Golden Cabinet Acupuncture, LLC

A friend posted on his timeline yesterday asking for help as he tries to clean up his diet and make some sense of the utter mine field that is the world of "nut...ritional advice." He writes: "Keto diets say no grains, no bread, no potatoes, etc. Ok. That goes in my head and rattles around and then I think about how long rice has been a staple of the Asian diet. What gives? Why has bread been called the "staff of life" and all of a sudden now it is bad for you?... One minute oatmeal is good because it lowers cholesterol and the next minute it is a grain, and therefore high carb and you shouldn't eat it... Help!" I wrote him a lengthy comment that I'm reposting here, as I know he's not the only one who struggles with these questions. I do SO MUCH individual coaching around food in my clinic. So. As a start: (If you find the length of this is intimidating, leave with this: 1) eat real food, not too much, mostly plants; and 2) drink your water. For the rest of us, onward...) ***** Oh, friend. How long have you got? I teach on this with my patients day in, day out, because you're right -- it's super confusing. There are so many problems with the way we approach health and food. Number one -- we overcomplicate it, *especially at the outset when people are just trying to clean up generally crappy diets.* And number two -- we assume that what is good for one is good for all. This is a fundamental problem in our current healthcare system, across the board. I may advise one patient to decrease their meat consumption, while nearly begging another to consume animal protein. There is nuance, because we're all different, and it depends on the person, their health history, their current health status, and their health goals. Carbohydrates, in this country, with our food system, tend to be another story. Fact: most of us eat far too many nutrient-poor carbs, and have done so for most of our lives. Breakfast cereal, crackers, bagels, pasta, bread, sweets, cookies, candy, muffins, ice cream, soda, gatorade, every assortment of processed food on most supermarket shelves? All nutrient-poor, carb rich. In the case of the overly processed grain products, they are carb-rich without much nutrition. In the case of straight up sweets, we are basically mainlining sugar, and taxing our pancreas and our adrenals literally sun up to sun down as they struggle to keep our blood sugars balanced and our brain and muscles appropriately fed. It’s utter madness. And it’s not comparable to a traditional diet based on rice or quinoa. Most people in this country need to cut back on carbs, and some people need to cut them out completely. A diagnosis of Type II diabetes tells us the pancreas and adrenals are shot they’ve been working hard for years to manage our own mismanagement of what we put into our bodies, and they’re just. so. tired. Type II diabetes is also 100% reversible with diet and lifestyle; for every diabetic that means low (and only healthy!) carb consumption, and for some that means no carbs or keto. Michale Pollan has a great little book called Food Rules that I refer patients to a lot. He has three rules that are words to live by: Eat real food. Not too much. Mostly plants. If we all just started here (as opposed to overcomplicating things as is so often the case at the outset of getting healthy") we'd save folks a lot of overthinking, over-calculating and falling prey to the latest food or nutritional fad. Here’s how I explain it to patients (taken from one of my clinic handouts): Eat real food: Reduce or eliminate all processed foods from your diet. Would your great-grandmother recognize this as a food item? Did all of the ingredients grow from the earth or come from the sea, or eat other things that grew from the earth or came from the sea, with minimal intervention? If the answer is yes, great, have at it. If the answer is no, then while the item you’re about to put in your mouth may be supremely delicious, it’s not actually food, and it doesn’t support your health. Not too much: Eat actual meals of fresh, warm, cooked food, and stop snacking. Will your blood sugar plummet without a snack? Do you get ravenously hungry, tired, shaky, or moody with unclear thinking if you go more than a few hours without eating? That’s a sign your blood sugars are out of balance and need attention. The real solution is not to eat more often. The solution and one that will support your health more in the long-run is to balance your blood sugars at a deeper level through a conscious change in food choices. Mostly plants: I am not (nor is Chinese medicine) ever going to claim that a vegetarian diet is automatically a healthier one (in fact, eating more meat is one of the most important changes some people can make in support of their health), but it is true that vegetables are the foundation of healthy eating, across the board. Include more in your diet, especially dark green leafy and cruciferous vegetables like chard, kale, collards, turnip greens, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kholrabi, and brussels sprouts. Do this especially if you are overweight, have been diagnosed with a metabolic disorder, or are known to be estrogen-dominant. And then on top of this I suggest people consider significantly reducing or eliminating entirely the following: wheat flour (breads, pastas, crackers), refined sugar and products containing it (desserts, baked goods, cakes, ice cream), and dairy (especially non-organic or non-pastured dairy) from your diet, across the board. As a general rule these food items are pro-inflammatory and can negatively impact health. I also have a general guideline to eating for health, blood sugar management, and weight loss that I’m happy to send along. It lays out a few more specifics, as well as the timing of eating -- which is often overlooked (or misunderstood). Whew that’s a lot. Hope it helps. Best to you! ***** One additional note: I'm mostly a proponent of the 80/20 rule, and I'm certainly not in favor of food dogmatism or food shaming of any sort. I've posted here before about enjoying the hell out of a box of donuts, and sometimes I eat pie for breakfast or cookies for dinner. Cool. I don't do it all the time, and there's a fair amount of broccoli balancing out that delicious nonsense. Remember "sometimes" is not the same as "often" is not the same as "on a regular basis." (Also I'm not diabetic or pre-diabetic and I haven't been diagnosed with a metabolic disorder, so I have a LOT more leeway here than someone who is/has.) And finally, it's important to note that no one *has* to do *any* of this. But I do encourage folks to be honest about how what they're putting in their body is impacting what they say they want their health to look like. If you really want to make a change and don't know where to start, just start somewhere and don't overcomplicate it: eat real food, not too much, mostly plants. And drink your water.

https://www.nbcnews.com//doctors-emphasize-nutrition-as-co