You Are NOT What You Eat

 

Ok, so the story, as we have been told, is that You Are What You Eat. 

I truly love this statement as it says so much. If you stop and think consciously about this statement, you just might think hard and long about your food choices.

At the same time that this statement says so much... it does not say enough. Hence my title:

You Are NOT What You Eat.

Let me explain myself.

1. You ARE what your body digests.

  • real food is required
  • chew well: food must be masticated very well so your body can easily break it down (digest it) otherwise you will just be pooping out undigested chucks of food. Pity, seems like such a waste of good food! 
  • strong stomach acid is required to break down food so you are able to use all of the nutrients in that real food you spend good money on. You want to encourage stomach acid not repress it with acid suppressing drugs.
  • good microbial colonization of your intestinal tract is needed for certain biological activities; microorganisms perform a host of useful functions such as fermenting unused energy substrates, training the immune system, preventing growth of harmful, pathogenic bacteria, regulating the development of the gut, producing vitamins for the host, such as biotin and vitamin K, and producing hormones to direct your body to store fats (and so many more good gut bug jobs). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gut_flora

Let's move on with this You Are NOT What You Eat concept...

2. You ARE what your body can absorb.

  • in order for nutrients to be absorbed, they have to be able to be digested. I will refer you back to #1 above.
  • your small intestine must be healthy in order to absorb the nutrients from the digested food. Processed, packaged, factory made foods (and all the synthetic ingredients in them) damage the villi and micro villi that line your small intestine. Damaged villi do not absorb nutrients well. Ask your body's cells how they feel about this lack of nutrients coming at them? What destroys these precious little villi and micro villi you ask?
  1. packaged food's synthetic ingredients
  2. sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup
  3. hydrogenated oils and partially hydrogenated oils
  4. GMO food crops
  5. gluten in people with celiac disease or gluten intolernaces
  6. poor chewing... see above.

3. You ARE What Your Heart Can Circulate Around Your Body and Deliver To Your Body Cells.

  • moving your body daily creates a strong heart, strong blood vessels, and strong muscles that all help to pump blood around your body. I could go on and on and write a whole book on the benefits of daily movement to your body's tissue strength and how this movement supports the movement of fluids, oxygen, and nutrients throughout your body. I will spare you the long story. Trust me, just get up and move. Dance and your body cells dance with you!

4. You ARE What Can Pass Across Your Body Cell Membranes. 

The nutrients in your real food that you have chewed well, were digested well, and absorbed into your villi and micro villi are only useful IF they can pass across the cell membrane and actually nourish your body cells. Complicated, eh?

  • your cell membranes need healthy fat from real food to keep it strong and intact allowing nutrients into the cell and cellular waste products out of the cell.
  • also, a daily dose of healthy protein keeps the cell membranes happy.
  • avoid processed, packaged, factory made foods as they contain unhealthy fats (hydrogenated & partially hydrogenated oils, cheap vegetable oils high in omega 6 fatty acids), denatured proteins, and synthetic ingredients that confuse your body and interfere with this whole digestion - absorption - circulation - and transport across the cell membrane process (for more information head back up to #1).

You are SO much more than just what you eat. You ARE what you:

  • digest
  • absorb
  • circulate
  • pass into your each and every tiny cell

Deeper Dive Homework: look at your food and your bodily processes in a different light.  Feed your body whole foods.  Support all your bodily processes so you, in turn, feed your body cells well.

PS  Dandelions are a great digestive aid!Comments and questions are always welcome! 

PS  Dandelions are a great digestive aid!

Comments and questions are always welcome! 

My Holistic Momma's Dilemma

You might remember my earlier blog post on healthy kid's b-day parties and WHY have healthy kid's b-day parties. So my latest dilemma... my soon to be 12 year old kid wanted an Oreo cookie birthday cake.  First of all I asked: "Why Eli? I have never purchased Oreo cookies for you!"

Bottom line is he wanted what he wanted.

