Diet basics, keep it simple.
Functional Medicine seems to be quite the buzz word these days in the medical world, but do we really understand what it means? The general philosophy behind FM is that no medicine or therapy can prevent the interaction between genes and the environment. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to attack the cause of chronic disease without dealing with multiple environmental factors and as difficult as that might seem there is no easier way to manage our environment than changing our eating habits…or improving upon them.
The nutrition you consume is by far the best medicine you’ll ever take, or it can be the worst poison you could ever consume. Healthy diets can be deceiving. I see countless patients who think they’re eating a healthy diet and even on the face of it, it might appear that way, however on closer inspection it’s plain to see that they’re just another patient on their way to type 2 diabetes, congestive heart failure or some other chronic disease of the day. The truth of it is that diet doesn’t have to be complicated, it just takes a bit of work at first and maybe a little bit of will power too.
Many studies since the 90’s emphasize the importance of diet and the environment in the prevention and management of heart disease. Let’s look at the Mediterranean Diet for example. When exposed to testing and scrutiny the MD showed a 50% to 70% lower rate of all causes of mortality. Can you imagine that?! If the doctors had a drug that they could prescribe that would lower mortality of all causes by 50% to 70%, with virtually no side effects, wouldn’t we all jump on that bandwagon? News Flash: we do have a drug that does that, it’s called food. Proper nutrition is key in reversing and often completely curing all the common chronic diseases we face, so why doesn’t everyone jump on it? The problem is that it takes a while before people see results, and often the results are internal and not obviously visible. Diet and nutritional studies study the effects on subjects over a year or two and for most of us to wait a year or two before we notice changes in our health is too long.
With a little patience you can put most…if not all, of those potions aside and fix yourself with proper nutrition and supplementation. Give yourself at least a year, but maybe two for lasting changes. I’m not talking about weight loss and looks, I’m talking about lowering systemic vascular inflammation and correcting blood chemistry all of which are precursors to cardiovascular disease (to name one). We all hear about low carb diets, but it’s not the carbs that are the problem, it’s the type of carbs that are. We should actually be talking about glycemic load instead of carbs, but that might be too technical for some. The glycemic and insulin response after eating plays an important role in the long-term risk of cardiovascular disease. The fact that different individuals carry different risk profiles (based on their genes) for glycemic content is probably one of the reasons that this topic is so widely misunderstood.
When the wrong information is delivered to the genes in the form of a diet or a lifestyle poorly matched to a person’s needs, or from a toxic exposure, those genes create an environment in the body that is unwary, ill at ease, uncomfortable, and prepared to do battle. This results in chronic immunological activation or imbalance and ultimately disease.
The purpose of this article was to keep it simple so let’s do just that. If you want to get a handle on your nutrition and how it effects your overall health then start with these simple steps:
- Increase water intake (try for two litres a day).
- Get better air (spend time in the mountains or out of town/ breathing exercises).
- Eat less refined carbohydrates.
- Eat more vegetables (especially the green ones).
- Eat more good fats (avocados, olive oil, nuts, seeds etc).
- Stop smoking.
- Drink less alcohol.
- Take vitamins daily (Omega oils, vitamin B, multi mineral and an antioxidant).
These are some very basic guidelines, but if you get these basics right and add in some exercise that is correct for you and your needs, you’ll be well on your way to a healthier version of yourself in 2018 and beyond.
Stay healthy and feel free to send comments if you’d like some more specific feedback on your diet.
