OK…I get it. Times are tough, the economy is tanking and everyone is trying to save a buck. Let’s face it: High quality organic/biodynamic and free range foods are downright expensive. Who can possibly afford to shop at Whole Foods anymore??? Besides, everyone from your accountant to Suze Orman is telling you to save every cent that you can. Focus on bargains and deals. –Avoid spending too much on anything. Tighten your belts to the last notch you’ve got!
It’s time to get a grip and really think about what you’re really saying and what it really means to “save money” on food by cutting corners on the quality of the meat and produce you buy. It’s the difference between short and long term thinking and a choice you are making between short term savings in your pocket book vs. the longer term implications of your health and the health of your family.
Conventional medicine, of course, teaches us that diet really doesn’t really matter much. Just avoid fat and cholesterol (don’t get me started) and don’t eat too many calories. That’s about it. Nutrient content of food, in addition to things like GMO (genetically modified organisms), pesticides and irradiation of food are in the public’s best interest and aren’t a big deal in the scheme of things. “Everything in moderation”. ONLY conventional medicine would be so imbecilic as to assert such a thing. It’s like saying that it really doesn’t matter what quality of materials you use to build an airplane…You can simply go to any old junkyard and put together rusty old scrap parts and have something just as good and safe as anything off the Boeing lot. –What’s one or two rusty parts, anyway-as long as junk parts are used “in moderation”?? This is exactly the sort of thinking that has landed the United States (and most of the rest of the Western world) in a state of health care crisis and soaring health care (read: disease management) costs. –Very profitable for the pharmaceutical and medical industries…and extremely costly on multiple levels for the rest of us. (article continued)
DON’T BE STUPID, DUPED OR SHORT-SIGHTED!
If ever there was a time NOT to cut corners on food quality NOW IS THE TIME. If you can’t afford to be ill (and who can) then preventative health care must be your #1 priority. It’s just that simple. Nothing will ever influence the quality of your health more than the quality of the food and water you take into your body.
Nothing.
Now is the time to cut corners on frivolity (read: junk food), luxury (caviar and champagne) and wasteful indulgences (eating out in fancy restaurants)-but this is more than ever the time to invest in your health and well being. There are innumerable ways of doing this that cost little or nothing.
Supplementation is something else that should be considered, too, as a means of more effectively enhancing prevention of illness and/or physical/mental degeneration. A few of the most basic types of supplementation of nutrients largely missing from our food supply to consider are:
- Omega-3 fish oil
- B-complex (indispensable in stress management)
- C-complex
- Trace Minerals (either via Celtic Sea Salt and/or ionic Trace Mineral Drops by Trace Minerals Research)
- Iodine (Ioderal-widely available– or Prolamine Iodine by Standard Process) – see the section on proper iodine supplementation protocols in the “Nutritional Geek Corner”
- Magnesium (ionic or magnesium glycinate)
- Selenium (selenium monomethionene is most bioavailable)
- Vitamin E-complex (mixed tocopherols, rich in gamma tocopherol and tocotrienols) – NOT based in soybean or canola oil! (article continued)
- Vitamin D and A (in balanced form)
Below is a list of suggestions for utterly maximizing the quality of your health without going broke.
- Eliminate sugar and starch from your diet. This will eventually serve to eliminate your enslavement to maintaining blood sugar “balance” and allow you to start utilizing natural, abundant and far more efficient ketones from body fat for fuel instead.
- Completely avoid processed foods, snacks, chips, juices and sodas. For many, this amounts to a huge savings, right off the bat.
- Avoid fast food.
- Avoid bottled salad dressings and vegetable oils (except for virgin olive oil). These are a common source of trans fats, excess pro-inflammatory omega-6’s, brominated and/or rancid fats. You can make the best salad dressing in the world by mixing olive oil, balsamic or raw apple cider vinegar and quality prepared mustard. Voila!!
- Moderate protein while maximizing the quality–meaning complete protein (animal/fish and egg source) organic, grass fed/wild – 2-3 ounces per meal is all anyone actually needs-and more is NOT healthier for most. A single tin of sardines packed in olive oil, for instance, can provide 27 grams of quality protein (fully half your daily need for protein), rich in calcium and zinc, superior natural fat (including omega-3’s) and cost all-of about $2.00.
