Healthy eating can be a very confusing topic, particularly in western countries.
And by “western countries” I actually mean 1st world countries that are predominantly white (except Europe), so all of North America, Australia, and a couple other places.
Why does the location matter? Because everywhere else if you are poor then you can’t afford the crappy food. But if you are poor in the regions I mentioned then crappy food may be all you think you can buy.
It’s weird isn’t it? Some of the wealthiest places have the worst diets because the poor always outnumber the rich.
I have always been at the lowest income bracket for my entire life so I have always had a less than stellar diet. We were so poor as kids that junk food was not really present but neither was strong nutrition because neither of my parents could actually cook.
With that said, I've also been obsessed with health since I was roughly 6 years old.
I used to wake up at 5am to watch the most low budget show hosted by a nutritionist. This obsession to learn about health never abated.
When I became pregnant, my desire to live healthy was reignited and I refreshed my knowledge of nutrition. Prior to this I had developed some terrible junk food habits, now it was time to clean them up but it had to be done cheaply.
After going through the cupboards and fridge I realized just how much of my diet was dominated by 2 things: sugar and wheat.
If those were removed it would clean up the diet by 90%.
Sugar was hard because when you eat it excessively you cause overgrowth of certain bacteria, those bacteria will demand to be fed by triggering cravings, strong ones. To say I’m strong willed would be an understatement but I still struggled at first, coffee and the occasional ice cream are what is left of the sugar in my diet.
To achieve lowering the sugar intake I stopped buying things like cookies or other “treats”, I also made sure to read the label of everything I buy to check for sugar content (sauces for example). Thankfully I’m not a big fan of most sauces that rely on high sugar content like ketchup.
Initially I also changed my coffee sweetener to stevia as well, to be honest I loathe stevia in my coffee!
Wheat was actually harder than the sugar because it is so pervasive! They add it to everything! Initially I ignored it in things like soy sauce but over time it became clear that I am actually allergic to wheat so I found alternatives that are gluten free.
For most people who find they have trouble eating wheat they don’t actually need to remove it from their diet, they only need to switch to organic. Glyphosate is sprayed on a few grain crops (like wheat) right before harvest as a “ripening agent”. It forces the plant to ripen grain in 1-2 weeks at a time that the farmer finds convenient. Unfortunately the glyphosate becomes embedded in the grain itself, when it is eaten the glyphosate then disrupts the gut bacteria very badly and over time can cause damage to the gut itself.
I realized I was actually allergic because of how my skin started to react when exposed topically and I would have autoimmune flares even if I ate organic spelt.
Removing wheat is the single best thing I have ever done for my health. My arthritis almost never flares, migraines are vastly reduced in severity, and it forced me to find nutritionally dense alternatives such as zucchini for pasta.
At almost 33 I am in better health now than I ever was in my late teens to early 20’s.
Sometimes it’s what you take out of your diet that changes your world.
This post is part of the Food as Medicine challenge
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Good on you to take those steps to move towards healthier eating and reap the benefits for I know it is not easy especially if you live in a city where you are surrounded by all this junk foods and advertising and the fact as you mentioned that we become accustom to certain tastes and the body develops, with certain bacteria and such that actually cause cravings for these things! When we toke the sugar and wheat out of our diet I cleaned out our cupboards and pantry of them so I wouldn't be tempted. I must say I feel much better having taken them out of my diet as you have too!
Great entry to the Natural Medicine "Food as Medicine" Challenge! Thanks for sharing!
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STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
I really love the way you talk honestly about your life.
Yeah, sugar is really bad for health. There is nearly no sugar in my diet and even a low carbo. But I have gained some weight after stopping breastfeeding. I am also thinking for a few days to start doing something to control that.
Good writing.
thank you :)
Yeah I don't eat sugar and rarely eat wheat and feel all the better for it, I have so much more energy and I am so much more healthier as well. For sure it was not easy, but so worth it, and your children will be all the healthier for it too xx
for sure
Yes!!!! Love it. I cant believe that you watched nutrition shows at 6 years old, that is so cute!
When I was broke for years I remember it was cheaper to eat well. No meat, lots of vegies, big lentil soup. Lucky I had been raised to know how to cook! Education is key isnt it?
Glad you found out which things aggravated you. Wheat is a shocker! I buy biodynamicflour for my sourdough, and we are fine with that. I love tamari but we do have a great alternative here with a company called Braggs.
I use tamari, the braggs product just doesn't taste right lol
I get massive cravings for tamari!!! Must be the salt. Just pulled a wombok out of my garden.. stir fry for tea. I have a big knob of ginger too. Drooling.
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that sounds amazing!
So true about what you take out. Me? No trans fats, palm or ANY soy product. Now THAT's an eyeopener. US, UK, Canada, NZ and Australia "first world"? a quaint idea from the last century. Progressive Asian countries far outstrip this old idea and are really where "first world" is at. So what would you remove next from your diet as a game-changer?
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I didn't say asia wasn't part of the 1st world nations.... I was only aware of the economic definitions of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd world countries rather than specific political alliances. I went to go grab official definitions and learned something new.
I don't have any plans to remove anything else, just removing wheat has made shopping so difficult that I don't want/need the stress lol