It seems as though the hottest topic in nutritional conversations these days is which diet you embrace: Keto, Paleo, Plant Based Whole Foods, Vegan, Vegetarian, Atkins, or Pegan (the Paleo-Vegan hybrid). While I do happen to have a personal preference on what type of diet I believe creates the highest level of wellness for my body, I am not going to assert any of those biases into this blog. Instead, I am going to discuss something which has an equal effect regardless of which type of diet you decide is best for you: food sourcing and ancestral eating.
What’s on your weekly grocery lists these days? Several years ago when I believed I was eating “clean” my grocery list looked something like this:
- chicken breasts
- rice cakes (caramel or cheddar but rarely plain)
- cheez-its (Oh man, Cheez-Its are wicked delicious and keep you coming back for more!)
- carrots
- low fat cottage cheese
- greek yogurt
- granola bars
- eggs
- dairy milk
- lettuce
- canned soups
- apples
- bananas
- bread (the kind that’s able to sit on the counter for 2-3 weeks amazingly without molding)
- pretzels
- protein bars (derived from whey isolate or soy proteins)
- broth bouillon cubes
- boxed cereal -usually frosted mini wheats or cinnamon toast crunch
- diet soda
- canned tuna
Back in the day when the above listed items were much the staple of my diet, I never took pause to ask myself any of the following questions: What exactly are these ingredients in this box that I can’t pronounce? Where did the flour come from to make these pretzels, and what was sprayed on the wheat when it was being grown? What happens in the bleaching process of flour, and will it affect my body in any way? Why doesn’t this bread mold for weeks when my homemade bread molds in 3-4 days? What exactly is whey isolate…how is it made…where does it come from? Is this tuna being produced sustainably? If not, what kind of impact will it have on our ecosystem? If fat is being removed from this dairy to make it low fat, is anything being replaced to make it flavor friendly to our palate? Does our body need fat? If so, how much and what kind is best? Did the chickens laying these eggs have space to walk around or were they even healthy enough to be able to walk if they had the space? Did this chicken breast come from a chicken with more than two wings, or from a chicken healthy enough to even grow feathers?
Do some of those questions seem beyond your mind’s conception? Did grocery shopping just become a whole new level of complicated for you? Even though I was raised on a largely self sustaining farm, for much of my adult years I naively purchased groceries and highly refined “foods” never for a second thinking it could be an impacting contributor to making me ill. I never questioned why the eggs off of the farm, where the chickens were able to move about with more than ample space eating corn and pecking the ground, had blissfully bright yellow yokes while the ones from the store were dull and pale in comparison. I’m sure you’re getting the idea, but if you are still asking yourself why you wouldn’t find the majority of these items on my list when shopping at a regular run-of-the-mill grocer these days then it’s definitely time to dive into food sourcing and ancestral eating!
Food Sourcing & Ancestral Eating Go Together Like Peas & Carrots
I love, love, love carrots, but they are so much better with peas! This really mirrors my feelings about food sourcing and ancestral eating..they’re better together. As many of my questions eluded to above, food sourcing is knowing where and how the food you’re eating is being grown, fed, nourished, and processed. Are the nutrients reaching you by the time you purchase it or have they all been stripped out along the way? Can the cow from the hamburger or dairy product you’re eating walk straight or see clearly prior to having been slaughtered, or has it been injected with different kinds of hormones? If you are adverse to even being sneezed on by another human with a common cold then why would you want to eat meat from an animal having been factory farmed in wretched conditions?
If you’re really not wanting to go to the effort to answer the endless questions I’ve posed above about the source of the foods from industrial producers, a way to simplify your research is to shift to ancestral eating. Ancestral eating is not a black and white diet based upon the types and ratios of macros (carbohydrates, fats, proteins) ingested each day. As I said earlier, no matter your diet of choice ancestral eating can be applied to everyone’s life. In fact, you can think about it in terms of whether or not the food came from nature. Typically it does not have an extensive list of ingredients because it is the ingredient. Based upon this line of thought it is easy to see how the convenient foods we are used to eating, those items coming from boxes and wrappers, would be the first to be eliminated from your pantry as they are the most refined and processed items in a grocery store. Along with those items, ancestral eating also eliminates other modern day foods such as vegetable oils, refined sugar, processed soy, fake meats, isolated/lab produced proteins, factory farmed animals, and farmed seafood. Ancestral eating includes grass-fed/wild animals, wild seafood, pastured chicken and eggs, grass-fed full fat raw dairy, fermented foods, fruits and vegetables grown without dangerous chemicals, and healthy fats (nuts, avocado oil, olive oil, coconut oil, etc).
