The Standard American Diet (SAD) is a detriment to our personal health and a burden to the entire “health” care system. Our diet consists of processed foods, refined sugars, genetically modified foods, artificial additives, antibiotic and hormone-laden meats and the list goes on and on. The “food” that so many people consume each day couldn’t really be classified as food. We live in a society that is full of obese-starving people. People are malnourished, despite their excessive BMI. Parents send their children to school after consuming a high-sugar cereal that is popular, eating a school lunch that is highly processed and non-nourishing, and then grab fast food at night…and we wonder why there are behavior problems and ADHD that is so rampant.
Consumption of the SAD diet leads to three things: (1) oxidative stress; (2) systemic inflammation; and (3) activation of NFKB (nuclear factor kappa B). This oxidative stress and chronic systemic inflammation affects how all of our cells communicate with one another. It can lead towards hormone imbalances. It can lead to gastrointestinal dysfunction with associated gut dysbiosis, which turns into gastrointestinal inflammation, into leaky gut, into recirculation of toxins, into more inflammation and so on and so on. This vicious cycle is at work in so many of the “walking wounded” that conventional medicine looks at and calls “normal”.
I recently had a patient recount to me that they were told by their medical doctor that they should just “learn to live with their pain”, that it is “just normal”. What a lie so many are being fed! If that’s normal…I don’t want to be normal! 🙂
We can have a direct impact on our health. We must educate ourselves, we must make healthy choices day in and day out. Basically just follow the Magnificent Seven (courtesy of Dr. Robert Rakowski) (1) Eat Right; (2) Drink Right; (3) Move Right; (4) Sleep Right; (5) Think Right; (6) Talk Right; (7) Poop Right.
Next time your doctor looks at you and says “it’s normal” or “there is no evidence for that”…introduce him to the volumes of research that is readily available. One great starting reference is the Textbook of Functional Medicine published by the Institute of Functional Medicine. This well-referenced text shows the science behind healthy living and “alternative” ways of health, that really shouldn’t be considered alternative.
Visit www.pubmed.com yourself. This site provides an index of all medical literature where you can search and read abstracts of scientific literature.
Don’t know where to start? Try this…just start by increasing your clean water consumption each day and shooting for five servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Most Americans eat less than one serving each day! The number one vegetable is potatoes. Why? You guessed it because of french fries and potato chips. The number on fruit? Tomatoes…yep, for the ketchup. Pretty “SAD” isn’t it?
Make small changes in your diet, pretty soon you will be eating better, feeling better and living better.
What are some tips you have to eat and live better? Leave a comment below and share!
