The End of FoOd CoNfUsiOn

"Food is medicine.” I say it all the time because it’s literally true.

When you choose to eat quality foods, your body gets the nutrients it actually needs to function well. You’ll have more energy, your mood and mind will improve, and you will feel better overall .

It’s also the case that the more you eat real, actual food, the more you’ll enjoy it—and the worse junk food will taste. You'll retrain your tastebuds to enjoy the complex flavors of fruits and veggies, and you’ll start to wonder how you could have ever loved that soda you used to drink. You’ll find yourself on a virtuous health-promoting path forward instead of a vicious cycle of dysfunction and dis-ease.

The specific medical benefits of quality food are undeniable. I’ve seen autoimmune diseases disappear, depressions vanish, migraines evaporate, psoriasis and eczema clear up, Alzheimer’s patients’ memories improve, and type 2 diabetes disappear in just a few weeks simply by changing eating habits.

This should not be news to anyone, but it is always good to be reminded of these facts. But knowing which foods contribute to a healthy lifestyle and which ones don’t can be a bit harder to unpack. What should you actually buy at the store, and what should you pass on by?

Let's discuss the practical aspects of choosing quality food.

Calories Matter, but Not in the Way You Think

I have to clarify the role calories play in our health before we go any further.

For many years, the prevailing narrative in nutrition and medicine was simple: when it comes to food choices, staying healthy was as simple as "calories in with calories out"....working toward a goal like weight loss was nothing more than a math equation.

While it is true that overeating is problematic when it comes to your health (and weight loss) in recent years, science has determined there's more to the picture than just the total number of calories consumed and used (burned).

The research shows that when it comes to food, quality is as important as quantity. Let’s go back to weight management, for instance. In a 20-year study of over 120,000 men and women, researchers found an undeniable correlation between eating poor-quality food such as potato chips, sugary beverages, and refined grains and weight gain. Vegetables, fruits, nuts, and yogurt, by contrast, were congruent with weight loss. The results of this study suggest that what you eat is as important to your weight management goals as how much you eat.

When it comes to health and wellness, the type of calories you consume is as important as how many of those calories you consume.

Characteristics of Poor-Quality Food

Unfortunately, poor-quality food is all around us—which should come as a surprise to no one. Worse yet, our junk-food-laden supermarkets have contributed to the adverse health outcomes in our society that are now epidemic in proportion.

It’s important to be able to spot and avoid poor-quality food as well as identify healthy foods (which we’ll talk about below). Some key indicators of poor-quality food include:

• They have lots of added sugar.

• They contain ingredients you can’t pronounce.

• They are loaded with hormones and other unhealthy chemicals (artificial colors & flavors)

• Anything that comes in a box with tons of ingredients on the label.

• Anything people from a hundred years ago or more wouldn’t recognize as food.

Of course, this list is not exhaustive, and there may be an occasional exception. But it should help you recognize the kinds of food that are doing you no favors when it comes to health and longevity.

Characteristics of Good-Quality Food

Now that you know what kinds of food to avoid, what characteristics should you look for to find nutritious, quality foods instead?

Here are some of the big ones:

• Look for whole, real food and not food-like substances. The less processed, the better.

• Gravitate toward foods that are free from excessive chemicals and hormones. Read food labels; if there are ingredients you can’t pronounce, it’s probably not high-quality food. Purchasing organic foods, especially from the EWG’s Dirty Dozen list when possible.

• Buy local. Visit your local farmer’s market. Not only will you be getting fresh, local, and minimally processed foods, but you’ll be supporting your community as well.

This short list can help you narrow down those foods that will benefit your health and lifespan, not worsen or shorten it.

A Philosophy of Eating Well for the Long-Term

When we think about healthy eating, it’s always best to do it in terms of long term lifestyle change. Don’t interpret any of this information to be a short-term fix.

Short-term thinking around eating quality foods, might involve creating a list of can and cant's— rigid rules that if you "break", you’ve somehow failed. And far too often, setting the bar ridiculously high leads to overwhelm, "giving up" and then having to start over. If you are solely a results-focused person, you may despair when it’s been a week into a change in your eating habits and you still haven’t lost a pound or fixed all of your gut issues.

Approaching your diet and food choices in this way is only going to lead to discouragement and burnout, which is neither enjoyable or sustainable.

Instead, think of growing in your ability to choose and consume quality, healthy foods as a progression. Perfection is not the goal—growth is. Instead of completely eliminating the “bad” foods you enjoy, understand that you can treat yourself to them occasionally and still be a healthy person.

Instead, think about what foods you want to eat more of, and which things you’d like to consume less. Find ways to make food choices that are better than before; small, sustained progress will have a truly exponential effect.

I encourage you to start or continue to develop good lifestyle choices when it comes to the food you consume. Your body and your mind will thank you. "Let food be thy medicine"