2012 and 2013 were amazing years for me: I moved to
Florida from DC, started a new career, got married, toured Europe,
witnessed about a dozen friends get married or have kids, bought a
house, renovated said house, and hosted the holidays in the new home for
the first time. These years kept me so busy that I have had little time
to pause and reflect, and even less time to write. In 2014, I'm
resolving to take more time to write and pursue hobbies that nourish me.
Taking care of myself translates to a happier, more deliberate citizen
of this grand world and allows me the energy to give more freely of
myself to others (another resolution).
Losing
weight is a common new year's resolution, perhaps even a cliche new
year's resolution, but it certainly was my resolution in 2012 (before
the wedding). I read about preventative health and nutrition a lot, so I realize that people have strong views on nutrition, much akin to politics. With that in mind, know that I'm sharing this story
for those of you who are somewhat open minded. Perhaps you are
struggling with your weight or your
health. You may be committing to a new routine that turns out not to
work (like so many plans out there). Maybe my story will help you
think about things differently. Maybe it will free you from counting
calories
in and calories out. (I really find that exhaustive no matter how cool
the gadget is.) Maybe you will stop feeling so guilty for having the
basic physical impulse called hunger. Maybe you will not feel so
inadequate when the scale doesn't budge.
A
lot of the research I read on nutrition is written by doctors who take
the necessary dispassionate, methodical approach to their work. How this
information translates to a normal human being is rarely accurately
reported on in the modern media, which is driven by ratings and website
hits. I've realized how even people with the best of intentions cause a
damaging web of misinformation. Millions of people are critically ill
after following the conventional wisdom. Millions more have low
self-esteem from measuring their self worth and will power with the
"calories in, calories out" mantra. It's one thing to say that premise
is false, it's another thing to understand just how liberating the truth
can be to the millions of people who care about their health and have
the wrong information.
Mainly what I understand is that our journey to good health
is frequently a road with no signs and no map. Or worse, the wrong signs and a
backwards map. Or someone else's
map and in a foreign language! For any one study on nutrition, you can read
something else that completely contradicts it. So whose map do you follow? Keeping an open, yet critical mind, I found it best to draw my own.
In 2013, I had a sort of nutritional revelation. I
had a
blood test earlier in the year that showed I was deficient in vitamin
B12. It
was affecting everything: my memory, my energy, my mood, my sleep, my
metabolism, and, of course,
my health. I had no idea it could do all these things. None of my
previous
doctors had ever bothered to test me for this deficiency before. There
are a million reasons why a person can't sleep or is moody and I
appeared
healthy and led a healthy lifestyle. At least, I thought I ate healthy
(low-fat
proteins and whole grains with lots of veggies and fruit). I was eating
normal portions and exercising
regularly. I didn't think my diet could possibly be to blame until my
blood
test came back and I started learning about B vitamins and how many
nutrients
in all the foods I was eating are fat soluble. FAT SOLUBLE. Strange
because I
thought fat was bad for you. In addition, B12, which is essential to the
central nervous system, is only found in animal fat. HOLY BACON BATMAN. I
thought vegetarians were the healthiest people on the planet and vegans
were basically masters of self control with impeccable health. Yet,
here is this essential nutrient whose absence was turning me into a
zombie, that is ONLY found in animal fat. Yet, still, I needed a lot of
convincing that animal products, particularly fatty animal products were
good for me. So I started reading more critically and my world was
turned upside down.
A
lot of what I found is controversial and some of it even lacks solid
proof, so I hesitate to get into it in-depth right now, but I'll share a
few of my favorite resources that got me to stop freely accepting
conventional wisdom without critical thought. The point is, all of these
authors could still be wrong about certain things, but they are at
least thinking critically about the facts. As Aristotle said, "It
is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought
without accepting it." My modern translation = draw your own nutritional
map. Read people who contradict your worldview on nutrition, so that
you get a better understanding of the facts. If you are in decent
health, experiment with food and observe how different food groups
affect you. Most of all, remember that YOU are the largest shareholder
in your long-term health, YOU have the most at stake, and YOU care far
more than the media, the government, agra-business, and certainly more
than the pharmaceutical industry. No one else but you will care for your
health, so think long and hard before you give up on it. To quote Mary
Oliver, "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" I don't think it's dying young or suffering from chronic illness... (that last bit was me.)
Dr. Peter Attia
Dr. Robert Lustig
Gary Taubes
My favorite quote on this topic appears in his NYT article, What If It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?:
Phil Handler, then-president of the National Academy of Sciences,
testified in Congress in 1980: ''What right,''
Handler asked, ''has the federal government to propose that the American
people conduct a vast nutritional experiment, with themselves as
subjects, on the strength of so very little evidence that it will do
them any good?'' [Regarding legislation pertaining to the food pyramid]
Dr. Mary Enig
Dr. Thomas Seyfried
Standard cancer therapy with a ketogenic diet (free article)
(Not as off topic as you would think, but I will save my thoughts on this for another post.)
Without
going through all the gritty details, what I will say is what has
helped me the most in my search for long-term health is
thinking about the quality of food versus simply measuring calories
consumed
and calories burned. I also found that finding the foods that boost your
long-term energy levels makes a huge difference and can be highly
individualized. For me it's a diet rich in healthy fat like fish,
grass-fed
beef and butter, olive oil, eggs, nuts, cheese, cream, spinach, berries,
and
avocados. Some people are allergic to nuts and dairy, so, no, there's no
one
way to eat that works for everyone. But thinking about your genetics (my
ancestors lived in cold places with little agriculture) and being attune
to how certain foods affect you can play a huge role in helping you
find a sustainable healthy lifestyle.
I
hope this wasn't too preachy, my goal is to encourage and inspire those
who find this interesting. It's certainly something that I find
fascinating. Nourishment of the mind, body, and soul is my theme for
2014.