It’s Labeled “Healthy” by Marketers so I Can Believe It, Right?
Um, no. I recently looked through an ad flyer for a chain grocery store and was floored by what I found in their “Healthmarket” section. Of the 19 items I found on the page there were only two items I would go purchase for ancestral eating without doing additional research: Larabar and organic apple cider vinegar. (Technically this might be cheating because I have purchased these items in the past and am already familiar with their ingredients.) Other items on the “healthmarket” page included [omitting brands intentionally]: breakfast bars (soy protein), tortilla chips (CHIPS…need I say more?), natural coffee creamer (dairy source?), fitness drink (beware of all energy drinks unless it’s grown in the ground, i.e. coffee/tea), and protein pancakes (protein isolate and flour source?) to name a few. This is a great example of how ancestral eating simplifies eating for wellness: instead of asking all of those sourcing questions you can quickly look at the ingredients of most of these products and see there is a lengthy list. This tells you the product has gone through extensive processing, and therefore does not fit within the philosophy of ancestral eating.
What’s in it For Me?
Ancestral eating can take some time to adjust to and be extra work when getting started. What is the pay out making it worth the work? Quite simply, how you feel. Honestly, I could not believe how swiftly I felt a difference once I shifted my diet (Keep in mind I chose a diet more specific than ancestral eating alone. I also eliminated foods which don’t settle well with my digestive system such as diary, raw cauliflower, raw broccoli, etc. I also reduced my animal proteins for numerous reasons which I won’t discuss here.) If you are like me there was a period of time when bloating, headaches, blood sugar influxes, and the convenience of quick meals were worth the taste of that to die for frozen pizza, prepackaged meal, or cheap protein shakes/bars. If research is more motivating there’s plenty to back things up. Cell, a peer-reviewed scientific journal has published up to 90% of serotonin is made in the digestive tract. Serotonin plays a huge, multifaceted role in our bodies. It contributes to modulating cognition, reward, learning, memory, and to the feelings of well-being and happiness. How effectively serotonin is produced in our digestive tracts is dependent upon what we’re forcing our digestive tract to process every single day. Our level of happiness is just scratching the surface regarding the effects our diet has on our overall health. The China Study is a book based upon research conducted showing how the foods we eat can help heal and/or prevent autoimmune disorders, certain kinds of cancer, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, kidney disease, and diabetes to name a few. If reading isn’t your forte, there are many documentaries about the food industry which are extremely enlightening. I highly recommend at least watching one documentary which covers the conditions of factory farming. The images were impacting for me on a level a book could never convey, and by nature I prefer to read a book. Some of the best rated documentaries on the topic are Food, Inc, What the Health, Fed Up, Food Matters, Forks Over Knives, and That Sugar Film. While some of these documentaries are pro-vegan, there is still a high level of value to be taken from these films regarding the realities of food sourcing here in the United States.
Getting started with a dietary overhaul can be overwhelming if you decide to jump in head first without a plan. You might feel as though you eat the same few foods on repeat or you can’t afford the more expensive costs of quality food. I have found some of the cost is offset by the amount of food I eat. I would want to continue eating processed foods well after being full, but when eating foods of high quality I am content to put down my fork when I’m satisfied. Yes, satisfied and not stuffed! While the cost of high quality animal proteins is undeniably different than what you find from factory farms, I found very budget friendly plant based protein options to help offset the cost. Finding new recipes was extremely helpful in incorporating new healthy foods into the new lifestyle. There are endless sources on social media and blogs to help you keep your meal ideas fresh. I normally don’t plug products, but the app Mealime was my go-to when I first made my transition. Most importantly, do what is achievable and feasible for you. If that means incorporating one new change to your food sourcing every couple months that’s okay. Personally, my transition was made with baby steps for quite some time. Bit by bit I could feel the changes really making a difference until I finally decided to jump in entirely taking the plunge when my motivation for commitment was ripe.
I hope I’ve at least piqued your interest in learning more about what food can do for you. It truly is medicine for our physical bodies! Thanks for stopping by!
Peace & Love,
Janessa