The 3 Most Nutritionally Deficient And Toxic Dietary Approaches
When it comes to Nutrition and diet, we have some innate genetic requirements in order for our cells to express optimal health and function
. Basically, they're the rules of the game, so to speak!
When we consistently break the rules, or fall short of following them, we don't achieve optimal health and function. If we're failing to achieve health, we're also failing to achieve our ideal body composition (body weight, body fat percentage and lean muscle mass). Better health and a better body naturally go hand-in-hand.
Nutritionally speaking, we need to add pure and sufficient raw materials (the "good stuff") in order for our cells, and our health, to flourish. Simultaneously, we need to reduce or avoid toxic and deficient choices (the "bad stuff") in our diet.
What's "good"? There are only 5 main types of food found within "The Circle of Health" that we know build health. They are: protein, fats & oils, vegetables, fruit, and water. Pretty simple! Grains and dairy are highly controversial food groups, so they're not completely inside the circle.
To maximize the nutritional benefit of these foods, we apply "The 4 Golden Rules of Nutrition" as often as possible: 1) Eat real foods. 2) Eat whole foods and foods closest to their naturally occurring state. 3) Eat food that is as pure and non-toxic as possible. 4) Eat fresh, local, seasonal foods that are often raw. These are the basics of building health through pure and sufficient Nutritional choices.
When it comes to avoiding the toxic choices, unfortunately the list of offenders is ever-increasing. The biggest offenders are typically found in processed junk food and convenience snack and packaged foods, as well as many other conventional sources of food.
The top ingredients to avoid are: high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners/flavors/colors, trans fats & hydrogenated/partially hydrogenated fats and oils, and neurotoxins like MSG. This is the short list. Sad, isn't it? Add to this list the fact that our conventional grains, dairy and meat are highly toxic, and now we've got even bigger problems!
So, what about "deficient" nutritional choices? Specifically when it comes to people who are trying to lose weight or lose fat, I see three main dietary approaches that are sorely lacking in overall nutritional value:
1)fat-free/low-fat diets
2)"diet" food and drinks (including sugar-free)
3)low-calorie packaged snacks
Remember, in order to achieve optimal body composition, the goal must be to achieve better health first. We can't ignore those rules of the game when it comes to supplying the body with the raw ingredients for health. These three types of diets ignore the rules.
We need fat. Our brains depend on it. Our moods, our hormones, our ability to learn and remember... all need fat. Fat doesn't make us fat. Toxic foods and lack of nutritional balance... that can make us fat. To adopt a low-fat lifestyle in an effort to shed fat is very unhealthy, unscientific and misleading. This dietary approach leaves us deficient in critical nutrients.
However, in our pursuit of a more balanced diet that includes fats, remember that not all fats are created equal. We need fat from real, clean, healthy sources... not from synthetic, processed, refined, toxic sources so common in our food supply. Many healthy fats naturally accompany protein sources like non-toxic, grass-fed and free-range meat, eggs and dairy, for example.
"Diet" and "low-calorie" processed foods run a similar risk of deficiency. Reducing our sugar intake and excess toxic caloric intake are not bad things. However, if we remove or reduce sugar or calories by replacing them with toxic ingredients, we are shooting ourselves in the foot as far as fat loss is concerned.
Toxic substitutes send us reeling into the stress response - a well researched and documented cascade of neurological, hormonal and chemical events in the body that directly contributes to every chronic illness we currently experience. Also, this stress response makes us fat and makes it harder for us to shed that fat. Toxic and deficient choices are triggers for this stress response.
The focus must stay on the source and quality of the ingredients... not just the percentages of isolated components on the food labels. Who cares how many calories something has if it's completely toxic and void of any nutritional value whatsoever? That type of misguided nutritional thinking has gotten us into this mess we have now - a population with an obesity epidemic that's growing out of control.
Choose foods based on their health quotient. Your body knows what to do with those calories. It will use them effectively to help you burn off excess fat and create your lean, healthy body!
by: Colleen Trombley-VanHoogstraat
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