Ask any fitness professional what the most commonly asked question is from new clients and their answer will undoubtedly be centered around nutrition.  The media doesn't help much by publishing conclusions of recent studies that offer mixed results or results that counter the current thinking.  Rethinking solutions to old questions is a good thing, but after a while the constant bombardment of new and conflicting information becomes counter productive.  The government doesn't help much either by completely reworking the "food pyramid" and revamping recommended levels of exercise more often than Kellogs comes out with a new and improved cereal.  The fact is our physical beings have not changed hardly at all in the past 100,000 years but our food supply and eating habits have changed more in the past 50 years than they have in the past 50,000 years.

As a fitness instructor my job is to help my clients sort out the facts from the fiction and help them get to a place where they are comfortable and able to maintain their nutritional habits, but at the same time achieve results.

Rather than trying to describe and itemize every vitamin, mineral and fat on the planet think of your nutrition as a journey towards wellness, rather than a fixed set of rules that must be followed.  Envision your journey as a set of steps going up.  Each step represents a higher level of nutritional progress. 

1. The American Diet.  The first step in the staircase is a no-effort step.  The American diet is what the vast majority of people eat.  It is characterized by processed foods, trans fats, saturated fats, white flour products, refined sugar, and starchy products such as breads and white potatoes.

   The results of staying on the American diet are presented in the popular medias daily: obesity, adult onset diabetes (which is no longer a good name for Type II diabetes because it is becoming rampant in the children) and a host of other health related issues.

    

2. The Whole Foods Meal Plan.  What do we mean by "whole foods" anyway?  The answer is simple... If it comes in a box or plastic bag than it is not whole foods.  If it doesn't grow in a garden or is not raised on a farm it is not whole food.  Whole foods can be found in your local grocery store by shopping the perimeter of the store.  Whole foods include anything that has eyes (fish, chicken, beef, pork, etc.), preferably unprocessed, as well as unprocessed fruits and vegetables.

Another way to think of whole foods is to ask the question "Did this food product exist 10,000 years ago?".  If the answer is "yes" than it is a whole food.

Once on a whole food meal plan your body will respond favorably almost immediately, within days.  Your body will require less energy breaking down the food into usable nutrients for your cells because the food is optimized for ingestion.  You'll have more energy for living, you'll lose weight, and you'll generally feel better.   Your immune system will strengthen so you'll be better equipped to ward off dis-ease and illnesses. 

3. The Metabolically Typed Meal Plan.  Why is it that some people can eat peanuts and others can not?  Why are some folks more prone to digestive issues with certain foods while thousands of other people can eat them without any problem.  The reality is that we are not all created the same... On the contrary.  We are all unique.

Metabolic typing also explains why the Inuit Eskimos live perfectly healthy lives on primarily fish sources and very little vegetables.  It also explains how indigent natives on remote islands can have extremely healthy lives without ample sources of meat and poultry products, living mostly off of vegetable and fruit sources.

Metabolic typing is all about discovering how your body responds to food...  Which ones work best for you... and which ones don't "sit" so well for you.  It's not a guessing game, but a process that is built on the early research of Westin Price and others who studied isolated cultures, their food supply and their health status.  Other information can be found at Health Excel.

4. The Organic Meal Plan.  If you're looking for the ultimate in health and vitality you'll opt to limit your food sources to organically grown food.  Yes, it is more expensive.  But you're truly getting what you pay for.  If it's not organically grown than it is commercially grown.  Commercially grown food sources are sprayed with pesticides to keep the bugs off them.  Pesticide residues (aka toxins) are then ingested along with the food.

Organic poultry and beef products are antibiotic and growth hormone free.  "Free range" beef come from cattle are allowed to eat what they are designed to eat... grass.  Not corn products, which are designed to fatten them up.  What do you think happens when you're eating pesticide, antibiotic and hormone laden food products?  Your liver and kidneys will need to process the toxins, to the best of their ability.  Your body will be introduced to a constant source of antibiotics which may ultimately result in new generations of super strains of bacterial and viral infections.

Getting to a 100 percent organic meal plan that conforms to your metabolic type is the ultimate goal for any of us.  Along the way we'll need to deal with the realities of our American lifestyle.  Don't try to achieve perfection.  It is an impossible goal.  You'll never get there... and you'll give up on yourself.  Instead, strive to improve our overall health and vitality through education and choosing to eat wisely.