thoughts in the key of me

Most of you know that I am pretty passionate about nutrition and fitness. For those of you that are not familiar, you must not have been paying close attention (or you are a new reader in which case, WELCOME! I apologize for the rant I am about to go on.)

As I was saying, this is an area in which I can’t really be considered an expert, but I can say with confidence that I have read/researched/learned/dug into more information than the average Jill. The trouble with living in my world of conscious eaters/living, is that I often forget how many people out there are still blindly acceptant of what is known in the nutrition community as the SAD or Standard American Diet.

UGH! (seriously click on the “ugh” link)

I am BAFFLED almost daily by the ignorance (lack of knowledge, folks, it’s not meant to be an insult) that is still prevalent in our culture about food. Despite the relatively wide reaching arms of films like Super Size Me, Food, Inc., and King Corn, or books like Food Revolution, The China Study, Fast Food Nation:(P.S.-you will never eat Fast Food again if you read this) or even Skinny Bitch
(a personal favorite!) which has really moved the message of conscious eating into a more mainstream audience.

There are still people out there that have these COMPLETE and UTTER LIES drilled into their brains thanks to marketing, the FDA, (oh yeah, we don’t trust the government to GOVERN us, really, but we trust it to tell us what to eat!) and antiquated (and obsolete) research. Research, I might add that is typically done by special interest groups that will publish the parts of the results that make them look good, and squirrel away the findings that would reflect poorly upon their particular interests. (I have about 100 more links that could fall into that last sentence but I will stop with three)

A few common LIES people believe that REALLY UPSET ME:

Store bought juice is healthy.

Nope. not much better than soda in terms of sugar and calories. Not a ton of REAL nutrients, unless they have been ADDED back in artificially with synthetic chemicals. And there is a good chance there is corn syrup in that shit, which is an entire MOVIE’s worth of messed up. Treat fruit juice like dessert. Tiny portions, only occasionally. Period.

Diet Soda is better.

Nope. there has been TONS of research done on artificial sweeteners. SERIOUSLY. BAD. IDEA. In fact, because the “sweet effect” of artificial sweeteners is so much sweeter than actual sugar is, the folks that regularly drink these sodas will often crave sweets even more, and will typically consume more calories in a day than the folks that drink a regular soda. Granted, many studies that linked cancer with artificial sweeteners had the lab rats consuming the equivalent of hundreds (even thousands) of diet sodas DAILY, but personally, if it caused cancer, it caused cancer. Who gives a rats ass how much is needed? (Pun intended) I know my organically grown sweet fruit is NOT gonna cause cancer. Nuff said.

Rice is healthy because it is fat free!

GEEZE people get a clue. Look into GLYCEMIC INDEX for starters. That kind of starchy carb, so quickly broken down in the body and sent to the blood in forms of sugars, might as well be straight sugar in terms of how your body uses it. And the amount of actual nutrients you get from it (like the research funded by the rice growers will tell you!) is pretty null when compared to other grain choices like Quinoa.

Low Fat/Fat Free is healthy!

Sure, if you are choosing smoked turkey breast over thick cut applewood smoked pork belly. (look! I typed that without even gagging!) Go lower/freer in the fat content in those types of choices, sure. But Just because the PACKAGE says low/no fat, does NOT a healthy choice make. In a lot of cases, it would be better to eat a few bites of something full fat, than a full serving of the weird artificial crap they are peddling to the female population as “light.” Plus, your body NEEDS fat. Period.

I know a vegetarian/vegan/raw vegan lifestyle is not for everyone, but the things I listed above seem so far into the common sense category of Healthy Eating 101, that I can barely type this post without quivering with a mixture of incredulity and RAGE at the LYING FOOD INDUSTRY that has filled our American grocery stores.

The best eating rules are simple: Eat whole fruits and vegetables every day. Make them a HUGE part of your diet. You probably need about 3-4 times more than you already eat. Even I struggle to get enough! Eat as much of them as close to the way nature made them as possible, i.e. raw, lightly cooked, sans heavy/excessive sauces or oils.

Don’t eat white starches and grains, or refined sugars. Bread, pasta, rice, all bad in the standard form. Switch to whole grains, brown rice, wheat bread. And cut the amount of these foods you eat by half. Even the good stuff should be limited.

If you need sweet, go for the real thing and have just a little bit. Don’t think five low fat cookies are better than one butter + eggs full fat version.

Cokes and juice are like desserts. Treat them that way.

Use your BRAIN, folks! Reconnect with your food! Where does it come from? What did it look like when it was pulled from the dirt? It surely was not in that black plastic tray covered in clear plastic film and put in that colorful box in the freezer for your convenience. If so, I need to tell my parents that they are farming ALL WRONG!

Eating is how we live. There is a saying in almost every culture or spiritual discipline, all put differently, but it boils down to: “You are what you eat.” We as a society need to rethink this statement and apply it to our daily choices!

Read this carefully: You are FAT or SICK or TIRED or ANXIOUS or NOT SLEEPING WELL or IMPOTENT or DEPRESSED because of how you are treating your MACHINE. You don’t think your car will run on just anything, so why do you think your body will?

WAKE UP! It is the Age of Aquarius! We can change! We can be active and strong and live long full wonderful healthy rewarding lives! I would LOVE to help you. I would LOVE to tell you how! But you are intelligent apes capable of using tools. If you are reading this you have internet, and I linked all kinds of good stuff in this post. Take an hour of your precious time, skip playing Farmville or studying everyone else’s Facebook, invest in your OWN quality of life and educate your fat ass!

And for God’s sake, if you don’t feel the need to educate, or implement the stuff you learn, if you are happy staying fat and unhappy and tired, or if ignorance is your bliss, then don’t call those of us who have made health and nutrition a priority “self righteous” or “tree huggers.” That just pisses me off and makes me want to stuff your jowly face with a bunch of green-leafies. And that’s not nice! Don’t make me resort to  vegetable-based violence!

And remember. You have to MOVE too. But more about exercise in another rant on another day when I am tired of watching people sit around glued to their TVs/computers/etc.