What is proper nutrition for your body?

Over the years we have become more and more passionate and guarded about what we eat and what category our foods come from.  As a child and even as a teenager, when I sat down at the dinner table I ate what was put in front of me. I didn’t worry about whether it was a grain, a legume or a vegetable. I was hungry, so I ate.

Food is one thing we can have complete control over. Nobody can force us to put something in our mouths that we don’t want to. So when we have these moments in our lives where we are feeling a lack of control, having the freedom to choose what we are going to eat brings us a sense of control and comfort. The problem is that we have taken it too far. The difference between now and 10 or 15 years ago is that the Internet is littered with food advocates who heavily publicize their platforms in order to sell cookbooks, e-books, website subscriptions and the like. So trying to educate yourself by reading whatever you can get your hands on, often does more harm than good.

Today, we have vegan groups telling us that we will die of coronary disease within a year if we eat meat. There are the gluten free people, many of whom have no idea why they are gluten free or what gluten even is (gluten is a protein found in most grains). And there are those who have sworn off dairy completely because they experience stomach upset from time to time after a bowl of high-sugar fat-free yogurt. I could google any food in existence and find a blog post telling me why I should eat it and another one telling me the exact opposite. Imagine reading an article advocating why you need to avoid apples. Trust me, they are out there. If we followed everything we read on the Internet, we would be left sucking on ice cubes all day long.

I never tell anyone what to eat. We are all so different—how could I know your biology? When someone asks me what they should eat, I make 4 easy-to-follow suggestions for proper nutrition:

1. Stay the hell away from processed foods. They really aren’t foods, they are food by-products. You will find them in boxes in the aisles of your grocery store and most of them come with no real expiry date. Meaning that they are dead and offer you zero nutritional benefits.
2. Eat whole foods. That means foods in their original form, fat and all.
3. Eat seasonal fruits and vegetables and leave the V8 and fruit juices on the shelves.
4. Probably the most important suggestion is to trust your body. When you eat something, gauge how you feel an hour later. Are you invigorated? Full of energy? Or do you feel fatigued, light headed and sleepy? After going through this exercise several times with the same foods you will have a much better idea which ones agree with you and which ones don’t. Start thinking for yourself and use practical experience as your guide.