By now,
you may or may not be sensing a theme to my blog posts. If there is a unifying theme, it is that I
want to concentrate on what there is in the world that is real, valuable, and free. What is valuable and free for the benefit of
every human being? Today I want to apply
those thoughts to nutrition and health.
Now, I
am not a health nut and for years I never thought or cared about nutrition. Nearly everything I ate was boxed, canned, or
frozen. So, by the time I was in my mid-twenties,
I felt sick all the time and I struggled with chronic migraines. I felt like a constant low-level illness
sucked the energy and strength from my body.
Every time I saw a doctor, they would tell me I was fine, that I was
healthy. One doctor simply smirked and
told me that I was a just a person who struggled with headaches, like some
people do asthma or allergies, and that I would all my life. For me, the answer for better health and
headache-free living was eating healthier and removing many processed foods
from my diet.
Many Americans
in recent years have started to think more about nutrition and health, which is
wonderful. Unfortunately, as a result, every
month there are new super foods and exotic health products on the market that
will take your money and provide little benefit. It is hard to sort out fact from fiction, reality
from hype. Science has replaced magic in
our cultural psyche; we want to believe that scientists have uncovered the new
magic formula, potion, or pill based on some new plant extract or combination
of ingredients, preferably exotic and expensive, which will cure our ills or fulfill
our desires. I bought the hype on a new weight
loss product, green coffee bean extract, because I saw it on a well-respected
network television show. All I can say
is, I did not lose weight, and I spent two weeks of my life jittery and over-caffeinated.
Since
that experience, I have found a source that I respect and trust for accurate
and fact based nutrition guidance that won’t drain my wallet, the Nutrition
Diva podcast. She did an excellent write
up on green coffee bean extract on March 14, 2013 where she concluded, “Could
green coffee extract or chlorogenic acid really could be a new weapon in the
fight against obesity? It’s too soon to
say for sure but I suspect that it’s going to turn out to be like so many other
weight loss miracles that we’ve seen before.” (You can find the entire article
here: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/healthy-eating/can-green-coffee-help-you-lose-weight)
In conclusion,
I want to say, let’s not think of nutrition in terms of super foods or quick
fixes. Cultivating good health and
nutrition does not happen overnight, but it doesn’t have to be expensive or
exotic and nutritional foods are accessible and affordable to everyone. I want to conclude with this quote from Dr.
Andrew Weil in the book Spontaneous Healing where he describes the
revelation he had after searching the Amazonian jungle hoping to uncover some
exotic, ancient secret to health and wellness. “I realized that what I was searching for was
not to be found in the wilds of Amazonia or any other exotic location. … What
my search for Pedro taught me was that I was looking for answers in the wrong
way, that I did not have to turn from my own land and culture, my formal
education, and my own self to find the source of healing….I found what I was
looking for and more, found it much closer to home in ways both unexpected and
satisfying.” Good nourishing foods are
waiting for you, and they might even be in your own backyard!
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