Real Food, Sugar Addiction and Freedom

Yesterday I had a double shot of gratefulness and inspiration for my family’s food journey. The first involved talking with a friend whose family is gearing up to take the next step on their health and food journey. A couple of topics we touched on were universal for Americans. The first involved using a powdered greens mixture in a beverage in order to supplement the nutrition in the Standard American Diet (SAD). While this powder may have some benefit for the undernourished and over-toxified person who does not take the time to prepare a meal, it is not even remotely appropriate for someone who actually does prepare food on a regular basis, like my friends. For the home chefs who are a throwback to a slower and more thoughtful time in America, they need to do just a little tweaking to the type of food they purchase and prepare in order to maximize its nutrition and make the powdered greens beverage obsolete.

Here is one thing that really bugs me about powdered greens beverages, taken from a marketer’s website: “You see, Americans don't suffer from a vitamin deficiency; we suffer from a whole food deficiency. And this deficiency affects the young and old alike.” I completely agree that Americans suffer from a whole food deficiency, but taking parts of food, processing it and cramming it into a powdered beverage does not solve the whole food deficiency. You get the whole foods by eating whole foods! Anything that is a quick fix is not a fix. I get so frustrated by this marketing, but I understand how it is attractive. Ryan and I used to use a similar product in the beginning of our food journey. Now we know that it really is all about real, whole food!

To take the quick fix madness one step further, my friends were considering spending $83.50 a month to supplement their diets with this powdered greens beverage. They had not yet decided what to do regarding supplements for their two children. Then they would continue to eat hormone, antibiotic and pesticide-laden food. I was able to convince them that all they had to do was upgrade the quality of their food and make a couple of minor changes to the way they prepare it, and the whole family would have dramatically improved nutrition. This is an immeasurably better outcome than just the parents receiving marginal benefits from a “food” that was dissected, processed and unnatural.

Now for the last thing that bothers me about powdered greens drinks. Humans have a one chamber stomach. Cows have a four chamber stomach. Cows feeding in pasture eat only greens and they have four stomach chambers to process the greens and absorb the nutrients. Humans are not biologically prepared with a one stomach chamber to process and extract the nutrients in the way that cows do, making greens drinks even more of an absurd concept. The drinks also do not have the fat in them that humans need in order to absorb the nutrients. It was so exciting when Ryan and I finally figured out that it is OK to put butter on our veggies!

The second inspiration involved the same friends and a new cooking client. Both my friends and my new client have a refined sugar addiction problem, and I am thrilled that they both recognize it. My new client is willing to take the extra food steps to free herself from that addiction. She is going to have a ball and be tickled by the results! My friends are not ready for that step, but I am hopeful that they eventually will be. Everyone has to take the journey at their own pace, but I wish I could convince them that it only takes about eight weeks of their lives (or 0.2 percent of their lives if they live to be 75) to completely free themselves from the addiction.

Now for the fun part! Once Ryan and I became free from sugar addiction and our health accelerated, taking us to feelings of wellness that we never dreamed, we are unable to believe that such a little thing like sugar controlled and tore us down for so long. We no longer have to think about the next candy, ice cream or baked good we are going to eat. Nor do we think about how sugar destroys our immune systems, how sugar promotes cancer growth and diabetes, and so many other problems. We knew about those problems, and we still ate sugar! Now we are free. Even when we occasionally eat some SAD food, like birthday cake, and knowingly crash our immune systems temporarily, we remain craving-free.

You have a choice to make. Spend about 0.2 percent of your life to become FREE from sugar addiction, or continue to eat refined sugar, be controlled by it, and risk increasing your likelihood of sickness and feeble old age. If you want to take the step to free yourself, the diet recommended in Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride’s Gut and Psychology Syndrome can be effective. It has worked wonders for my family. Don’t let the title throw you; it will all make sense when you read it. You can learn more at www.gapsdiet.com. Another great website and approach with similar guidelines is http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/.

Best to you on your journey!

Comments

[Maria Droujkova]

There is another product that bugs me - "Juice Plus+" that recently was discussed on Nourishing Moms http://www.twittermoms.com/group/nourishingmoms?groupUrl=nourishingmoms&id=2291408%3AGroup%3A562220&page=2#comments

Five minutes of internet searches show pretty scary stuff about it. Yet people still want "a pill fix."

I like standardized herb extracts in the pill form, though. But it's not nutrition - it's medicine.