Easy Peasy Food Rules

Cookie firmly in hand,  I've been observing the grain-free/low-carb/gluten-free/paleo/vegan/raw diets out there. With significant curiosity. I am a scientist, after all. So I'm curious. But skeptical.

Yes, maybe gluten interferes with the thyroid. And maybe grains cause inflammation and immune responses in the body. Or maybe they don't. Maybe they do in some people, and not in others. Maybe cooking food ruins all the enzymes my body needs. I'm still not sure. I'm not going to judge people who've overhauled their diets for just these reasons or for health or just to lose those few extra kilos, because you know what? I have no idea what the right thing to do is.

But I'll tell you what I have learned.

1. Eat what you enjoy and enjoy what you eat,

2. Get as much variety in your diet as possible,
3. Eat real food, and
4. Moderation is not restriction.
More on these ...


1. Eat what you enjoy and enjoy what you eat
We're all guilty of sitting down in the front of the computer with our lunch (just to check email ... Twitter ... Facebook ... the other email ... see how many people have visited the blog today ... check and see if Amazon has that book ... have any more emails come through? and so on) - and before you know it, you can't even remember what you put in your mouth. Hopefully it wasn't your napkin.

I don't believe in eating stuff that tastes awful, or that you have to swallow with a glass of juice and a whole lot of concentration (ahem - fish oil). But I do believe in eating what makes me happy, and actually focusing on that food while I'm selecting it, preparing it, and eating it.

Take the time to enjoy your food. 

2. Get as much variety in your diet as possible
Variety is easier than it sounds, because sneaky people like to keep things the same. Wheat. Corn. Soy. Wheat. Corn. Soy. Wheat. Corn. Soy. (and if you don't believe me, start checking labels.) I'm pretty sure all of us could eat ingest 5 servings of wheat a day without even noticing. Even more if you're visiting France, trust me.

So what to do? An easy way to incorporate more variety in your life is to eat real food - food that's not processed, that's homemade, that's not out of a packet. Try baking with new types of flour - including low-gluten or gluten-free varieties; eat non-wheat pasta made from brown rice or quinoa; next time you're at the grocery store, pick up one new grain or seed or oil that you've never tried before, buy it, and use it. Seriously, there are thousands of food blogs out there with great recipes for whatever you decide to try.

Diversity in food means more different kinds of nutrients and minerals, different proportions of proteins and fats and it means we aren't assaulting our bodies with the same thing day after day after day. Particularly if there's a chance our bodies are sensitive to those foods. Plus, you haven't known pancakes till you've tried them with buckwheat flour.

Even if you're a picky eater, and you think you only like pasta and grilled cheese sandwiches and chocolate ice cream, there are infinite new foods/recipes/flavours out there for you to try. Start with the flavours found in what you do like, make progressive changes to your faves, and work from there.

Variety is good.

3. Eat real food
I think Michael Pollan has the best checklist for what constitutes real food - and basically it comes down to this: Would your Granny recognise it as food?

I know that not everybody out there wants to make their own yogurt (though you probably do, because you're reading my blog) - but you have choices. You always have choices. You can choose the pink, non-fat, 20% sugar yogurt in the plastic packet and no one is going to judge you as a person or a parent. But maybe just pause and think about what you're putting into your body.  
Is it food? Really
Are you feeding your body what it needs? Or are you feeding your guilt, your anxiety, your time management issues? Just asking. No judgement.

Be aware.

4.  Moderation is not restriction.
The flip side to diversifying your diet is that you're also moderating it. It's pretty simple, actually: by trying different things, you're not having so much of the same. Wheat in moderation. Grains in moderation. Dairy in moderation. Meat in moderation. Even the good stuff in moderation - using coconut oil/butter/flour in everything cheats your body out of nutrients you might gain by switching products now and then. And I can assure you that even baby carrots should be consumed in moderation.

Maybe moderation sounds boring ... but it's not. Maybe it sounds like the worst diet you ever went on when you were a teenager and before you gave up dieting forever. That's because too often, moderation is errantly linked with restriction. But you don't have to restrict.

If your diet is varied, moderation will be a way of life.

So these are my food rules. My guidelines for choosing what goes into my body - given all the confusing studies and articles and personal anecdotes out there. Maybe you've made different choices for different reasons, and that's totally cool. We're all different little organisms that run in slightly different ways, so it makes sense that there's no one perfect diet out there for everybody. What's important is that you treat your body like it's got a Lexus (or Versace, or Cartier) logo on it. And be happy.

Amanda xx

Comments

  1. Love these rules! Nicely put indeed =)

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  2. This is one of the best posts I've read about food in a while! Such good, solid advice and nothing crazy. And very doable!
    I've been following similar rules for a month, and have dropped about 10 pounds!

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  3. Excellent post Amanda.

    P.S. Was that photo taken while tearing up the freeways in AZ?

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  4. Love it. And I know it's easy to fall into the trap of giving kids food that aren't that great for them, but how do we know they won't like it if we don't try it?

    Your pink yoghurt story made me smile. I made pink smoothies for Sophie's birthday party recently with just strawberries and milk. Some of the kids hated it - "yuck! this is disgusting!". How sad that for them, pink is the taste of sugar and colours, not strawberries. But that was only 2 out of 23 kids, so I'm hoping that many more went away satisfied :)

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  5. Are you asking if we hear you? My hand is raised. The more I eat real food the more real food I eat. We seem to eat at home a lot these days... go figure. I'll have another cookie, thank you.

    Great post

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  6. Peggy, thank you.

    Erika, well done!

    Paula, why yes that photo was taken on our Grand Canyon misadventure - which is a story for another day ...

    Steph, thanks for sharing that! it's amazing how kids learn what colours should 'taste' like. and it provides us with a perfect opportunity.

    Deb, you've earned that cookie. enjoy every last mouthful :)

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  7. I like the way you think. Moderation is NOT about deprivation. A decadent slice of cake here and there is worth the indulgence, I think. Life is short, might as well make it sweet every now and again!

    Variety is also so important, as you've said. And right again, it is so much easier to see diversity in foods if they're fresh, since once they go in the packaging, we don't really know what we're getting.

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  8. yes yes yes yes yes! I am back home (so I am updating now)-- A half year of indulgence in China so really needed to read this to remind me what I need to get back to.

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  9. Your blog has helped me change the way our house eats! My husband and daughter still have some processed stuff, but more and more we're introducing home made things.

    I love making my own yoghurt (thank you for sharing how easy it is!), and I'm addicted to eating it more and more now. Just have to convince miss 3yo that my yoghurt is better than the dairy farmers vanilla and strawberry one we currently get (no wiggles or dora here lol). Slowly slowly we're making the change to eat unprocessed.

    Little by little, week by week, grain by grain ;)

    THANK YOU!

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  10. Elegantly put. I am printing out your post and pull it out before I start shopping at my favorite long island gluten free stores.

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  11. I shared your post with my nutritionist Long Island, and she loves it! Thank you for sharing your beautiful "rules" and thoughts on food.

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  12. These are very helpful tips and I hope you could share these on different Nutrition Forum online. I have to agree with you that get as much variety in your diet as possible. And also, I wanna share a trick I learned from my nutritionist - stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter of the store. Real food tends to be on the outer edge of the store near the loading docks, where it can be replaced with fresh foods when it goes bad.

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Thanks for commenting! Amandaxx