There has been a lot of buzz about plant based these days. Is it the latest fad? Or is there something good here?
It seems like every time you open a magazine there is a new diet that is on the hit parade. Each one makes great promises, and their arguments can seem pretty sound. So how to know what to do?
When it comes to designing a health lifestyle I wholeheartedly recommend you structure a system that works for YOU. This is important that I say this here because I am not preaching dogma about plant based solely. As a researcher I can say that there is a lot of support that indicates that a mostly, if not all, plant based way of eating results in the healthiest population. So this is where I begin.
We start with nourishing
In the vast majority of people I meet there is a running theme of bodies that are aggravated with inflammation. You may have heard about this but the understanding can be a pretty vague, so let me take a second to explain. Let’s use the example of a bee sting. Say you are out at a lovely picnic and you randomly get nipped by an aggressive bee. After the initial pain, the next thing that happens is at the site of the bite your skin reddens, swells and gets warm. This is an inflammation response. That bit of venom that got under your skin called to attention a barrage of healing cells to head on over to that bite and get to work to make you better. The result is inflammation at the site.
Now let’s compare that to eating a candy and junk food. When you ingest a heavy dose of simple sugars and processed ingredients, that stuff lands in your digestive tract like shard of glass and starts nicking away at your gut and healthy cells. In response to that aggravation your body responds with some super duper clean up cells, and the result of that action is that same inflammation response as the sting.
Now as a one off, as in the case of the bee sting, it’s annoying but in a short while you are back to normal like nothing ever happened. When it comes to eating, if we constantly ingest inflammatory foods day in and day out, our system is in constant stress and repair mode. The result? A constant state of inflammation. Some of the symptoms of dietary inflammation is aches in joints, inability to lose weight, poor sleeping, acne, brain fog and irritability. If it goes on for a long time, then greater health issues can arise such as diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, liver disease, etc. One of the biggest problems is learning which foods are causing you trouble.
So Why Plant Based?
Calming down inflammation is generally a multi pronged approach. When it comes to food it’s about eliminating inflammatory agents, and ingesting calming foods. Guess what- anti inflammatory foods are plants.
So this is why I start here. I believe that this is a good foundation to build upon. It’s a bottom up approach to creating a healthy lifestyle- sort of the Maria Kondo approach, which is to say that we start with a clean slate. Rather than take your diet and tweak it, we start from a clean nutritious place and build up from there. As I said earlier, I do not preach dogma. There is no Plant Based Mafia coming for you if you eat outside these guidelines. The choices are wholly yours.
What I offer you is a framework, from which you get to build out a fresh approach that makes sense to you and your life. As you go along you can decide what is working for you and what is not. My job is to help you navigate that process by providing you with the insight and knowledge so you create a sound, comfortable luxury vehicle to ease you down the road in a way that is solid for the long haul. Along the way I am also here to point out the potholes, offer detours, teach you to avoid ditches, dead ends, and how not to get pulled off into the trashy roadside attractions. Sounds doable, right?
It’s about you
You may have been diagnosed with a health issue such as metabolic syndrome, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, heart disease- or maybe you’re just tired of feeling like crap, or frustrated that you just can’t lose weight. Trust me, I get it, I’ve been there. I am here to offer you guidance, and if you’re willing to do some work together we can make great things happen.
Please don’t panic, suffering and misery are not part of the process. Will it have it’s challenges? I won’t deceive you, change requires some honest work. I promise you though- it’s not impossible, it’s incremental, and you’re driving.
Plants are powerful, and it’s not just about eating tons of vegetables. I have lots to share with you and I offer several different ways to get started. I look forward to you joining me.
This is just the beginning.