Nutrition is a story. Much of these stories are influenced by family and cultures and societies. What we eat has little to do with nutrition and more to do with the story we tell.
We have stories like:
- Meat is bad because of cruelty to animals.
- Plants are good because of vitamins and minerals.
- Whole wheat is better because of the glycemic index.
Non Homo sapiens don’t have the ability to tell food stories. Giraffes, ants, and blue jays have nutritional directions hard wired into their genetic code. They simply react to their environment. Compared to us, this makes them more intelligent. Animals only eat what they are designed to eat.
Diet books are a story
People write diet books to tell a story. Story is a powerful tool. The government tells a food story with the debunked food pyramid and now food plate. Robert Atkins tells a story about meat and carbohydrates. Dr. Dean Ornish tells us a story about vegetables and low-fat. Because they are stories doesn’t mean they are false. The only way to know if the story is right is by looking at the individual. How has the story helped or hurt that person.
My food story
I follow the paleo narrative and it goes like this: back about 14,000 years ago, humans decided to stop hunting and gathering and hunker down in one place and grow plants. And we have done it ever since. But before this time, when we were wild, we were the healthiest we have ever been.
Here are 3 parts of my story:
- Eat as little as possible. In the wild, food is scarce and we evolved to live on very few calories. I eat as little calories as needed to sustain my lifestyle.
- Eat mostly meat. Because we are omnivores, we can live on both meat and plants. But based on how our bodies are designed (eyes in the front of the skull, a short digestive tract, and hands not hooves), meat is what our bodies want.
- Eat what nature makes. Nature can’t make bread. If plants must be in the diet, eat plants found in the wild.
How to pick a story
Now you might me asking, what food story is right for me? Well, there is no right story. Like arguments, there are two sides to every story. So, pick mine. Of course I want people to choose my nutritional narrative. Probably for no other reason than it make me feel relevant. And when I feel relevant I get a nice hit of dopamine.
Diets are correct because of the story we tell ourselves about the food, NOT because of what the food does for us. Understanding this as a starting point, we can begin to modify our food story to achieve optimal health.
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