Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Keeping it Simple When It Comes to Health and Nutrition

I get asked often "Curtis what do you eat"? The answer is always the same, fruits and veggies. I also consume some nuts and grains (gluten-free) ideally. People will also ask me “Curtis what kind of medicine do you take”. The answer is always the same again my food is my medicine and I will also take herbs. In most people’s minds, the first herb that comes to mind is marijuana but that is one medicinal herb, when not smoked, out of thousands of plants that have medicinal properties. Many people use herbs for cooking and flavoring but when they get sick they resort to consuming a poison (drug) under the guise that poison (drugs) is medicine. My perspective is to use your food as your medicine and since herbs are edible plant matter then what is an herb? Food! Yes, herbs are foods and you can take herbs when you are sick and when you are well unlike pharmaceutical drugs. No one take drugs when they are sick even though that is the latest marketing poly to push more drugs on Americans. You can take horny goat weed, an herbal aphrodisiac, when you do not have erectile dysfunction and when you do have it. Ideally, if you consume a whole foods, plant-based diet then erectile dysfunction will never be issue. You can never go wrong with consuming whole, organic fruits and veggies. Our government even recommends consuming at least 5-7 servings per days of whole fruits and veggies and the average Americans get half of that serving. And we wonder why many of us are so sick and ailing? Many people actually think some French fries are a serving of a vegetable when French fries are pure starch that most times has been processed (removal of skin) and probably fried in genetically modified, rancid, and toxic soy or corn oil.


Me personally I highly recommend a mostly raw plant-based and the exclusion of processed foods and animal products except for raw honey maybe. I took the government’s recommendations and I took it the next level and all I consume is plants. I really do not worry about protein because I am not a body builder but I know I get plenty of protein from the nuts, legumes and dark leafy vegetables that I consume. If I were to be concerned about protein or be a body builder, hemp seed protein (with the fiber) would be my top protein choice. I am not soy eater because in keeping it simple, soy it is not a whole food it is usually high processed and contains many anti-nutritive properties.


With that being said, I encourage everyone to incorporate as much whole plant foods in your diet instead of the processed foods even if you choose to consume animal products. One of the main problems with some vegetarians is that they are consuming too many processed foods i.e. soy hot dogs, refined flours, etc. It is really easy to identify whole foods from processed foods. It is all in the package. If you are buying food in a package, box, or container then you are probably dealing with processed food at some level. An example would the difference between buying a whole fig and a box of fig newtons. The fig is the whole food and the fig Newton is the processed “foodstuff” that could probably remain on that supermarket shelf for 5 years or more possibly. Hey most processed foods are made to not break down or decompose so what do you think happens to that “lab food” in your body. So make it a goal of yours to have less packages in your shopping cart and more produce. The benefits for your health will be worth it. Thanks for reading.