Healthy Lessons My Fork Has Taught Me
We are repeatedly told that the body inevitably disappoints. The waistline expands, the metabolism slows and energy fades. My experience in mid-life has been completely the opposite. My skin is brighter. I have more energy, my digestion is better, I sleep better and while I of course eat, I’m never hungry. How can a formerly chubby yo-yo dieter with an under-active thyroid and a fierce sugar habit turn it all around?
Here’s what I know for sure:
1. IT’S NEVER TOO LATE to benefit from a leaner frame, clear thinking, fewer cravings and less sick days as we age.
2. ‘CLEAN EATING’ IS A SLIPPERY SLOPE and means different things to different proponents of the lifestyle. The magic bullet, if there is one, is eating more whole, plant-based foods.
“The treatment effect of a plant-based diet is broad in scope, exceptionally rapid in response and often lifesaving. It cannot be duplicated by animal-based foods, processed foods or drug therapies.”
-T. Colin Campbell, PhD, Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, co-author of the groundbreaking book ‘The China Study’, and a featured researcher in the American advocacy film documentary ‘Forks Over Knives’
3. HOW OFTEN ONE EATS REALLY DOES MATTER. We can get caught up in the diet dogma of eating every few hours for energy. Do we ever truly give our body the digestive rest required to heal those chronic cravings and generate true hunger. TRUE HUNGER, according to prominent nutrition researcher, physician and author of ‘Eat to Live’, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, which signals the body’s need for food, comes only after a significant amount of time between meals. Lengthy fasting is not involved, just less snacking and keen attention to the nutrient load of the foods which pass our lips.
4. CHANGE IS HARD (AT FIRST) BUT NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD AS OPTIMIZED HEALTH FEELS. Your taste buds are more resilient to change than you might believe. You may not escape the initial withdrawal symptoms when you stop eating addictive foods, but once the dust settles from that powdered sugar haze and is replaced by nutrient-packed, whole food, the body will honor this shift beyond what is imaginable.
5. LIFESTYLE DISEASES ARE PREVENTABLE AND POTENTIALLY REVERSIBLE. Google this and rejoice. Then do something.
6. RANDOM EATING, CLEANSING AND CALORIE-RESTRICTION WITHOUT A LIFESTYLE CHANGING STRATEGY WILL NOT LAST. Doing the life-altering work required to change habits permanently unlocks the door to significant transformation. It’s such a surprise.
7. EATING THE MOST NUTRIENT-DENSE FOODS PROMOTES OPTIMAL HEALTH.
In short, plant foods contain the most all-around concentrated, health-promoting and disease-fighting vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. As food journalist Michael Pollan succinctly puts it, EAT FOOD, NOT TOO MUCH, MOSTLY PLANTS. Plant-based calories are accompanied by health-optimizing phytochemicals. These include: whole grains, beans and legumes, tubers and other starchy vegetables, greens and other non-starchy vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds.
The wellness goal inherent in this eating practice is to teach the body to instinctively prefer the healthiest foods. The universal challenge is to tame the part of our selves that operates without regard to consequences. The best news ever, is that the solution to this quandary lies at the end of our fork. Eating with nutrients in mind is the game-changer.
8. YOU CAN GET ENOUGH PROTEIN WHETHER OR NOT YOU EAT MEAT.
Meatless meals need not be short on protein. Animal-based foods, traditional protein bars and shakes are not necessary for weight loss, increased muscle and good health. Significant protein is contained in plant-based foods, however incomplete that protein might be. The intention is to eat a wide variety of nutrient-laden foods over the course of breakfast, lunch and dinner. So called incomplete proteins from the plant world are completed by very sophisticated software — our bodies, over the course of a day if we top load on nutrient dense foods. Beyond protein-packed peas, green vegetables and beans, the market aisles are now brimming with meat-free and meatless meat options, many of which have the authentic taste and texture of their animal-based counterparts.
9. COOKING IS NOT JUST FOR COOKS. I grew up eating from my mother’s perpetually stocked freezer. It was an easy draw for this non-cook. But once I learned that plant-centered, whole food preparation was quick and delicious, I started to prepare and build an arsenal of simple, budget-friendly recipes I could repeat. Now I cook, pin, blog and tweet what I eat. My freezer is also my convenience store.
My INSTAGRAM: @WholeFoodieRonna https://instagram.com/wholefoodieronna/
My TWITTER: @Eat4EnergyRonna https://twitter.com/Eat4EnergyRonna
My PINTEREST: RONNA CORLIN https://www.pinterest/ronnacorlin/
10. WHEN YOU OBLITERATE CRAVINGS FOR SUGAR, SALT, PROCESSED FOODS AND CAFFEINE (AND FOR MANY MEAT AND DAIRY) THE BODY REBOOTS IN A BIG WAY. Reduce and eliminate the foods that create uncontrolled urges and your ability to escape from the nagging addiction to these foods increases exponentially.
One’s incessant calorie-counting, measuring of portions and checking weight on the scale daily can be hazardous to one’s health. Learn to eliminate cravings once and for all, and see food as the sacred fuel that it is. You can permanently change habits cultivated even over years. Do you find yourself entangled in a paradigm of dieting and listening to media hype more than your own body?
In this coming New Year, as you head into a season of eating do-overs, resolutions and goal setting, know that your food choices at any age and at every meal impact the vital numbers which will determine your healthy destiny.
People often ask me, “What, are you a vegan? a vegetarian? a flexitarian? Can you really eat healthy on a budget? Who really has the time to cook more? Can re-imagined comfort food really be as delicious as what it is intended to replace?”
My answer, in short, is that I am a plant-propelled, quality-seeking Nutritarian in search of the next ultra-satisfying, nutrient-loaded meal that will best fuel my day. As soon as I started consciously fortifying my body in this style, it began healing itself. I will never diet again.
Discovering the sweet spot for optimizing my health is a whole lot more satisfying than anything I used to crave.
