Food and Nutrition has always been a great passion of mine. In my elementary school days (when my parents) were still married, my dad was into the healthy living lifestyle far before the days of Whole Foods and popularization of "organic". Since then, I have went through the spectrum of many different ways of eating. In my adolescence, it was processed foods 24/7. Looking back, the only reason I wasn't overweight and had many health problems was because I played sports constantly and was very active. It wasn't until my late high school/early college years where my understanding of food truly changed.
When you are young, you develop an understanding of things based on what your parents or other people around you tell you. This becomes the baseline for what you know to be truth. For example, as a teen I had terrible acne. Everyone around me would always say "Everyone your age has acne. I did too when i was your age". My world was injected with these nuggets of truth (or so i thought at the time) and i accepted them at face value. Back when i was much younger, my dad would force feed me nutritional habits that I despised. One time at after school day camp, he stopped by to give me an organic Pumpkin cookie with pumpkin seeds baked into it. At the time (I was 8) i thought it was disgusting and all the kids obviously laughed at me and though my dad was nuts. I remember thinking, why couldn't this guy just bring me a chocolate chip cookie? Was that so hard?
In my early to mid 20's, I started drastically changing the way I ate. I got exposed to many higher end restaurants and ate far less fast food. I even went to two different culinary schools (one focused on traditional french style cooking; the other was entirely plant-based (vegan/raw etc). I have tried many different styles of eating over the years and after all of that time trying different things out and speaking to many doctors, nutritionists, experts, and many others whose opinions I consider valid, this is what I have learned:
FOOD IS THE PROBLEM. FOOD IS THE SOLUTION.
There is a reason why you feel overly stuffed after you eat too much meat. There is a reason you throw up after you eat something bad. There is a reason you get acne on your face. ALL of these problems are a result of what you are putting into your body. We live in a world where you are taught to believe that being "stuffed" after a meal is correct and that its a good sign you've had enough to eat. WRONG. This a sign you ate far too much. But, just as eating badly can be detrimental, eating correctly cant be equally as beneficial. It is proven that eating smaller amounts of food more often throughout the day increases your metabolism (or at the very least doesn't slow it down) and leads to an better overall level of health. You will notice an increased level of energy, attentiveness and calmer state of mind (among many other improved tendencies). Going to the doctor or taking OTC meds to get rid of issues like acne, coughs, flu symptoms, or other issues is causing your body more harm than good by introducing more toxins and chemicals into your body. All of these problems can be addressed with proper diet and nutrition.
DRINK WATER. CONSTANTLY.
It is well known that almost 2/3rd of the human body is water. I used to be an avid soda and concentrated juice consumer in my teenage days (shocker: I had tons of acne in those days). If it isn't abundantly clear already in this post, it is absolutely imperative to stay away from anything processed in order to not have health problems. Arguably the most unprocessed (and unsurprisingly best) thing to feed your body is water. Water has far too many uses and benefits to list here, but the fact that we can only live a few days without it should speak clearly to its importance.
CAPABILITY OF THE HUMAN BODY FOR ADJUSTMENT
Our bodies are incredible. They are capable of adjusting to how poorly or how well you treat them to the point where its almost unnoticeable. Many people develop very bad dietary habits that they don't see the repercussions for until years (Sometimes decades) down the road. This shows our bodies natural ability to compensate for mistreatment and still function at a reasonable level. The older we get, the less our bodies become able to handle the constant mistreatment and we funnel into deterioration. This leads to the inevitable conversation, "you are getting older, you cant do that kind of thing anymore". It is true, the body will deteriorate over time much faster if you are not careful to treat it well. Conversely, it has the unbelievable capability to repair itself at AMAZING rates if you treat it very well. This is evidenced by people being cured of cancer and very serious diseases by changing their nutritional habits. Without question, the human body is capable of things that we classify as a society to be impossible.
LISTEN TO YOUR BODY
This is the best single piece of advice I have ever gotten from anyone regarding health and nutrition. It is the best teacher/adviser you have when it comes to your health. When you feel sick, it is your body's natural way of telling you something is wrong.....plain and simple.
Bonus Topic for debate (for all you conspiracy theorists)
THE FDA, PHARMA, & MODERN MEDICINE
One could say I am a conspiracy theorist when it comes to the relationship between government and food in the US. Yet, when you break things down to its simplest, you see that within the structure of society, there is a very clear multi step process. You eat something-you get sick-you go to the doctor (who prescribes you medicine). What you likely don't know is that a large majority of medical schools in the US are paid for by big pharmaceutical companies. In turn, these soon to become doctors, are learning immediately a process of what drugs to prescribe to which patients based on a multitude of illnesses, diseases, and basic health issues. Now take a moment and consider this. If the FDA constantly lowers standards of food allowed through to consumers (who in turn get sick) and then visit doctors (trained by drug companies) who then prescribe medicine to "help you feel better".....what happens? The result is a small subset of people getting very wealthy subjecting their customers to a trip on a never ending hamster wheel. Why is it that major drug companies give big bonus checks to doctors who push a large amount of their product to patients? It certainly isn't because they genuinely concern about the average person's well being.
It is imperative to take control of your health in the most proactive way possible. Do research and inform yourself and share what you have learned with others. I hope some of you add comments down below and will share with me also both your opinions and thoughts. Look forward to the debate/discussion!