You are what you eat; sadly you are not what your grandparents ate....
As most doctors will tell you, you are what you eat. I want to take this entry to talk about just that subject. Everyone knows that saying, but what does it really mean. We have to think back to the days when there wasn't a grocery store or a fast food chain on every corner. We need to think back to the ties of our parents and grandparents. Think about the cultures before them and how they ate. What types of foods have humans consumed throughout the ages as compared to now. The human body is made of the food which we consume. As most doctors on our journey to becoming a doctor we spend time in undergrad getting our bachelors degree. I received my BS in BioMedical Science form the University of South Florida. GO BULLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I remember my first day of cell biology my professor at the time was part of the research and development team that discovered/made margarine. One day while we were in class discussing, well more like he was lecturing at us about fatty acids and long chain hydro carbons, he told us about his graduate work with the development of margarine. He was explaining the point of hydration (having hydrogen atoms on a fatty acid chain) of fatty acids. He said the point or what makes them special and free flowing is not having double bonds or being unsaturated fats. Double molecular bonds make a molecule less likely to spin or in this case to melt. And he used margarine as an example. He explained that margarine is designed to stand up to higher temperatures i.e. you can leave it on the counter and it won't melt. But the same can not be said of natural butter. If left on the counter it will melt away. That's when he hit us with if margarine won't melt on your counter what do you think it looks like inside of you? I remember that statement profoundly I stop eating any type of butter substitute and decided if I need to use anything to cook with it would be butter. Obviously in moderation because too much of anything isn't always good. But it brings me back to the article I read discussing the why our health has declined and its connection with the decline in food quality that we have available to us.
The gist of the article was that our food, food source and diets are not healthy for us. And it is not just about eating only fruits and vegetables there are many culture and civilizations that thrived on limited vegetable intake, but had plenty of fatty protein intake. When I say diet I a also referring to our recipes and what we consume. Our diets are changing we no longer consume animal organs or use bone
s to make broth with. For a long time these items were consumed as part of the every day diet. Think back to parents and grandparents who lived on a farm. None of the animal was wasted all parts were consumed. These parts should be consumed because they are full of minerals and fat soluble vitamins. The places the human body stores its minerals and fats is the same place animals place theirs. True we don't consume those organ meats because they are less healthy and full of toxins and other stuff as food animals have been switched from their natural healthy diet of grass to being feed more corn and grains. Farmers have even gone so far as to feed animals candy with the animal's grains and other feeds to help add calories to the animals diets. Our meat is becoming more unhealthy for us too. When animals are allowed to feed on grass live outside they are healthier. They are able to make large quantities of vitamin D; which is stored within them and we consume the vitamins as we consume the meat. This is just one of the many examples of how we are what we eat and how cultures that thrive on mostly animal protein are able to get the vitamins and nutrients needed. These cultures consumed the entire animal organ meat along with the bones. The bone marrow is high in collagen content that helps us with our own collagen makeup in our joints. Often times the bone marrow is never consumed in our modern diet and the quality of the bone marrow coming from commercial food animals is not as good a quality as it was years ago. We are stuck in a double edge sword because even when try to eat healthy the quality of our food isn't as high as it use to be. Throughout my time at USF many of my professors explained why things should and should not be consumed or used because of the harm that is done to the human body. I will try to expand further in future blogs.
In short remember local farmers and grocers to try to get the best quality food ingredients you can. Your body will love you for it. Always remember natural ingredients are the best. Don't use a sugar substitute use regular unrefined sugar, just use it in moderation. Unless your diabetic and can't handle sugar then follow your attending physician's recommendations.
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