Are You Confused About Your Nutrition?

This week I received a message from a lovely friend of mine. She wrote: “Ok, I just watched “Forks over Knives! I have watched and read some other books and documentaries in the past! I think I want to try a plant based diet….any tips or other good sources of info you recommend?” My answer to her was that I needed some time to think and that I would write about it in this newsletter (with her permission, of course J). Doesn’t this fit perfectly with Mark Twain’s quote above? “Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.” Now she is probably going over my lines and thinking “What? Is she not taking me seriously?” Yes, I do, indeed take you seriously, as I do every other person who is confused about food, diets and nutrition. Hundreds, well, thousands of health & diet books flood the market each year. One promotes a high-carbohydrate diet, the next criticizes that view and claims that we should live without carbs altogether. It’s the same with protein. Should we follow the Paleo Diet (and whoever read Dr. Wahl’s book “Mind Your Mitochondria” and saw her TEDx talk about her own healing of MS will want to go with it immediately) – or should we rather believe the China Study (which Forks over Knives is the documentary based on that large-scale study) and eat a plant-based diet instead? Maybe we should follow Michio Kushi and the Macrobiotic Cancer-prevention Diet… but then what about nightshade vegetables? Can we still eat them or are we doomed if we do? Oh, and what about gluten… and dairy??? I could keep going, but I assume you see where this is heading to. If you are confused about food, diets and nutrition, believe me – You are NOT alone! Here is my personal story in short: when I first learned details about nutrition, I took our family completely of dairy-products, then we quit the cold-cuts, after that we watched above mentioned documentary and my husband decided (just like my friend J) that he will want to try the “vegetarian thing,” so we ate no meat either. Well, I guess we were pretty vegan (except we did consume fish, eggs, and honey). Next we scratched gluten, so there went my beloved bread out the door; and we did all that with three small children. Let me tell you – we had some fun times. Hahaha. It was worth it. By now, we healed our family of skin-conditions, serious reoccurring sinus infections, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and some other digestive issues. We are back to eating bread (although we go through quite the process to do so, but that’s a different story), we eat meat (of course, only what I call “good meat” – grass-fed, free-range, preferably from a local farmer or even wild game), and we are still a dairy-free household (except butter – we are in love with butter). So, what does that tell you? We are never at the end. This is a journey! We grow and change. So does our body, our environment, and our lives. Wouldn’t it be just natural for us to go through phases with our food-intake as well? The bottom line is though, that we need to reconnect with our bodies. Every one of us is equipped with an inner knowledge, which we should dwell on. Sadly, most of us have forgotten about it or are simply “out of touch.” Wow! What a long letter to you, my dear friends. I am a Personal Health Coach (Board certified – for those who it matters to J). I will meet you wherever you are on this beautiful journey and walk the way with you. Let me take your hand and gently guide you through the thicket of diets and confusion. I work on the basis of bio-diversity and because of that I believe that there is no pill, no certain diet that can fix all of our problems. If we were all the same and our bodies would react in the same way, we would fight an epidemic of diabetes, cancer, obesity, and heart-disease. If it was that easy, we would all be healed already. That being said; discovering who you are and what your body’s needs are is not always easy BUT it can be tremendously fun and reaffirming to yourself when you see that you can do it. You can heal yourself! God bless! P.S. And to my lovely friend – text me again and let’s talk about details. Of course I will assist you with your goals!