially steak. Now in saying that, the most normal reaction is going to be: “But it causes cancer!” But wait.. does it really? Or have we been led to believe all this time a rather big lie? Consider this response by Kris Kresser: https://chriskresser.com/red-meat-cancer-again-will-it-ever-stop/ in this article he says “ the association between red meat and cancer is not strong (i.e. comparing bacon to cigarettes is absurd), and in fact is often not distinguishable from chance. If red meat really did cause cancer, you’d expect to see a linear (continuous) increase in cancer rates as red meat consumption increased. But that’s not what we see in many cases. In fact, in some studies you actually see a decrease in cancer rates in the people who ate the most red meat”.
As I said above, I firmly believe that we have been lied to for so long about the realities of eating meat. Obviously, if a person doesn’t desire to consume it then they shouldn’t have to. But we have to understand that consuming red meat is not this wickedly evil source of food. In all actuality it could very well be seen as a super food. It can have up to 26 grams of protein and 7.6 grams of fat (which is good for your brain). Now, does a person have to consume it every day? No, not unless you actual try and carnivore approach. A person could do very well consuming eggs, fish and so one. Once again, however, red meat should not be seen as the enemy to health. The nutrition world needs to stop demonizing various elements of food and nutrition and more importantly each other.
brandonleeryan 