I like to try and eat a natural, whole food diet as much as possible as I believe that it is the best way to eat for health, vitality, and well being. So, what is eating natural?
Eating natural is eating food in its natural state with minimal processing, human interference and packaging all of which can contaminate, alter and degrade the qualities of our food. It goes back to the old saying,
“You are what you eat.”
This statement is totally true as it is the food that we eat that is used to construct every cell and tissue in our bodies from your little toe to you left lung and everything in between. If we eat rubbish then the quality of our cells will be rubbish, and we will be less able to function healthily and properly, making us more susceptible to disease and injury. If we eat high quality food full of nutrients then we will build strong, robust and healthy bodies.
To eat a natural diet the most important thing to consider is the origin of the food. Ideally fruit and vegetables will be seasonally grown in high quality organic soil, and then sold fresh in their natural state. If we buy low quality fruit and veg that has been factory farmed and covered in pesticides and soaked in fertilizers a number of things are likely to happen to the quality of the food. Firstly traces of the chemicals used to force it to grow quickly will remain in the plant tissue and will ultimately end up in your body where you will either excrete it or store it away in your fat cells as the body is unable to cope with it properly. Secondly the actual veg has grown in low quality soil, lacking in nutrients, meaning that the end product is going to be similarly lacking in essential vitamins and minerals. There is also the environmental effect of intensive farming to consider, but that is a whole new blog post!!
The meat and poultry that we eat also has similar considerations. What was the animal fed? How did it live? If the answer is that it lived indoors its entire life, being fed a cocktail or growth hormones and antibiotics then you really need to avoid it. Unfortunately this is the case with much of the supermarket meat available to us today. Ideally you should pay a little more and get grass fed beef and lamb, and proper free range chicken and eggs that have been allowed to grow at their natural speed in a natural environment. Your local butcher should know the origin of all of his products and should be able to advise you on how the animals are reared. Animals raised and looked after properly produce higher quality meat with more nutrients that ultimately tastes better. Why aren’t antibiotics working as well as they used to? Because we eat so many traces of antibiotics day to day in the low grade supermarket meat that we buy and consume in such vast amounts!!
This is only meant as a short introduction, I could go on all day about eating whole natural foods. I just want to stimulate your own interest and get you researching and reading. In the meantime try an organic veg delivery from Abel and Cole, or Riverford, and enjoy the difference in quality and taste for only a little more money. Your body will thank you for it.
Ben
Labels: food, fruit, meat, natural, nutrition, veg, whole food
I love a tasty snack. Always have and probably always will. Whilst snacks are not essential there is nothing wrong with the occasional snack if it is kept healthy and clean so here are some helpful suggestions for you to try out......
