For many people, living life plays out like learning a new game. Upon first observation, it can seem like boatloads of fun. It's hard to imagine wanting to do anything else (this was my experience as a child first spectating the best game of all time, Monopoly) and things appear to flow smoothly. Most people's misstep is rushing through all the fundamentals so they too can join in the fun. What inevitably happens is that the newbie flounders, and flounders hard. In real life, this strategy leads one to a place where goals are too complex to attain and you wake up everyday hoping a bus hops the curb and kills you on your walk to work. Throughout my articles there is a common link in revisiting basic actions to improve a desired result. This post can be viewed as the James Chalmers nutritional manifesto and will serve to motivate the need for more in depth future discussion on the topic. We now explore the nature and importance of real food.
Breakfast, dear.
First things first, I believe most people intuitively know what I mean by real food. For me, real food consists of eating things that were at one time living or else were produced by something living. Foods included here are meats, vegetables, fruits, dairy, and nuts, among others. I would love to use the word natural to describe my food choices, but the word has been twisted and misused so many times in advertising to render it effectively meaningless. Notice foods not included in a James Chalmers approved diet are all the hydrogenated and maltodrextin filled delights that somehow make their way into our fridges and cupboards. It would be completely hypocritical of me to think that people are never again going to wake up hungover with a mysterious half eaten box of poutine in their bed, but the idea is to limit food products (as opposed to real food) to special occasions. Instead, power your body with real food most of the time.
I will be the first to confess that most people, myself included, know very little about what the ideal diet should look like. When your doctor tells you to eat a varied diet, he is really saying he has no idea exactly what you should be eating. All he knows is that it does not include the half kilo of Kit-Kats you've been putting back each week. This is the major reason most fail to eat satisfactory foods most of the time; there are no specific guidelines to follow with any certainty, only general ideas and their maybes and probablys. Despite all of the uncertainty, we know anything beneficial to come out of nutrition deals with real food and not low fat, no flavour laboratory concoctions.
If most people have a handle on the difference between food and food products, then why do people often opt for the latter? One confusion is between eating healthy and eating for fat loss. This magic show of words is often used by people as justification for the reason they are consuming their third Nutrigrain bar/ bowl of Vector/ muffin (read breakfast cake). Do these products contain "5 essential nutrients" and are a "good source of protein"? Sure, just like shit in a colourful box is still shit in a box. It's not hard to convince people that these products are in some way or another healthy, but what most people are looking for when they use the word healthy is fat loss. In my humble opinion, there are only a few factors that should go into any fat loss diet. These include consuming fewer calories, weight lifting (to preserve muscle mass), and adjusting your macronutrient ratios to something reasonable (intermittent fasting won't hurt you either). Many of these points will likely develop into articles of their own in the future. For now, focus on eating the basics. Stop wasting your money on cleverly marketed corn and soybeans, and eat what you need, not what you want.
I will be the first to confess that most people, myself included, know very little about what the ideal diet should look like. When your doctor tells you to eat a varied diet, he is really saying he has no idea exactly what you should be eating. All he knows is that it does not include the half kilo of Kit-Kats you've been putting back each week. This is the major reason most fail to eat satisfactory foods most of the time; there are no specific guidelines to follow with any certainty, only general ideas and their maybes and probablys. Despite all of the uncertainty, we know anything beneficial to come out of nutrition deals with real food and not low fat, no flavour laboratory concoctions.
If most people have a handle on the difference between food and food products, then why do people often opt for the latter? One confusion is between eating healthy and eating for fat loss. This magic show of words is often used by people as justification for the reason they are consuming their third Nutrigrain bar/ bowl of Vector/ muffin (read breakfast cake). Do these products contain "5 essential nutrients" and are a "good source of protein"? Sure, just like shit in a colourful box is still shit in a box. It's not hard to convince people that these products are in some way or another healthy, but what most people are looking for when they use the word healthy is fat loss. In my humble opinion, there are only a few factors that should go into any fat loss diet. These include consuming fewer calories, weight lifting (to preserve muscle mass), and adjusting your macronutrient ratios to something reasonable (intermittent fasting won't hurt you either). Many of these points will likely develop into articles of their own in the future. For now, focus on eating the basics. Stop wasting your money on cleverly marketed corn and soybeans, and eat what you need, not what you want.
Pretty colours and funny cartoons are all they can offer you.
Unfortunately, knowing what you need to eat has become more convoluted than it should be. Many have become lost among the steaming terd pile that is popular nutrition and the useless minutia that consumes it. Popular nutrition is propagated by lifestyle magazines, talk shows, bros at your gym, and even crappy personal blogs. Many of these sources actually contain quality advice if you can decipher it from the nonsense. The problem arises when talk shows and monthly magazines have to continually release new content to keep viewers and readers interested. Men's Health will have you believe that magical foods are being discovered every month in far off lands that allow you to shit more, weigh less, and be the ultimate biological machine. Most of the advice boils down to what Michael Pollen has neatly packaged as, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants." For the kind of results most people are looking for in the realms of feeling good and looking better, the basics provide ample working room.
I am not interested here in debating the benefits (or not) of particular diets such as vegetarianism or paleolithic options. The focus is on eating food that our bodies evolved to eat, which, as resourceful omnivores, is quite a lengthy list. The difficulty in promoting whole foods vs either supplements or shit food is that there is a lack of quality literature to reference. Rather than specific strategies to follow, I've hoped to motivate and share a basic understanding of good food vs bad food and where to (not) look for more information. Concluding, eat food, not too much, and read my blog. James Chalmers approves.
I am not interested here in debating the benefits (or not) of particular diets such as vegetarianism or paleolithic options. The focus is on eating food that our bodies evolved to eat, which, as resourceful omnivores, is quite a lengthy list. The difficulty in promoting whole foods vs either supplements or shit food is that there is a lack of quality literature to reference. Rather than specific strategies to follow, I've hoped to motivate and share a basic understanding of good food vs bad food and where to (not) look for more information. Concluding, eat food, not too much, and read my blog. James Chalmers approves.
