Today’s PrimalMed Prescription…You are what you eat…ate

PrimalRD is BACK! Today Ellen shares the low down, not only about the food you are eating, but what has actually been DONE to the food you are eating!

You are what you eat…ate

Back in 1826, the French lawyer Anthelme Brillat-Savarin coined the phrase “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.” Almost one hundred years later in 1923, nutritionist Victor Lindlahr wrote a more modern version, “Ninety percent of the diseases known to man are caused by cheap foodstuffs. You are what you eat.”

Today, the expression is simply, ‘You are what you eat.’

This puts the emphasis on our food and dietary choices, as impacting our health and well-being.

Food is our fuel. Food is medicine.

Nutrients in food, are information, the tools our body needs to function.

Every cell in our body is affected by what we eat.

In the book ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma,’ Michael Pollan wrote about how our food is grown - what it is, in fact, that we are eating. Eating the right foods are as important as eating foods that are not genetically modified, Pollan argued. Today there is great controversy on whether Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are ‘safe’ or not. The Non-GMO Project, a nonprofit organization that tests food products for GMOs, notes GMO’s are “plants or animals created through the gene splicing techniques of biotechnology, or genetic engineering…creating unstable combinations of plant, animal, bacterial and viral genes that cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding." Corn and Soybeans are usually genetically modified.

What about wheat?

Today’s Modern Wheat is generally hybridized, the cross breeding of two genetically different varieties or species. Hybrid wheat is not genetically modified wheat, however. The genetic difference can be seen in the gluten structure, where Modern Wheat is much higher in gluten than non hybridized strains.

Since gluten is a protein naturally found in grains, including wheat (as well as barley and rye), can we correlate the rise in gluten sensitivity with the way wheat is grown? (This much more common condition of gluten sensitivity - NCGS Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity - is not to be confused with Celiac Disease, an autoimmune disorder). Dr. William Davis, author of ‘Wheat Belly,’ describes, “the high-yield plant is a distant relative of the wheat our mothers used to bake muffins, genetically and biochemically light-years removed from wheat of just 40 years ago”.https://www.foodmatters.com/article/the-dangers-of-modern-wheat

Can we also postulate that modified and chemically altered foods - aside from perhaps being related to gluten sensitivity - may also affect our microbiome?

Can such foods prevent nutrients from being fully digested, absorbed and utilized at a cellular level? Why the increase in GI issues over the years…bloating, gas, heartburn, reflux, SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) - causing a downstream effect of inflammatory issues related to our joints, skin, etc. Of course, there may be many reasons for this rise in GI issues and other chronic diseases, including the increased intake of sugars, vegetable oils and processed foods - but all these changes may contribute to the perfect storm. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20664999/

And should we be eating organic? Labels can be confusing.  

There are 4 levels of organic: ‘100% Organic’, ‘Organic’, ‘Made with Organic’ and ‘Organic Ingredients’. https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/OrganicLabelsExplained.png

And Organic is always non-GMO. And the non-GMO label for genetically modified foods is now being replaced with ‘bioengineered’. It is still the same definition, but with a picture of a bucolic farm. Do we need to read labels? Yes. But do we understand them?https://www.nsf.org/blog/consumer/clearing-confusion-organic-non-gmo-labels

Perhaps in discussing the food we eat, we can also consider what the food you eat, had eaten.

Hence the phrase, ‘You are what you eat…ate.’

What this means is…if we are what we eat, ate, then we must pay attention to the nutritional inputs of what the cows, chickens, fish and plants, ate.

We’ll start with the cows…

What are cows historically designed to eat? Grass and whatever plant matter they can find.

In regenerative farming, these herbivore’s move from pasture to pasture keeping grass at its best height, fertilizing the grass by rebuilding the soils organic matter and restoring degraded soil biodiversity. This cycle continues repeatedly. https://regenerationinternational.org/why-regenerative-agriculture/

Aside from discussing the moral and ethical issues of eating meat, a grass-fed, organically raised, free-range cow is a happy cow, with better ratios of omega 3:6 and higher levels of B-vitamins, beta-carotene, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, and trace minerals like magnesium, calcium, and selenium. No need for hormones unless you want a cow to grow faster with longer lactation periods. Animals forced into feedlots not only miss out on the benefits of regenerative farming, but are fed soy and corn, high in inflammatory Omega-6 fatty acids - not to mention the stress and higher cortisol levels. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17196624/.  

The dairy and animal products we eat, in turn expose us to such crops, because of the rich diets of soy and corn fed to these animals. Corn fattens up cattle and may even disrupt the intricate mechanisms of their digestive system.  https://www.lakeforest.edu/news/a-difficult-reality-to-digest-the-effects-of-a-corn-based-diet-on-the-digestive-system-of-cattle

What about Chickens?  

Pasture-raised, free-roaming chickens are omnivorous; they soak in Vitamin D from the sun and enjoy grasses and herbs such as buckwheat, clover, bluegrass, and dandelions. They rummage for mice, earthworms, insects, bugs and slugs. They eat fruits and veggies. And they will also eat wheat, soy and corn and even kibble if you give them… but you get the picture. Overcrowding of chickens in lots, fed poor quality ‘food’, makes them susceptible to illness, so they would probably need antibiotics. I think you get the full picture here.

Studies have shown pasture-raised chicken meat tends to be higher in iron, omega-3-fatty acids and antioxidants (Vitamin E, for example). The chicken’s eggs further have increased Vitamin D, and more antioxidants.    https://apppa.org/The-Nutrition-of-Pasture-Raised-Chicken-and-Meats

And Fish?

Healthy fats found in fish are essential fuel for our bodies and minds. Studies have shown wild caught salmon has a healthier ratio of anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats to inflammatory omega-6 fats, as well as an overall better nutritional profile.  Farm-raised salmon is more likely than wild-caught to contain contaminants, such as carcinogenic dioxins and PCBs.  Higher contaminant levels, however, does vary among species and location. https://daveasprey.com/farm-raised-salmon-vs-wild-salmon/#ref-list

Plants, technically speaking, don’t eat, but they are no less embedded in their ecological relationships than animals are. Plants take up nutrients from the soil in which they grow. Our meal of nutrients varies depending on how that soil is managed. Are the soil nutrients depleted? Are there trace amounts of pesticides and herbicides? These factors may contribute to a food supply that is not only deficient in vitamins and minerals, but perhaps toxic to our bodies and our environment.

Scientific journals have studied pesticide, herbicide, and fungicide exposure to our plants and our soil – and the subsequent impact on our endocrine system. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1524969/

The herbicide Roundup, containing glyphosate, has been widely recognized as highly toxic, destroying nutrients, gut microbiomes and creating systemic inflammation. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4392553/

So, how do we keep this simple?

• Support restaurants supplied by local, pasture-raised farms

• Select foods preferably grass fed, free range or pasture raised

• Look for “no added growth hormones” or “no antibiotics,”

• Choose, within your budget, USDA Certified 100% Organic or USDA Organic

• Choose non-GMO - but are some bioengineered foods ‘safe’?

• Select wild caught fish; note those lower on the food chain may contain less mercury - salmon, mackerel, sardines, herring, anchovies

• Purchase seasonal and local foods, as nutrients may diminish in transit

We cannot have a perfect diet.

BUT we can be mindful of our choices.