Food, Health, Weight and Fertility

In our quest for good health, a realistic body weight and fertility nothing is more important than what we eat on a day to day basis. Not physical activity (although that is very important), not environmental hazards (unless your job is to scrub out nuclear reactors) and not genetics. Of course, what you ate as a child plays a huge role in your future health(another good reason to adopt a healthy lifestyle before having children, so that you can teach your kids healthy habits), but since we can only change what we do today, it's imperative to eat as healthfully as possible.

The link between diet and health (or more commonly in our society, disease) can no longer be ignored. The science is very clear and very concise. The China Study (a book I seriously recommend for everyone!) produced more than 8000 verifiable, statistically significant associations between dietary factors and disease.

The food industry will do everything in their (considerable) power to not only maintain, but increase their market share, selling poor quality, low-nutrient, addictive food-like substances that cause mayhem in our bodies. Their main strategy is to create confusion in the public mind. They can't disprove the science, but they don't have to. They only need to shout louder than the scientists and use their influence, which have resulted in:

- Food disparagement laws: It is illegal to proclaim in the media that certain foods are bad for you, even when it's the truth. Remember when Oprah Winfrey and Howard Lyman were sued after they discussed Mad Cow Disease on her show and Oprah said that she would probably never eat a hamburger again? In my opinion, that's censorship! So, the truth can only be found in books and websites by reputable scientists (not diet gurus) and in medical journals.

- Providing educational material to schools, medical schools and universities. Whatever kids learn in school about nutrition has been sponsored by the food industry. Those charts with the food pyramid? Check! In the accounting departments of these companies these expenses are classified as "Marketing". Makes you think, right? And that also explains why your doctor knows next to nothing about nutrition, and what he knows is not based on science but marketing ploys.

- Solid representation on policy-making and regulatory bodies like the FDA, the Food and Nutrition Board and the National Health Institute.

- Adding substances to food that make them addictive.

- Advertising disguised as public education.

As a result, in countries where a Western Diet is consumed, people are sicker than ever. Cancer rates have soared, heart disease, auto-immune diseases, diabetes and a host of other conditions are reaching epidemic proportions and there are more people obese than overweight in the USA. One in four couples have problems conceiving. This is all very convenient for the food industry's "partners in crime", the pharmaceutical industry (Big Pharma) and the diet industry.

What this boils down to is that most of what you think you know about nutrition and health is actually just clever marketing and not based on science at all. Hippocrates was not wrong when he said:

There are, in effect, two things: to know and to believe one knows. To know is science. To believe one knows is ignorance.

The amazing thing about science is that it's far less complicated than we are led to believe. Science will never contradict nature. Nutrition for human beings is not supposed to be so complicated that only educated people can understand it. A great percentage of the world's population have only basic education. Yet, in a natural setting they woud be able to eat and remain healthy. Think about it, if you were to wake up in the garden of Eden tomorrow, where there are no supermarkets and no take-out joints, would you be able to survive and even be healthy? Of course you would! You would eat a variety of natural foods and get all the nutrients your body needs to not only survive, but to sustain you into a very old age with no diseases whatsoever.

The problem occurs when industry tries to improve on nature. We end up with foods that are so unnatural and damaging and they cause havoc in the body. We gain weight because these foods are calorie-rich, but nutrient-poor and create a hunger that can never be satisfied. We grow addicted to these foods and at the same time we neglect eating the foods that protect us against disease and heal the body. And we get sicker and fatter.

The diet industry tells us that we should eat less food. But when you've got a little addicted monster living in your belly, screaming for the stuff he likes, which is invariably the unhealthy stuff, that is very hard to do. Some people manage to do that for a while, lose weight and then fall off the wagon, only to gain all the weight, and more, back again. Restricting caloric intake alone will not make an iota's difference to your health. Losing weight while eating man-made foods will not protect you against cancer, unclog your arteries or fully balance your hormones. Thin people also have heart attacks, get cancer, suffer from arthritis and are unable to conceive.

What you eat is far more important than how much you eat as Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University and author of The China Study, reveals:

Average calorie intake, per kilogram of body weight, was 30% higher among the least active Chinese than among average Americans. Yet, body weight was 20% lower.

This dichotomy is not caused by genetics, since Chinese immigrants to the West who adopt the Western diet, soon fall prey to the same diseases and weight problems as the population of their adopted country. The difference is in what they eat.

Our bodies have been fearfully and wonderfully made... Every second of every day trillions of cells interact with one another and millions of chemical reactions take place. The foods that we eat either aid those processes or interfere with them. It's as simple as that.

When they aid in the processes, our systems remain in balance, healthy new cells are formed, our bodies have no need to store weight (because there's nothing that's not used for some purpose or the other), and we can procreate without any difficulty.

When our food interferes with the bodies' processes, our systems go out of balance, the new cells that are formed are weaker than the old cells, causing degeneration and disease, we gain weight and our bodies may shut down our reproductive function until things improve.

For most people, things don't improve, because people either don't realize the effect of their choices on their bodies, or because they don't believe that they can change their habits.

I won't lie to you - it is hard to break the addiction to processed and unhealthy foods. But you don't have to do it overnight. Allow yourself time, but keep making progress.

But for the ones who dare to change, there is so much in store! Our marvelous bodies, despite what we've done to them in the past, can and do heal. And you will start noticing changes within days. I've been eating natural foods for two months now (with a blow-out over the holidays) and I've lost all PMS symptoms, including the bloating. My periods are not so heavy or painful anymore and the color of the blood has changed to a much brighter red. That means my hormonal system is responding well to the changes.

You can be better, healthier, thinner and more fertile at 40 than you were at 30!

I have a wonderful plant in my bathroom. When it needs water, its leaves droop down and it looks quite sad. I always follow its cues and give it water. Less than an hour later, the plant will have lifted its leaves and look vibrantly alive. I wouldn't dream of pouring bleach or gasoline on my plant!

Whenever our bodies display symptoms of any kind, including excess weight and infertility, it's up to us to realize that they're lacking in something essential. And then we need to act appropriately and give them what they need. Our blood pressure doesn't rise because we lack blood pressure medication and we don't get heartburn because of a lack of antacid. When we give them what they need, they reward us with vibrant good health.

This journey of ours, and I sure hope that I'm not the only one on it, is about treating the causes of our problems and sorting them out the way nature intended. And our biggest and best weapon is a healthy diet.

Next week I'll be more specific about nutrients. What we need, how much and where should we get them.