“You Are What You Eat”
With all the changes happening within healthcare right now, it can be hard to wade through to find facts, find direction, and ultimately find optimal health. Sometimes simpler is better, and we’re here to help, starting with diet. Back to basics.
Ultimately, true health comes from the inside out. Just like the nervous system is the source of all other body systems through which we live life, our diet is one of the most foundational aspects of how we fuel our bodies’ cells, organs and tissues. Proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates that we feed ourselves – along with vitamins and minerals – form all the physiological building blocks needed to function properly. It’s encouraging that we have an active role in health, and that the quality and proportions of what we eat can seriously impact the length and healthfulness of our lives and our children’s!
Importantly, while the body can build and convert many forms of proteins and fats into each other, there are still compounds that we cannot produce and must consume in our diet: Essential Fatty Acids (EFA) and the nine essential Amino Acids the body uses to build proteins. These are found in healthy fats, in combined plant-based proteins (beans, legumes, nuts/seeds, grains), and in animal products.
What’s with the new food pyramid? The updated 2026 guidelines emphasize simple concepts rooted in modern nutrition science. (1). These exciting changes are in harmony with wholistic and historically sound principles of nutrition!
- Prioritize protein at every meal – 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram body weight daily
- Consume full-fat dairy without added sugar
- Eat plenty of vegetables and fruits throughout the day, focusing on whole forms
- Incorporate healthy fats from meats, seafood, eggs, nuts, seeds, olives, and avocados
- Focus on whole grains, while sharply reducing refined carbohydrates
- Seriously limit highly processed foods of all kinds
- Choose water and unsweetened beverages
- Limit alcohol
- Eat the right amount for your age, sex, size, and activity level
Eating a wide variety of naturally colorful whole foods is one of the best ways to make sure you’re getting good quality nutrition. Rise above the confusion, read the labels on your food! Skip the lab, skip the fads, skip the processed. Real ingredients we can pronounce, grow and raise form the base of a healthful eating lifestyle, just like they did for our ancestors for centuries. Choose WHOLE, COLORFUL and NATURAL for real health, inside out, because we are what we eat. (2)
References:
2) Minich DM. A Review of the Science of Colorful, Plant-Based Food and Practical Strategies for “Eating the Rainbow”. J Nutr Metab. 2019 Jun 2;2019:2125070. doi: 10.1155/2019/2125070. Erratum in: J Nutr Metab. 2020 Nov 28;2020:5631762. doi: 10.1155/2020/5631762. PMID: 33414957; PMCID: PMC7770496.
