Dieting (giving up foods) is out and adding nutrient rich super foods is in, when it comes to changing the way you eat.
For decades, ever since the idea of “dieting” came into vogue, the act of manipulating nutrients, calories, and entire food categories, or simply put “eat less” to induce weight loss has been our modus operandi. Of course this is all about dealing with the negative consequences of a nutrient poor diet and unhealthy lifestyle.
Despite those efforts, weight gain and obesity have increased virtually every year for 60 years and still Westernized populations are stuck in “food purgatory”, eating nutrient poor food, but trying to eat “healthier” at the same time, seemingly unclear about how to solve the problem. Why?
Well there are several reasons, not the least of which is food addiction, which is pretty challenging to get free of, unless you make the Switch to a Nutrient Rich Healthy Eating style, and get free of eating the SAD Standard American Diet, eating for weight-loss only or resorting to half baked healthier diets, none of which are really nutrient rich. There are several more reasons of course, but all are undermined by the wide variety ofvested interests who maintain outdated nutritional policy and have no interest whatsoever in solving the obesity problem that is 100 million dieters strong worth more than $20 billion (with a B) a year. This is weight loss by the numbers. You must watch this.
The moral of the story? “There is no next great diet!”
Just Remember, no “industry” or organization truly exists for it’s own eradication and the weight loss industry is no exception. They are the poster children of the dysfunctional mode of eating.
Here’s a tracking graphic we had created to illustrate this trend towards to the fat end of the scale.
Here’s 2011
So what is the problem? Is it obesity or the way in which we are eating AND dealing with it’s consequences?
The answer is both.
If you have been following this Nutriblog for any period of time, you will know that in the beginning, if you are ascribe to and eat a nutrient poor diet, no manner of manipulating nutrients, calories or food categories to affect weight and or health will ever last, for long.
Simply put, when when you don’t meet your bodies comprehensive nutritional needs for, primarily micronutrients (vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals…) and then healthy macronutrients (carbohydrate, protein and fat), even though you may lose weight and improve your health as compared to your previous usual diet; when you attempt to change your diet through weight loss-only diets or half-baked healthier diets you will struggle even if you have great genetics. It’s only a matter of time.
Eating substantial amounts of foods that are micronutrient poor, means that you will inevitably be consuming foods that contain substances your body does not need from food, like saturated fat, and cholesterol, etc and compromise your health; and no approach to eating, even if it promotes weight loss is sustainable if it compromises health.
You must eat up to 90% or More Plant Based Nutrient Rich healthy foods, in ways you enjoy that include micronutrients to nourish and detoxify your body, and at the same time, don’t promote food addiction which is caused by overwhelming the body with concentrated calories, if you want to stabilize and strengthen the immune system and the feeling of satiation and balance.
So, what to do?
*** Go vegan, vegetarian, Paleo, Gluten Free? Start Eating low fat, low cal or low carb? Eat foods with only natural flavoring and preservatives? Maybe go organic, and only eat foods that are “grass fed”?
The answer is none of the above even though any and all of these diet styles, will have some positive effect. The thing is, most of these weight loss-only, or half-baked healthier diets, while offering one or more attributes of what may end up becoming an optimized healthy eating style, such as, minimizing or eliminating animal products, eliminating wheat protein, eating less refined food and calories in general, or controlling the amount of carbohydrate you eat… they don’t address the 5 golden rules of healthy eating, and therefore keep you diet-trapped in one way or another.
This is why a new word has emerged to better explain the act of changing or “improving” the way you eat. The word is Superfood?
When we were at the largest Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim California 5 months ago, you didn’t see vegan, or paleo, or vegetarian, or low fat, or low carb, or low cal… all you really saw was the promotion of eating nutrient-rich superfoods, as these are the only foods that can solve the obesity problem in a powerful way only nature can deliver.
Today’s natural products providers know that unless their product is nutrient rich and doesn’t contain those substances we now know the body doesn’t need from food and is in as close to it’s natural state as possible, it will not work for long with customers.
You see, the art and science of eating healthy only supports eating foods that are “nutrient rich.” Nutrient Rich foods are called “Super foods”, because they are the only foods that can change your eating habits for you for the better, forever.
Enter the Superfood Eating Style which is all about adding Nutrient Rich Superfoods to nutrify and detoxify the body first, so you can enjoyably and comfortably, begin eating predominantly nutrient rich foods that stabilize and strength your immune system. Learning how to best eat these foods and make the nutrition transition from nutrient poor to nutrient rich eating is the key. Eventually, leveraging the insights that nutritional research is now discovering, en masse, which explain how to optimize the way you eat for optimal health and longevity may become your focus.
A Nutrient Rich Superfood Eating style, may go by many names, including eating Nutrient Dense, Nutritarian, High Nutrient Density, Whole Foods, and by countless other proprietary names.. yet the main idea is the same – it’s about eating those super foods that are micronutrient rich, containing the vitamins, minerals, and thousands of phytochemicals that only come from foods of plant origin, as well as health-promoting protein, real food carbohydrates and essential fats, water etc.
When you give your body the nutrients it needs to succeed, in the natural forms they were intended to be eaten in, your body will function in optimal ways, and this is what a Superfood Eating Style will help you achieve in a fun and natural way.
Traditional diets all too often, take the fun out of it all, as they require people to eat in unnatural ways. People are influenced to “optimize” the way they eat around diet styles that are still nutrient poor, or before they have set themselves up for success. If I had a dime for every time someone, wanting to eat to live better, came to me saying “this is too difficult”, I would be flat out rich, wealthy! They try to optimize the way they are eating before they have built a foundation that must start at the beginning with the decision to eat “nutrient rich.”