I think about blogging about this all the time. Over the last 6-8 months, nutrition has been an obsession of mine.
As you may recall, at the end of July I did The Master Cleanse, and then posted a brief message indicating that I had eliminated certain bad foods from my diet (like processed foods). What I didn't elaborate on was the elimination of certain carbohydrates, grains, and other sugary foods.
After my cleanse I permanently switched to a
Paleo/
Primal lifestyle. I encourage you to follow the links if you are not well versed on the topic.
When I first switched to this way of eating (John and Daphne did too), we shared our excitement a
little too much. People openly, and understandably, disagreed with us. We raved about cutting grains, corn, potatoes, beans, dairy, and sugar from our diet with the hopes that others would automatically agree.
People do NOT agree. At least no one I spoke with. I even went as far as to write a review on a Primal diet book in my nutrition class last quarter. Of course my professor disagreed with me (she even went as far to talk about the absurdity of my paper in front of the whole class), as she lectured for 10 weeks of the importance of eating a diet rounded with grains, beans, and dairy.
From then on, I simply decided to keep my diet to myself, lead by example, and simply answer any questions if I was asked first. However, I have seen SEVERAL articles pop up more frequently in the past month or so. Every time I do, it just reaffirms the decision that I had made. It makes me so happy to know that I have made a good choice so early in my life. However, it makes me sad that more people don't know about it. I feel as though people in our society have been completely lead astray. We are brainwashed to think that eating the foods that are shoved in our faces are good for us when, in fact,
they are killing us.
I found this visual aid today and feel really compelled to share it. One discrepancy I have is the use of the word "carbs". I know what they mean, they mean things like refined grains, white grains (maybe even whole grains), corn, sugar, processed foods, cereals, pasta, rice... etc. I agree with that. The thing I don't agree with is that our body does in fact need carbohydrates to survive. Those carbohydrates are found in the form of
fruits and vegetables though. I track my nutrition almost daily and find that somewhere around 30%-40% (a perfectly sound ratio) of my dietary intake is from carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables.
Shocking fact: between 25-30% of my diet is from fat. I'm not overweight, and
have a perfectly healthy BMI.
So PLEASE don't confuse this new movement with the Atkins diet (which sort of had the right idea), which advocated excluding ALL carbs, even those in fruits and vegetables. Produce is SO good for us and should be the base of our diets. On top of fruits and vegetables, we should be eating unprocessed meats (fowl, fish, beef, pork), nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts), seeds, fats (oils, animal fat, coconut milk and oil), and eggs.
I love the way I eat, and I NEVER feel deprived. In any given day, this is what my diet looks like:
Breakfasts will include: eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit (berries, oranges, apples, mango, banana), salsa, nuts
Lunches will include: dinner leftovers, fruit, tuna, nuts
Dinners vary WIDELY and include variations of the following: chicken, beef, fish, TONS of vegetables-especially leafy greens with a vinaigrette dressing, herbs, seasonings... etc. It pretty much consists of a portion of meat, and half a plate of vegetables though.
Anyway- I'm not trying to shove this down anyone's throat, but I'm not trying to keep it a secret either. I just wanted to officially stand behind this new movement that I am confident will gain MUCH more momentum than we're currently seeing.
