Over five years ago, my mom, at 55 years young, was diagnosed with cancer. Not just any cancer, but stage IV lung cancer that had metastasized to her brain. This was a sorry-there’s-no-cure-get-your-affairs-in-order kind of diagnosis. My world was forever changed.
She’s still alive, by the way. She’ll be a six-year cancer survivor in June. It was a fight. It was anything but easy and while she’s cancer-free today, the side effects of her toxic treatments have been severe. But she’s here and I don’t let one day go by without thanking God I still have my mom.
I start with this because it was her diagnosis and subsequent battle with cancer that really spurred my journey of learning more about nutrition and its role in maintaining our health.
I’ve read an alarming number of books about food and our health. I find it fascinating the way our bodies work and how the foods we eat can either harm us or heal us.
The thing is, there’s a lot, and I mean a lot, of contradictory information out there.
One of the first books I devoured shortly after my mom’s diagnosis was The China Study by T. Colin Campbell
. I read a lot of books during those initial months of her diagnosis and treatments, but this one had the biggest impact on me. After reading it, I became a vegetarian and stopped drinking cow’s milk. We’re talking drastic life changes.
Then, a few months later, my dad handed me Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions
which pretty much touted a diet that was the exact opposite of what Dr. Campbell described in his book.
Dr. Campbell said the casein in cow’s milk will kill me, Sally Fallon said (raw) cow’s milk is basically the most nutritious thing you can put in your body.
And trust me, I’ve read everything in between these two extremes.
Sooooooo….what is a regular girl like me supposed to do? I have one goal in mind: a long, disease-free life that I can enjoy without pain or sickness. I want the same thing for each of my family members. I know eating the right foods can contribute to that goal.
You could easily make yourself crazy by reading all the differing nutritional philosophies out there. With that in mind, there are five food truths I’ve come to believe based on everything I’ve read, my personal experiences, and lots of observation. One thing I’ve learned in my research on nutrition is that truth is a relative term, so these are my truths, which may be also viewed as opinions. 🙂
1. Eating a wide variety of nutrient-dense foods is key.
Too much of anything can be a bad thing. Our bodies need a balance of nutrients to grow, thrive, and be well. You can’t even pinpoint exactly how much you need of each nutrient because it could be different for every individual. The only way to get the ideal balance of nutrients is to eat a wide variety of nutrient-dense foods on a daily basis. If you are eating too much of any one thing, even if that one thing is “healthy”, you could be hurting your body.
2. What we eat has power to make us well or make us sick.
I wholeheartedly believe that nutrition does matter. It goes beyond maintaining a healthy weight. What we eat can truly affect our health, both short term and long term. Overall, I actually think nutrition plays a stronger role than genes do in our health because I think nutrition can turn on or off certain genetic tendencies.
3. The bulk of our diet should be made up of plant-based foods.
The reason I think this is simple. If you are going to get the wide spectrum of nutrients you need, you have to eat a lot of plant-based foods, specifically a lot of vegetables. There are nutrients, important nutrients, you can get from animal foods. I think eating them is fine, nutritionally speaking. But if they make up the bulk (more than half) of your diet, you don’t have enough room in the rest of what you’re eating to get all the nutrients you need.
4. No matter what diet you follow, make sure you’re eating whole, unprocessed foods.
Whether you eat vegan or paleo or somewhere in between, most of what you’re eating should not be packaged, processed foods. If I were to give one piece of advice to someone looking to improve their health, it would be to cut out processed foods.
5. Nutrition is highly individualized.
There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all diet. One person may thrive on a vegan diet, while the next person’s health may suffer. A certain individual may need more fat and less protein than the next. This is why you need to be careful and never assume that what “works” for one person will “work” for you.
I would love to keep this conversation going. Are there any “food truths” you’d add to this list?
Maryea. Your posts are very truthful. Would you be open to learning about an way to achieve all you’ve done as well as ridding body of toxins you speak of?
Please email me. I’d love to share. Gayle:)
While there are many great reasons to be vegetarian, The China Study is not one of them. It has been completely debunked. He falsified many of his findings and used study protocols that were intended to overestimate the rate of cancer cases in the meat-eating population and to underestimate the incidence in cancer in the vegetarian populations.
Today, he has never been published in an professional journal because of his unethical research practices. He claims that it is because he has findings that are contradictory to the status quo, but that is not how journals work. They love publishing studies that are new and novel. They just don’t publish work that is completely false.