Truth of the matter is there is not one ingredient in an Oreo cookie that was ever meant to be:

  • in your digestive tract being digested and
  • sent out into your blood stream being delivered to
  • every cell in your body to do
  • all the processes to nourish your cells so you have a
  • healthy body!

Nature did not mean for our body cells to be poisoned by packaged food's synthetic ingredients.  Ouch, Paula, really?  My healing advice comes into question on occasion:  "She is so strange, too harsh, very severe, too tough..." But really, the truth is the truth, our bodies were not meant to be poisoned.

I am all about moderation; moderation in foods that were meant to be part of our cellular metabolism. There is no way, in my mind, to be moderate about that which was never meant to be a part of our cellular being.

For just 2 weeks, try feeding your body with 100% whole food, every snack and meal.  I guarantee you will feel like a whole new person: alive, vibrant, clear headed, sleep well, etc. Then, after 2 weeks of whole food eating, go back to your regular diet, 100%, for a day or two.  You will be aghast at how lousy processed food leaves your body feeling.

Whole food eating is not about what you are removing from your life, junk food, but what you are inviting into your life, vibrant health.  Let me know how it goes.

So, back to that Oreo cookie cake. I started off with the basics.  I do not measure ingredients, just throw in the bowl, so I am giving my eyeballed estimates. Thank my Mom, that is how she cooks. I learned through observation.

  • real butter, from grass fed cows grazing in the Finger Lakes of NY - about 3/4 cup
  • 3 pasture eggs from Maria of Deep Root Farm, wicked orange yolks. Lots of good nutrients.  Use the whole eggs.
  • local milk from some sweet, grazing, local goats - 1 cup
  • *oat flour I ground from gluten-free oats - about 1 1/2 cups
  • Sucanat unrefined, real brown sugar (Available at the Potsdam Food Coop & Nature's Storehouse, Canton) - 1/2 cup
  • organic vanilla - 1 Tbsp.
  • baking soda - 1/2 tsp or less
  • baking powder - 2 to 3 tsp.

*gluten free flours will make a shorter, denser cake.  If gluten is Ok in your diet, use whole spelt flour or whole wheat pastry flour.  Whole food cakes, made with 100% whole grain flours, will be heavier, denser, and shorter cakes.  When you get used to this denser, more flavorful, manner of creating in the kitchen... the "fluffy" refined food versions will be tasteless and boring.

The below Newman cookies are made with wheat flour and therefor contain gluten.

I caved (What else is a Mom to do? He is so damned cute.) and bought Newman's Own Organics Newman-O's Creme Filled Chocolate Cookies.

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Original Ingredients:

Organic Unbleached Wheat Flour, Organic Powdered Sugar (Organic Sugar, Organic Corn Starch), Organic Sugar, Organic Palm Fruit Oil, Canola Oil (Expeller Pressed), Cocoa (Processed with Alkali), Unsweetened Chocolate, Salt, Natural Flavor, Sodium Bicarbonate (leavening), Soy Lecithin (an emulsifier)

I took one row of the cookies, scraped the creme filling out, crushed the wafers, and added the crushed mess to the batter.

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The "Oreo" cake after baking:

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Tomorrow I shall slice it in half to make 2 layers and fill the center with frosting. Then I will slather the whole thing with the rest of the frosting.

Frosting:

  • 2 eight oz. packages of Organic Valley Pasture Raised whipping cream
  • 1 eight oz. package of Organic Valley Pasture Raised Neufchatel cheese
  • 2 Tbsp. local, dark maple syrup
  • 1 Tbsp. organic vanilla
  • the second row of Newman-O's, scraped and crushed, added to the finished frosting

The final, third row, of Newman-O's will be cut into 1/2 rounds and placed on top of the cake.

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Happy Birthday Eli!  Much LOVE, Mom

Or, as my boys call me...

MOM

Teaching whole food eating, cooking, and baking classes:  I volunteer teach cooking classes through the Sustainable Living Project, Local Living Venture. Sign up for their emails to be notified of upcoming classes.  I also do small groups at my home, just ask.  pyoumell@gmail.com