You are what You Eat’
This phrase has come to us via Anthelme Brillat-Savarin who wrote, in Physiologie du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie Transcendante, 1826: “Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es.”
He was spot on in his observation but I will also add it also HOW MUCH YOU EAT. While quality is key. Quantity is even more important.
Socrates said, Παν μέτρον άριστο…..
“Always seek the Middle Measure”….. his advice on moderation in everything speaks volumes to our present world of just too many excesses.
Just like the little boy who had the courage to say “the emperor has no clothes” ..I will make the statement.
We are Drinking and Eating Ourselves to an early death!
Having spent a lifetime with a passion for swimming and nutrition, this focus on total health was steered the course of my life. It has been a major priority and the joke in my family is that I will make any excuse or put off anything as to not miss my swim-time each day. Has to be in the morning when the refreshed waters have their most vital energy as this activity balances my physical self and soundly form the basis of the total vigor of my entire day.
Yesterday was a Tax-Free Day in Massachusetts, a long fourteen hour work day of interacting with a plethora of people. While many half my age flagged and complained …it was just another day for me. The cumulative effect of consistent exercise and my daily grazing nonstop eating produces endless energy.
WHY?… I will let you know my secret.
If you reduce the function of food to it most primary purpose, you quite literally change what you put in your mouth. Many will tell me that Food is Fuel.
Yes, that is true but more than fuel; FOOD IS INFORMATION.
So I am on my flight to California at 10:30 AM and the 30ish man next to me selects from the stewardess some high fat and carbo box of “something”. I take out my Tupperware container of red kidney beans and veggies that is seasoned with cider vinegar. He looks at it and I can tell that he thinks its repugnant and that makes sense for it is something that he probably has never eaten.
Yet his box of “something” that he washes down with two alcoholic drinks explains very well to me why this 30ish man with a thin frame has a noticeable mid-section bulge, pre-maturely graying of his hair and the extensive reddening of the face/ extremities…..add to this his stressful professional life…he is not healthy.
Let’s think molecular in terms of simple chemistry. The concoction of chemicals that he is consuming is directing his body with very different instructions than the compounds in what I’m eating. This INFORMATION directly creates the level of ENERGY that this complex body machine of many small moving parts can produce.
Over an extending period of time, this 30ish man’s diet instead of making Energy Deposits that revitalize, are actual Energy Withdrawals that place greater and greater demand on his vital internal organs. As time progresses along with the many environmental factor that we all interact with; becomes the basis of degenerative pathologies
Minor and undetectable at first as the body is hardwired in its DNA to build and repair but when the absence of exercise and good quality rest is added, we see the results every day.
We just got to open our eyes…. Look at the people around you!
Vast obesity and the many health conditions that it creates has made Big-Pharma, the Exercise Industry and Nutrition/ Supplement a multi-billion dollar profit center.
I am impressed as always with my Boomer Generation that have led the way on every trend in American Society for the last sixty years. Many of my generation have come to my same conclusion and have simplifies their diet and stopped drinking alcohol.
From my observation these sixty and seventy year old folks are remarkably more healthy than their own children and even grandchildren. They possess that healthy balance where food is information and every mouthful is telling your body and mind what to do.
The next big step for them is stepping away for Big-Pharma and this American Mindset that we possess a pill that can cure anything. In my global travels this was a joke I heard often. I have no doubt that in time my Remarkable Boomers will get that epiphany.
With the amazing diversity of food choice that we have its quite concerning how our diet is filled with just so much excessive fat, sugar and carbohydrates. In the limited time here, I cannot fully explain the harm that each individually creates.
Yet I will say, that simple foods in their most primary state are the most healthy. They are not expensive and are even found at the Dollar Store.
My children rant and are totally horrified that I food shop at the Dollar Store. They are wrong as the kidney beans, bags of frozen veggies( proven more nutrients than Fresh veggies), cider vinegar and chocolate bars made in Poland that are seventy percent cocoa are as good or even better than the stuff you would buy at Whole Foods.
The take away here is the knowledge of what to do with them…. Remember Food is all about Information.
A diet rich in beans, veggies and supported with the probiotic of cider vinegar will in a month’s time change your level of energy and waistline.
My advice to people is to use their phones for something helpful and research what I am telling . It will change your life.
Along with what we are eating the obsession and juvenile fascination as a culture we possess with alcohol is taking healthy years off our lives.
I have never gotten the “thrill” associated with this substance and see this obsession with Self-Medication while a form of relaxation that temporarily pushes back the realities of this stressful world; places extreme demands upon our total body healthy.
Alcohol is Information that changes your body chemistry and places sever demands on internal organs that release their own series of chemicals that produce inflammation that weaken our immune system.
I do have to laugh when I hear someone say that a glass of wine is good for your health. When eating a small piece of excellent quality chocolate will provide the same benefit to both your heart and your brain health.
Each person needs to make a Self- Inventory of their health and ask if it is a priority in their life. Aristotle said, “there is no greater wealth than health”.
The answers are simple and the choices even simpler
They are not expensive
They are not difficult to find or buy
They are do not take a lot of time.
It is all about your Mindset and the ability to see each action that you take as something that adds health or subtracts it from your Physical Self
Lao Tzu said, “the body is the House of Energy and the Mind is the Ruler of the Body.”
Just something for you to think about….
It time to change your life!