Nourishment & Nutrition Guidance

Written by Regina Gee of Wellspring Coaching

Escaping the Western Diet

“What we know is that people who eat the way we do in the west today suffer substantially higher rates of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity than people eating any number of different traditional diets. We also know that when people come to the west and adopt our way of eating, these diseases soon follow.” Michael Pollan

We are the most obese, medicated, addicted, and lonely people to ever live on this planet. The way we are eating in the west is more a product of industry than of nature, and it is killing us. Which begs the question, what should we do about it? What should we eat to be healthy? These questions can be answered in incredibly complex ways that will fill text books. They can also be answered in a way that brings us back toward wholeness, towards wisdom, in a simple way. Michael Pollan answers it like this: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” ‘Eat food’ means eating things that are products of nature, not of industry. ‘Not too much’ means eating whole food, food that in nutrient rich as opposed to calorie dense (sugar and refined foods are high in calories and low in nutrients). ‘Mostly plants’ acknowledges that plants (leaves, fruits, and vegetables) have a plethora of nutrients that are incredibly good for us and things we cannot get anywhere else.

EAT FOOD. NOT TOO MUCH. MOSTLY PLANTS.

Escaping the western diet is crucial for our wellbeing. When you have spent years eating a certain way, it can be intimidating to restructure your sustenance system. If you’re like me, it is hard to even answer the question: what else is there? Moving away from the western diet means learning new things, building new habits, and creating new mindsets & processing patterns. It is a labor of love, to reformulate foundational ways of being. This article houses advice for restructuring your food pattern and ways to do so.

In his book In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto Michael Pollan offers a series of actionable “food rules” to help escape the western diet. He recommends we look at food and eating through an ecological lens, and in so doing open new perspectives on how the western diet is a radical departure of our food relationships, from the soil to the meal. With this perspective in mind, we can better understand our options for options outside of this new default.

“To take part in in the intricate and endlessly interesting process of providing for our sustenance is the surest way to escape the culture of fast food and the values implicit in it.” Michael Pollan

Nourishment Guidance

A human being can thrive on a number of different diets – so long as they are products of nature as opposed to industry. The answer of what to eat is not answered in specific health foods or singular items, rather it is about your pattern and values. A food pattern that is characterized by wholeness, nourishment, and connection is eating well. A pattern personalized and tailored to your body, in your habitat, in your community is how you live into your values. Does your food connect you to your health, your community, and your environment? Does it demonstrate your values? Are you participating in a short food chain? Does your food connect you to your particular place?

“We are about to begin the adventure of realigning our lives with our food chain.” Barbara Kingsolver

Need some help knowing where to begin? Here are some tips from Andrew Weil to get you brainstorming:

Increase your daily intake of vegetables and fruit
Replace sugary drinks with clean water and healthy teas
Try new healthy recipes, learn how to cook food that works for you
Meal plan for the week prior to shopping
Meal prep so you have nutritious meals ready when you’re hungry
Shop at Farmer’s Markets, Join your local food system

Nutrition Education

An important piece in cultivating change is insight/education; before you make changes, you need to understand what you want to change. This research and learning phase is where you acquire information that you will go on to organize and integrate.

If you are in need of specific education on types of food that create a healthy pattern, you can learn more in this Nourishment Guide. This guide includes recommendations for how to formulate meals, information on macronutrients (carbs, protein, fat), information on beverages & water intake, information on micronutrients & phytonutrients, the importance of fruits and vegetables, mushrooms, supplements, and additional tips. It is a great resource if you are looking to learn more about what to eat. This guide was assembled based on the Wellness & Lifestyle Series at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine.

Eating Algorithms

“I’m not interested in dictating anyone’s menu, but rather in developing what I think of as eating algorithms – mutual programs that, if you run them when you’re shopping for food or deciding on a meal, will produce a great many different dinners, all of them ‘healthy’ in the broadest sense of that word.” Michael Pollan

When it comes to food, anything that is good & sustainable for you must be a product of your own understanding and care for your body. You have to figure out what works for you, how to be in your body, and how to listen to the information your body communicates to you. Your body knows what it needs (in much more nuanced and complex ways than we have language for). As you discover what works for you and what doesn’t, here’s some “eating algorithms” for you to try on as you cultivate health, in the broadest sense of the term.

Eating Food:

Don’t eat food your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
Eat meals.
Eat like an omnivore.
Eat well grown foods from healthy soils
Eat wild foods when you can
Eat mostly plants, especially leaves
Avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar b) unpronounceable c) more than five in number or that include d) high fructose corn syrup.
Avoid food products that make health claims
You are what what you eat eats too

Food Behaviors:

Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle (processed foods are in the middle)
Get out of the supermarket whenever possible
If you have space, buy a freezer
Be the kind of person who takes supplements (but save your money)
Eat more like the French or the Italians or the Greek or the Japanese
Don’t look for the magic bullet in the traditional diet
Pay more, eat less
Do all your eating at a table
Don’t get your fuel from the same place as your car does
Try not to eat alone
Consult your gut
Eat slowly
Cook and if you can, plant a garden

Real Nourishment

Our food pattern is an opportunity for deep care and affection for ourselves and the environment. What we eat determine how the world is used, it also determines our level of health and vitality. Eating to be healthy involves eating food that is good for the body (whole, unprocessed, nutrient rich) and is good for the environment. What is good for you is also what is good for the soil, plants, and animals in the food chain. Real nourishment is about cherishing our body, the food we sustain ourselves with, and the process that has gone into creating it. This perspective on the question of what to eat carries with it a grounded wisdom that connects us to ourselves, each other, and creation.

As you reflect on what you eat and how you would like to grow, remember this a journey towards wholeness and a practice in loving kindness. It is about doing the best you can with what you have and where you are at.

“Eating home-cooked meals from whole, in season ingredients obtained from the most local source available is eating well, in every sense. Good for the habitat, good for the body.” Barbara Kingsolver