Since the beginning of human history, we have had to figure out what counts as food and pass that knowledge down to every generation after us. Lesson one was clear: some berries will kill you. Fast forward a few hundred thousand years and most of us live in cities, surrounded by supermarkets, food companies and endless choices. Somewhere along the way we lost our connection to the land, and our main source of food became corporations that package and market products to light up the part of the brain that says buy.

The message about food got garbled. Everyone is an expert, and almost no one is. One camp says eat a mountain of animal protein at every meal. Another says go vegan. Take vitamins. Take supplements. Count calories. Add nootropics, superfoods and whatever else we are selling each other this month.

At one end are the people in the gym trying to get as big and strong as possible. For that goal they eat huge amounts of protein, and it works. For a long time we treated that size as a sign of good health, and we have since learned better. At the other end are regular doctors, the ones we see for checkups or when something feels wrong. Many know their field well but got very little training in nutrition, and some do not eat well themselves. In between sits the health and wellness industry, which has more than its share of quacks saying ridiculous things to make a buck. Whether they believe it or not, the misinformation spreads like wildfire.

Here is the truth as I see it. The secret to a healthy diet starts with what you leave out, and what you leave out is processed food. Do that and most of the mistakes are already behind you. Then it is a question of what to put in. We are not built to be carnivores. We are omnivores who can lean on animal food when good plant food is scarce. People in the Arctic do not have pineapples, avocados, lettuce and carrots growing outside, so of course they eat seal. Most of the rest of us do have that choice. For us, the foundation of the diet should be unrefined carbohydrates from fruits, vegetables, nuts, sprouts and seeds. That is it. Take it for what it is worth.