My Philosophy About Food and Nutrition
1. There are certain nutritional foundations that all people need to follow to be healthy and well, but food is bio-individual.
Nutritional foundations are:
- All human beings should be eating properly prepared nutrient-dense food. I call that PPND food. PPND food is closest to what God made – closest to the earth – whole foods. In contrast, what should not be consumed are pseudo foods, highly processed foods, refined sugar and chemicals.
- All humans need to be eating high-quality animal products, clean and nutrient-dense vegetables of all types and colors, complex carbohydrates, and adequate levels of high-quality fats in their diets daily. *even if you feel better for a while after becoming vegetarian or vegan, long term it will not go well nutritionally with you and you will start to notice depletions and symptoms. A good book to read about this is by Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride.
- Bio-individuality must be considered when applying a nutritional template to your food and drink routines every day. That means that some people might feel better eating more high-quality meat and less high-quality fats and others might feel better consuming more complex carbs than others. Furthermore, humans, depending on where they are on their health journey, might need higher amounts of certain vitamins and minerals than others. Lastly, ancestry should be taken into consideration. For instance. If you have a lot of Dutch in your genetics, you likely will feel best eating what your Dutch ancestors thrived on.
2. Though you will see certain labels on my website like: GAPS, AIP, Paleo, you still need to consider bio-individuality.
When I write recipes and name them, I will sometimes use a label like the above but it doesn’t mean that I believe a person should subscribe wholly to a “diet” perse – especially for a long period of time. Mainly, I just use these labels for searchability because people often know that an AIP recipe will or won’t include certain ingredients. Same with Paleo, GAPS, etc.
3. Do you believe in eliminating entire food groups?
When a person is struggling with chronic illness and symptoms that happen, it is often due to increased intestinal permeability as well as systemic infections. The first place to start is by healing the gut lining so that increased intestinal permeability goes away and you can absorb nutrients in the best way possible. With that goal in mind, it is beneficial temporarily to eliminate hard-to-digest foods (even properly prepared) like nuts, grains and seeds. Through an elimination diet (the gold standard), the person will be able to quench the fire in their gut, heal the lining and then most likely be able to add back in the foods that previously caused inflammation. You can take my Gut Renew course to learn more about healing leaky gut.
4. Where can I get clean, healthy foods online?
I have compiled a big list of healthy products, including foods, that I not only use and love, but recommend as well. Click here to be taken to that link.
