Real Food vs. Fake Food: What’s healthy?
“The way we’re treating disease doesn’t work. We can’t just cover up symptoms with medications. We have to understand that the body is a biological system and ecosystem. What you put on your fork is more powerful than anything you’ll ever find at the bottom of a prescription bottle. ”
What is going through your mind when you read the above quote and title? Do you think there is such thing as real and fake food or do you think food is simply just food - it only depends on your own perception of things? Do you think that medication is necessary or do you think it has become a worldwide epidemic of quick fixes to not have to deal with the underlying problem of what causes a symptom or disease in the body? Well, normally I would agree that everything in this life is based on your personal view on things but in this case there is one significant difference when it comes to food between the two of them:
One is a natural product made by nature and the other is a pure industry product made by man.
What does that mean? Let’s dig a little bit deeper into the contemporary human diet and how evolution, society norms and the western world over the past centuries started normalizing the way we eat today and educated human beings on their diet. (if you are a McDonald’s fan reading this, here’s your chance to rethink your momentary and future health)
Quick sidenote: There is a very interesting 30min speech on the real meaning of food held by Dr. Robert Lustig who specializes on neuroendocrinology among other things.
You can go check out the video here: Food Is Health: What’s Your Fix? feat. Dr. Robert Lustig | Crusonia BKLYN 2021
So, the reason why I felt called to write a blog about real vs. fake food is because we seriously have gotten it all wrong nowadays. To get rid of all the sugar-coating, literally said, we need to start facing the big problems that are invading our planet. There are numerous reasons as of why we have turned into such a sick nation in the past 60+ years and I will focus more on each of them in separate blogs but today I briefly want to draw the focus on food and the power it has over our health.
What Is Food?
Do you know the definition of food? How would you describe food if your child asked you what food is and what it’s for? Only few think about the meaning of food and the true purpose of it when we eat because if we truly knew, human population would not eat themselves sick to dead nowadays. So, why is it that we have become such a sick nation depending on doctors and drugs but still gets worse and worse even with all the science and medical support?
Simple answer: We have forgotten most knowledge over our bodies, how it’s working on the inside and its power to heal itself. We depend on others and barely question anything anymore because it’s too much work to investigate on how to stay healthy and become healthy again, recognizing that we are our own health experts. We were just made to believe that science knows better and therefore we have to rely on experts who supposedly know us better than we know ourselves. They don’t see us, our bodies as an individual organism that each of them work differently and need different things. This resulted in a complete disconnection from our innate wisdom and the knowledge that has always been there. In conclusion, lack of self-awareness and dependency on others has lead us to where we are today.
Dr. Lustig defines Health as the following:
“The definition of food is a substrate that contributes to either growth or burning of the organism." What if a substrate inhibits growth AND burning? Is it food? No, it becomes poison. And that's ultra-processed food—because it hijacks the cellular pathways of growth and burning.
My big AHA-Moment was when I went to the Dominican Republic on vacation. The hotel was all-inclusive where we could eat as much as we wanted with several choices. Only thing it barely offered nutritious quality food. In a country where fresh fruits should dominate, I was lucky if I still got some papaya, banana and pineapple later than 10AM when I went for breakfast. There was no fresh juice, only processed and packaged choices that were too sweet and artificial. During dinner we had plenty of meat, rice and pasta dishes with sauces and a little bit of vegetable and salad to choose from and a big buffet full of processed dessert. This was the moment I woke up to a reality of a disease-causing human lifestyle that I saw could no longer be sustainable. Imagine, and this on a tropical island where one thinks that people should still be closer to nature than our western world. (I admit, it’s a belief of mine, coming from Europe and it probably does not equal reality anymore in the 21st century.)
The question is, where can we start to bring more health into our lives?
It’s simple but it’s not easy. Meaning, to understand that we have been eating ourselves sick for years and years, we need to start taking a look at our current habits and beliefs. What habits have you been holding on that you know in reality have a negative impact on your body and health? What habits would in turn help you to feel healthier and joyful in the long run? What beliefs around food are you holding on to that you picked up in your childhood or teen years that don’t serve your current life any longer? Could it be different? And if so, how different could it be? What beliefs are yours and what beliefs belong to people in your surrounding that you made yours without being aware of it?
We have been made to believe that sugar, soda, packaged fast food, processed food like pasta, pizza, bread and hamburgers are a natural part of our diet only because it’s found on every corner everywhere and our mind starts to normalize it because we are constantly bombarded with these messages not only on the streets, but also on television with their ads and on social media. Our mind is like a sponge and absorbs everything we are surrounded by into our subconscience mind and from there creates the habits we live today. Kids rarely get the opposite perspective of what a “normal diet” could also look like such as fruits, vegetable and organic dense diet because many parents have not been educated on the power of natural food nor schools bother to educate kids on nourishing and healthy food for their body and mind.
Self-awareness and critical thinking is the first step to changing habits and beliefs. Only that way we can be aware of the damage we are doing to ourselves and from there start with simple things like i.e.: eliminating sugar from your daily coffee, switching from a morning croissant to a banana, reducing the intake of sweet beverages for naturally flavored water or tea, having a glass less of alcohol per day/week, etc.
With everything, changing your perspectives on things in life take a good amount of curiosity, open mind, flexibility, time and patience but the payoff is greater than anything else and can change your whole life completely and for the better. It might be that you already undertook significant changes in your health because you have been on your own personal health journey through past experiences that marked your critical thinking and the way your now look at living life and what contributes to a healthy, happy and joyful life. I would love to hear your experiences and you can feel free to contact me via mail, instagram or WhatsApp. It always helps me to see where people are at and what I can learn through their experiences.
I would like to leave you with the following and closing this blog with a hopefully helpful little nudge to question your own diet and lifestyle:
Do you support your body with the necessary nutrients to keep its immune system in tact and prevent diseases from appearing or do you foster future disease with the choice of foods you are having on a daily basis?
Remember, you have the choice of health and disease. It goes with food and your overall lifestyle on a daily basis. The body is an incredibly intelligent and strong vehicle and is very forgiving but sooner or later it is forced to pull the break one way or the other.
What do you choose to change today for a healthy You and a healthy future?
My Motto: Learn to unlearn to relearn to learn anew.
💛
