Ok, this entry has the potential to put every nutritionist (including me) out of a job. I’m OK with that; as a chiropractor, nutritionist, functional medicine practitioner and certified hypnotherapist, I can find other things to do to keep me busy.

Why am I writing this entry? Well, the main reason I went on the get my Master’s in Nutrition is because “nutrition” to many chiropractors, naturopaths and other alternative health care providers seems to mean “supplements”. I have seen people leaving with a grocery bag full of supplements to treat things that should predominantly be treated with a change in the way the person eats. I want to focus on food first to help people obtain health; after all, many of the diseases that plague our society have poor dietary and lifestyle habits as their cause. Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely times where supplements and yes, even medications are necessary to restore a healthy baseline but once that baseline has been restored, food should help you stay their.

What about genes? I am asked.

Well, genes are the bullets in the gun but your dietary and lifestyle habits are what pulls the trigger. Under certain conditions, we are finding out, some undesirable genes may be “turned-off” by eating in a healthy manner. In other cases, some genes that are desirable and even protective may be “turned-on” by healthy dietary and lifestyle habits.

OK…..what are they?

I have just started reading Michael Pollen’s book entitled In Defense of Food, he is the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and a proponent of these very same dietary “rules”. In fact, since you are reading this blog, you are probably computer savvy enough to watch his You Tube presentation located here.

Drum roll please……
Eat Food, not too much, mostly plants. Meats should be looked at as side-dishes not huge main courses.

That’s it!
In a nutshell….yes. Notice I wrote “food”; this warrants some defining because part of our dietary dilemma has stemmed from a 32 Billion dollar a year marketing scheme by the food industry hell-bent on convincing you that processed products from boxes, mixes, plastic containers are food…..most of them are not!

Here’s my definition of food: Anything that comes from a plant, tree, shrub or animal or any meat that can be directly cut from an animal or fish. These foods are not at all or minimally processed in the cases of oils (olive, palm coconut etc.), cheeses (without flavoring or coloring), and fermented foods like yogurt, tempeh and miso.

I know, this is boring and, according to the food industry marketing giant…..it’s not very sexy, it won’t make you popular, it won’t make you rich, successful….add your own propaganda here…..

True, eating this way won’t make you rich or successful or make other people like you but eating the way we have been for the past 30-50 years won’t either AND in addition, eating the way we have been eating will make you fat and unhealthy.

If this was the solution to staying healthy as we age, wouldn’t everyone be eating this way?
Nope, 32 billion dollars is a lot of money, plenty to change the minds of many industrialized-nation inhabitants. (notice how I didn’t just say Americans). Enough money to convince us that processed fortified foods will keep us healthy. Look at the stats, we’re not getting any healthier.

Is that really it?
OK, there are a few more “rules” that can be listed. In general, if a food-product (not really food) makes a health claim……it’s not really food and food it what you want to eat to be healthy. There are a few more but they pale in comparison to the main message of this blog entry.

Why do we need nutritionists?
Well, if we adhered to these “rules” we wouldn’t; we are the only species on this planet that “eats” instead of “feeds”. Eating for us is as much a social and gastronomic experience as it is a nourishing one. In fact, it is through these experiences that the food industry tries to convince us that all those fake, unhealthy foods are actually healthy for us. In addition, “Mom” use to be the bearer of all this nutritional knowledge. This knowledge has been passed down from generation to generation. In fact some of our dietary habits use to be tradition, both religious and worldly traditions. Things like gluttony, eating huge helpings of one particular food and not eating any vegetables used to be looked at as “unacceptable”. Now, our “Moms” (I put Mom in quotations because it could be Dad, or anyone who does most of the meal preparing) have to work full-time, the traditions have been “bucked” but we’ve thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

This is where a nutritionist can come into play. We can help you get back on track, this is especially true for those with pre-existing health concerns.

Here is my wish in regards to nutritionists:
I want us to become leaders in teaching people how to shop, prepare and eat foods that both adhere to these “rules” but also fit into our busy lives. I want us to be the ones in cooking shows; teaching people how to prepare a delicious meal for an entire family in under 30 minutes. I want the nutritionists of the world to be the ones instilling in us the importance of getting people together, cooking real food and eating it together….not in our cars, on commuter trains, or while running to our cubicles.

With books like The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food, ChefMD’s Big Book of Culinary Medicine, Gourmet Nutrition and more; nutritional experts are helping us, as a culture, relearn many of the intrinsically healthy ideas about what to eat, how to eat it and how to prepare it. The evolution of this information is in helping us do all of this in our modern time-constraints.

To find out more about the nutritional programs at Optimum Function click Here (www.YourOptimumNutrition.com), call 503-866-9739 or email nutrition@OptFunction.com

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