You Are What You Eat

Since man discovered fire and started planting crops and preparing his own meals, the changes to how we get our food on the table, or better yet, into our stomachs, has altered radically.

The reality of it is, due to the need for convenience, what we eat has become less and less natural and this has caused an onslaught of health issues, the biggest being obesity.

And now the statement You Are What You Eat means more to your health than ever.

Do you pick up food products and read the nutritional labels on the back? If you can understand those ingredients you are fortunate. Just know this, they aren’t food, and our bodies were created to survive on real food.

Most products are crammed with preservatives (with extremely lengthy names!) to keep them edible when it gets to your home. For our family, these ingredients do not spell fresh. When your body becomes the product of what you are ingesting, eating fresh does not mean perimeter shopping any longer, unfortunately.

The low down on the grocery store harvest is sadly missing the vitamins, minerals and antioxidants we hoped to gather from this section. Pick up any fruit or vegetable and you’ll probably find a sticker saying- product of Mexico, or China, or some other foreign country. These products have been lacquered with chemicals, pesticides, and preservatives to keep them from going bad on the trip from that big plantation in China to the grocery store on your street.

Produce isn’t the only food that contains plenty of unnatural substances. Meat and animal products can be dangerous as well. Chickens and cows are pumped with growth hormones and pesticides or herbicides to make their life cycle faster and at lower cost while reaping huge profit at the market. Animals are also fed grain that has been sprayed with pesticides. Since they eat the foul pesticides, when you eat them you are eating those chemicals too!

Your body is what it eats! If you truly want to eat safe and healthy, research and find a local farm that supplies what your family needs without the chemicals, injections and inhumane methods of raising their stock.

Gradually, the public is becoming aware of the hazards of these chemically bathed produce and meat, therefore the demand for free range farms is spreading and on these farms, the animals roam free and get their food naturally (outside!), instead of being cooped up in a dark, cramped building feeding on grain.

Scientists have proven that the meat from these animals is higher in vitamins such as omega 3’s, vitamin D, and Vitamin E. This is typically due to the time the animals spend in the sun eating greens. So, find a free range farm near you and buy directly from them. Their prices, you’ll find, might be a little higher but you’ll save that money in doctor bills and pharmaceutical expenses as you become what you eat and that means a healthier you.

To the degree that crop foods are concerned you will need to talk to farmers (usually small farmers) near you. Chances are, being local; they do not have a need to spray their produce with preservatives.
By consuming the right kind of foods you are undertaking a positive surge of benefits for your body. You may very well be shielding yourself from many of the predominant diseases humans suffer from in the present day.

Changing your grocery and eating habits is a revolution in lifestyle and meal preparation. In order to lessen the negative impact that an overhaul of our upbringing can have, our family has adopted the Paleo lifestyle of eating which supports the no-preservative choice and educates its supporters regarding the importance of nourishing your body with the fuel that your body was created to flourish upon.

Check out our blog regarding the Paleo choice and don't forget that you are what you eat!

If you have any questions or would like to just chat about getting healthy, get a hold of me at mailto:derek.baldassari@fitjunky.com.

Have a productive day!
Derek