- Eat just enough natural fat present in quality meat/fish, nuts/seeds, grass-fed butter, coconut and olive oil to satisfy your appetite. This is naturally self limiting and will truly help to eliminate undesirable cravings.
- Consume the bulk of your diet in non-starchy fibrous vegetables and greens – raw and/or steamed with butter (for better absorption of fat-soluble nutrients contained in them). Salads are great. The bulk helps create a sense of fullness (though it is mainly natural fat that truly satisfies appetite).
- By eliminating sugar and starchy carbs, moderating protein and eating just enough fat to satisfy your appetite as described above, as well as optimizing nutrient intake via supplementation you will be practicing a form of modified caloric restriction shown in innumerable studies to extend your healthy lifespan, improve energy, and even reverse aging and minimize your risk of degeneration and disease! Read more about this (and more) in greater detail in my book: Primal Body-Primal Mind: Empower Your Total Health the Way Evolution Intended (…and Didn’t).
- Shop local co-ops and farmer’s markets and sign up for CSA’s (community supported agriculture) for quality organic produce in season.
- Learn to grow your own vegetable garden and culinary/medicinal herbs.
- Learn about local edible and medicinal wild plants. Many are also very easy to cultivate in your own yard
- Join a local chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation to connect with other individuals and families near you who are also seeking to optimize health through “properly prepared nutrient dense foods”. Monthly potlucks, cooking classes, meetings and e-mail list serves can help create a rich sense of community and support and provide one with a wealth of local resources. Many group members also go in together on CSA’s and other bulk food items for greater affordability.
- Keep supplementation to a minimum, but DO supplement with the basics (see above)
- Practice active stress reduction through meditation, yoga, massage, biofeedback…etc.
- Get 6-8 hours of quality sleep each and every single night
- Exercise daily doing something you love. Avoid excessively prolonged exercise and be sure to include some brief anaerobic exertion.
My son is being tested for Pyroluria now, which I found while researching his older brother’s chronic Lyme cures, and the functional medicine doctor suggested he try the Eat for you Blood Type diet. He is Type A+, and that diet would require him to be a vegetarian. No meat or poultry is good and fish is OK. Problem with fish is the heavy metals they contain, so we don’t want to eat too much of that anymore. The entire family now eats your strict organic, grass-fed Paleo diet, and it’s working great for all. Both O+’s and A+’s! So I’d like your opinion, do you think that Eat for your Blood Type diet has any substance to it? My son tries to avoid the bad list but Coconut oil is on the bad list. That’s great for everyone!
Dear Lisa—
The so-called “Blood-Type Diet” popularized by Peter D’Adamo has never, ever been scientifically validated and in fact has been more recently soundly debunked in more than one study, including a peer-reviewed analysis. At first the concept sounds so seductively “scientific,” but at its core it lacks scientific merit and common sense, both. For instance, a very high percentage of those living in Baltic countries in extreme northern Europe (some within less than 50 miles of sub-arctic Scandinavia) have a type A blood type– which according to D’Adamo should make them all obligate vegetarians. Really?? –We’re talking about cultures existing along the edge of the Arctic Circle, mind you, where looong cold winters and short growing seasons are common. As a Lithuanian by ethnic descent, I too have a type A blood type, yet I am consuming what D’Adamo would call a “type O Diet” with resounding success. Here are a couple of studies: Am J Clin Nutr 2013; 98:99-104 “Blood Type Diets Lack Supporting Evidence: A systematic Review” and Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen nr. 14, 2002; 122:1402-5 “Blood Type Diet–Visionary Science or Nonsense?” (published in Norwegian). Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen nr. 3, 2011; 121: 355-8. And “Blood Type Diet–Science or Fantasy?”
The authors quote: “D’Adamo’s learning must be considered junk and without scientific foundation.”
I wholeheartedly agree.
With respect to fish, heavy metals may be the least of your worries. I personally have not consumed seafood from the Pacific, Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico since 2011. In my newest book, Primal Fat Burner I offer some clean seafood alternatives for your consideration.
As for pyroluria, you might want to consider signing up for my educational program, Primal Restoration which includes an excellent, detailed and extremely updated module on the subject of pyroluria roughly halfway through the program. It’s considerably more up-to-date and detailed information than what I originally wrote about in Primal Body, Primal Mind. Most of what you read about it on the Internet is wrong.
I hope this helps!
Warmly,
~Nora