3 Diet Changes That You Can Make Today To Get Your Health On Track

Food is our medicine, if we allow it to be… Dr. Mark Hyman puts it this way. “Food contains information that speaks to our genes. It’s not just calories for energy. We are learning from research that food talks to our DNA, switching on or off genes that lead to health or disease. Every bite of food regulates your gene expression, hormones, immune system, brain chemistry and even your micro biome. What you eat programs your body with messages of health or illness.”

We can eat to either create disease or prevent it, to feed cancer cells or fend them off, to feed good bacteria in our guts or destroy them, to mobilize our mitochondria or deplete them, to promote insulin sensitivity or create insulin resistance. No matter what your own personal health goals are, by cleaning up your diet and cutting out all of the junk, you will be well on your way to achieving them. Here are my 3 biggest recommendations on where to start when it comes to cleaning up your diet and getting your health back on track.

1. Limit The Amount of Refined Sugar in Your Diet (psst this includes hidden added sugar in processed foods)
Did you know that refined sugar actually slows down your metabolism? It impairs the function of your mitochondria (i.e. depletes your energy) and contributes to weight gain by tricking your body into turning off its appetite control system.  Recent research has found that sugar is the driving force behind nearly every western disease, including high cholesterol and heart disease.

According to the United States department of agriculture, the average American consumes between 150-170 pounds of refined sugars in one year. Historically humans would consume around 22 teaspoons of sugar a year. So suffice it to say, we have a problem. The sad part about this is that most of this sugar is hidden. In fact, 68% of packaged and processed food items in the grocery store contain added sugar. This includes condiments, salad dressings, nut milks, cereal, juice, etc. It is no wonder why 88% of Americans are metabolically unhealthy and 50% have either pre-diabetes or diabetes.

SO if you could do only one thing to get the biggest bang for your buck and move the needle the furthest on your health, it would be to limit or eliminate your consumption of refined sugar.  I promise, eliminating sugar doesn’t mean that your diet has to be all veggies and sadness.  You can still eat dessert! I recommend baking and enjoying desserts on occasion that are sweetened with either dates, 100% pure maple syrup, honey, or coconut sugar. There are so many delicious recipes and I’ll be sharing some of them here on my website in the coming months.

2. Limit industrial seed oils in your diet.
This includes canola oil/vegetable oil, corn oil, sunflower, soybean, rice bran, cottonseed, and grapeseed oil. These are processed oils that are extracted from GMO crops and the process to make them is not pretty. The seeds are heated to extremely high temperatures which causes the delicate polyunsaturated fats to oxidize which creates harmful byproducts. These seeds then undergo a chemical deodorization process which creates trans fats which are known to be harmful to human health. So a great place to start here is switching out your seed oils for olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil or grass fed butter or ghee. These oils are all loaded with healthy fats that are far more stable. They also contain other nutrients and antioxidants as an added bonus

If you want to take it one step further, then start watching for these seed oils in the ingredients lists of the foods you buy. Because seed oils have made their way into most processed foods on the market. They are ubiquitous in things like hummus, crackers, chips, dressings and nut milks. So be on the lookout for these oils and slowly make the switch to clean brands.

3. Opt For Grass Fed Meat & Dairy
When it comes to meat and dairy, one important thing to remember is that we eat what our food eats. So if we are eating conventional meat or dairy straight from cows who were fed a diet of GMO corn, skittles (no joke), and tons of other junk, we are exposed to all of that through their milk and their meat.

When cows are taken off of pasture and fed primarily on feed lots, problems arise because cows aren’t designed to be kept in confinement, eating corn, and pumped with hormones and antibiotics. They have very special digestive systems, called rumens, made to efficiently digest grass and forage; a system equipped to achieve optimal nutritional benefits from grazing. When cows are moved off of pasture and fed a mostly grain-based diet, health problems start to occur, requiring the use of antibiotics and other drugs, and the nutritional benefits of the milk and meat they produce are lost.

Extensive peer-reviewed research has recently proven that more grass in an organic cow’s diet translates to higher levels of beneficial omega-3 fats and CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid) – both incredibly healthy fats. In fact grass fed beef contains 60% more omega-3 fatty acids. These higher omega-3 fatty acids are found in pasture raised meats, dairy and eggs as well.

In addition to these healthy fats, grass fed meat and dairy has also been found to contain significant amounts of phyto-nutrients. “Emerging data indicates that when livestock are eating a diverse array of plants on pasture, additional health-promoting phytonutrients—terpenoids, phenols, carotenoids, and anti-oxidants—become concentrated in their meat and milk. Several phyto-chemicals found in grass-fed meat and milk are in quantities comparable to those found in plant foods known to have anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, and cardio-protective effects.”

I’ll be sharing more on this in the coming months, but suffice it to say, moving away from conventional meat and dairy and focusing on getting high quality organic grass fed meat and dairy in your diet is one of the best things you can do for your health.

That’s it for today my friends. Healthy and happy eating