I have worked in oncology for years and many, many, many of my patients were vegan/vegetarian. There are a few things you can do to prevent cancer, but excluding animal protein from your diet is not something that has any evidence behind it.
I appreciate your comment, Jo. Can you point me in a direction where I can read more about his findings being “debunked” and that he falsified his findings? I definitely think he made a big leap from his studies involving casein promoting cancer to saying all animal proteins promote cancer (promote, not cause. Not the same thing. He didn’t say that animal protein causes cancer, rather that it can promote cancer from the initiation stage.) Anyway, I’m always interested to read more so I’d love to know your source of info. Thanks!
I agree, we need to fill our bodies with wholesome ingredients. Every now and then my 94-year old Grandpa will make a comment about how “young people” are eating. He discusses how a muffin used to be half their current size, coffee used to be coffee, meals were made at home, a wide variety of foods were eaten, dessert included fresh fruit There was no overindulgence, this was the Great Depression era. Every day there was family walks after dinner. Then he goes on to remark how today we have all of these fancy conveniences, microwaves, dishwashers, food processors, slow cookers – and yet, we still don’t take the time to prepare our food. But Grandpa, we’re so busy. Really? We all worked longer days than you work now. Ummmmmm. He has one of the best outlooks on life, has had a more active social calendar than I have EVER had and truly lives life to it’s fullest.
How lucky you are to have such an insightful and smart man in your family! I hope to be 94 and living life to the fullest like your grandpa several decades from now! 🙂
Very good post! And it made me smile to see the picture of your mom! 🙂
I very much believe in the power of food to make us sick or heal us, probably because I’ve experienced it myself. I eat a plant-based diet consisting of vegetables in large part because this is what I’ve learned I feel best with. Many of my health problems improved or disappeared when I changed my diet.
It’s confusing how much contradictory information is out there! I’ve read (and, in part, ate) my way through the whole spectrum as well. Like you, I believe that nutrition is a very individual thing, so I’ve been picking from the different approaches what works for me, and made up my own diet which by now contains elements from plant-based and the nourishing tradition approaches, paleo, Ayur Veda, raw foods, macrobiotics … I’ve also tapered off animals foods by now.
I love that you ate your way through the spectrum. 🙂
Great thread and a passion of mine that I would love to learn more about. I don’t though as am too aware of the conflicting information!!!
Would just like to say that we were discussing this as a family just last night over dinner. We recently hit a financial brick wall and had to scale down on our organic foods, buying veggies and dairy goods instead at a budget supermarket. Over the last few weeks we feel exhausted, no energy at all and I’ve shad a cold for a week! Coincidence. We think not! So back to the organic store I went today and picked up some super duper organic veggies! Listening to my body is really important to me too as I have an autoimmune disease. No gluten and trying to limit sugar but I love cake too much! Love your recipes by the way. The peanut butter apple bars are a staple produc in this house!!!! X x x
Thank you. I agree. So nice to have people thinking the same way I do. So sad so many people out there just don’t get it though. I eat and feed my family like you and amazing how my people think I weird and depriving my daughter (2 years old). When will they get it? Thank you for all the recipes I love it.
I wholeheartedly agree with this list. I think we have really similar views on nutrition! Fill most of your plate with plants, but whole, unprocessed meat is ok, too! I think if you stick to whole foods and tries to avoid all the processed junk out there, that’s the best way to go 🙂 I try to buy organic apples, celery, spinach and bell peppers as well along with avoiding lots of added sugars.
I agree with #4 too. I find it very hard (time consuming) to eat well and feed my family well so I aim for most of the time. If we eat well 80% of the time, I am happy.
I think the 80/20 rule is a good one!
It is so true that there are so many books and diets out there that are all opposite of each other! It can get so confusing. Above all, learn to listen to your body and learn which foods work best for you. If you do okay with dairy, make sure it’s the best quality you can get. Same goes for meat. If you feel yucky when you eat gluten, find other whole grains that you can eat that are gluten free.
And avoid STRESS which can make you sick too! 🙂
So true! Great points about finding the best quality dairy and meats you can.
Hi Maryea,
First, kudos to your mom. I am so glad she is healthy and doing well. What a strong woman.
I think your list is great and I wholeheartedly agree with everything you say. Although this is embedded within, I would just add to try and eat organic (especially for the dirty dozen) and to limit foods with GMOs.
Great post. 🙂
Yes! I probably should have mentioned limiting sugar, too. 🙂
Well said, Maryea! I wholeheartedly agree with #4. So glad to hear your mom is doing so well.
Thank you, Candy!