There is a great deal of unnecessary confusion regarding the subjects of diet, fitness, and overall health.
You might ask yourself the question of who you can trust best as a source of information about your total health. The real answer is that no one individual, and no one category of health practitioners, has all the answers. It’s important that we recognize that if the medical community had all the answers then there wouldn’t be such a proliferation of food-related diseases.
The guidance that the medical community as a whole has been giving to people is only partially right. Most in the modern world are embracing meat-based diets that have too much protein, diets that focus too much on calorie counting, and diets that steer away from naturally-occurring sugars from fruit and starchy vegetables.
The medical community has failed to inform people that the primary thing that they should do is avoid processed food. There are many reasons why there are deficiencies regarding what information comes from medical community sources. In my opinion to a large part it’s because people who study medicine have very little background in the science of nutrition. Nutritional science is very complex and it is still misunderstood.
Many health professionals are at a disadvantage when they relay information about nutrition for three reasons. One is that they often have only a little scientific knowledge regarding nutrition. Another is that they often only regurgitate the scientific knowledge that they have from memory. A third reason is that they often have insufficient experience with good dietary practices in their own lives.
In my opinion the medical community is primarily concerned with fixing people who are already sick. They are not sufficiently centered on advocating practices that prevent illness.
People behave in certain ways that make them ill. Most of what makes people ill has little to do with genetic predisposition. People get sick and then go to a doctor. The doctor is under pressure to give immediate results to patients. That doctor can’t force patients to change their lifestyles, so in order to get results he or she has to prescribe things that only address symptoms rather than the patients’ underlying unhealthy lifestyle issues.
So, doctors don’t have the ability to stop people from engaging in destructive behavior. But another major problem is that information coming from the scientific community as a whole is tainted. It’s tainted because there are very few people who know a lot about what to do and recommend regarding diet and nutrition. But many who do have adequate knowledge are not good role models.
I know some brilliant doctors who are very knowledgeable about nutritional science. But among them are many who don’t live healthy lifestyles as far as wellness in general and diet in particular are concerned. I believe that their dietary problems are linked to emotional and psychological reasons, and that that’s the case with virtually everyone else as well.
I also believe that people within food production industries have virtually no idea about what true health means. I believe the exceptions to this are individuals and companies that sell fresh produce. When companies turn produce into altered processed food products, destruction and corruption on many levels begins and continues.
Further complicating these problems are the actions of some government officials and agencies. Some governmental actions pertaining to regulation of unhealthy food products and other items is helpful. But they are for the most part remiss in what they have been tasked to do.
It makes no sense that there are restrictions on tobacco and alcohol but there are not restrictions on pesticides and refined and processed foods that have been proven over many decades to be very detrimental to human health. I don’t understand why fried chicken is 100% legal and unrestricted but there is a police force (the ATF) to enforce restrictions on alcohol and tobacco.
The FDA bases their findings on what the medical community tells them. The food paradigms that come from the FDA are enabling people to live the lifestyle that they want to live. But they’re not enabling them to live the lifestyle that they should live. The FDA really believes wholeheartedly that people need milk and meat and poultry to survive. They believe this because this is what people want to believe. Agencies such as the FDA in essence have to pander to what people want rather than what people truly need.
The food industry at large is corrupt. The primary goal of people in the industry is economic profit. Some people in the industry even have the agenda to make people addicted to their foods by manipulating their chemistry. This is unethical and shocking, and it's a legal practice.
As I said in the beginning of this article, no one individual has all the answers regarding health and diet. But I’d like to put in my two cents worth about some dietary and lifestyle practices as I wrap up.
Our body is a carbohydrate-burning machine that is designed to live on plants. We’ve adapted to be able to eat almost anything, including flesh foods (meat). But we eat too much meat, and that’s where a lot of our health problems come from.
Over the years many have thought of protein as a solution to dietary issues. But most of us eat far too much protein, and too much protein is a very common and very serious dietary problem.
Another huge problem in the food system—very likely the biggest problem of all—is processed food. Processed food is the curse and scourge of mankind. It has caused more illness than anything else throughout the history of mankind.
I’d like to suggest a simple program. Make 80 to 90% of your diet plant-based and also eliminate processed foods. You’ll be amazed at the improvements to your health that will follow.
After beginning dietary improvement, focus on your lifestyle. That focus should be on three things in particular: Rest, exercise, and having a positive attitude. All three of them play an enormous role in improving and sustaining good body chemistry.