Helllloooo Stemians! Boy it's been a while! Thanks to everyone who stuck around (whether you meant to or not haha), I will be changing my blogging focus from this point on and I hope you enjoy the ride! If it resonates with you, fantastic - share the love with friends and family!
I finally achieved a goal - Changing my lifestyle... and seriously doing it! The info nerd I am, along with the analytical side of me.. simply couldn't ignore the facts any longer - I was on a path of cascading side effects, physically, mentally, emotionally and metabolically!
What is the food Pyramid?
Simply put, it is a recommended proportional diet to live a healthy life - now with diabetes at an all time high and especially diabetes in children, it begs the question.. Is this wheel true and should we consume this??
- Australia has this wheel by Australian Government Of National Health and Medical Research, along with New Zealand -
Looking at this wheel, it's stating 1/3 of your meals to be cereal 1/3 of your meals to be vegetables of various kinds and then 1/3 to be a mix of fats, fruits and lean meats along with small amounts of oils and "junkfood".
Questionable food and amounts
When you get down to the nuts and bolts - Most cereals we consume, contain added sugars, starch, preservatives but then given an injection of calcium or iron or vitamin to make them "healthier", essentially we eat carbohydrates and refined sugar and starch! Paving way for the "health food isle" or "healthy range" .. but isn't this supposed to be healthy?!
Carbohydrate me
Carbohydrates are just carbon, hydrogen and oxygen but have such a profound function in our bodies - this wheel or pyramid or recommended diet states to eat majority carbs, moderate protein and little fats, but what is this actually doing to us? Below is a simplified version of what happens:
The simplified version shows the cyclical process that would be repeated every time we consumed carbohydrates, sugars, starches.
For example - Having your favorite soft drink with your hot chips for lunch and 4-5 hours later your eating pasta for dinner or some take out and then wake up 6 hours later to break-your-fast with some more carbs, rinse repeat... we get fat.. literally "fat". Insulin actually stops us from breaking down the already stored fats and will actually store more unused energy as fat.. because it thinks it needs it for later when this energy stops - but it doesn't stop because we continue to consume carbohydrates and provide this energy!
Think Like Renewable Energy
Instead, if you think of your body like a battery storing the unused sunlight from the solar panels on the roof of your house. The panels as such are in fact storing this extra energy into the battery, the battery is then using it while there is no sun.. Recycling it's saved energy! This could run your entire lifestyle while this battery uses energy without the need to get more sunlight, using up that stored energy surplus "fat" :
- battery being your fat cells - unused energy, stored and ready to be used
- sunlight being food - Carbohydrates entering your system through food and drinks
- solar panels being your eating pattern - Sunlight is out and there is an abundance of energy
- house being your body - better store this unused energy as fat for later when we may need energy
With this being shown the real question is this - "Is this recommended diet or pattern of eating really the best for everyone in mind?"