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When it comes to your health, I think the best thing you can do is make sure you are eating right. Today there are many things called food by the food industry that really are not food. The most important thing I think about when choosing food is “Would my great grandfather have been able to obtain this and recognized it as food?”  If I answer yes to that question chances are that it is a natural and minimally processed food.

The processing of food by the food industry allows food manufacturers to break down substances into simpler forms and then put them back together in an unnatural way.  The reason food manufacturers do this is if a particular ingredient gets more expensive they can substitute another.  If you look on a bag of potato chips, you will notice that the contents could have been fried in cottonseed, corn or sunflower seed oil.  Out of the three oils, cottonseed oil is the cheapest.  The many reasons you don’t want to eat cottonseed oil.  In the US cotton is a genetically modified crop.  Cotton is not a food crop therefore there are no regulations for pesticides like other food crops.  So are those potato chips something that my great grandfather could have eaten?  No!  My great grandfather would not have access to the genetically modified cotton for the cottonseed oil and therefore could not have fried the chips.  I don’t think my great grandfather would think of cottonseed oil as a food either.

The next thing you need to ask is:  Why are you eating?  If you are eating mindlessly to numb your emotions, eating cannot be good for you.  If you are eating because you genuinely need to eat to fuel your body, eating is healthy.

You should be putting good fuel in to your body.   Most people would not put bad gas into their car!  You should not put bad fuel in to your body!  There are five food substances that I generally avoid or consume in moderation:

• Gluten – We were never meant to consume large quantities of this protein found in the grains of Wheat, Barley, Rye and Oats.  In our food system today huge quantities of gluten are used in prepackaged food.
• Dairy – The protein casein and sugar lactose are what most people have trouble with in dairy products.  We are the only creature on the planet that consumes the milk of another creature.  Last time I checked I don’t have four stomachs and chew my cud.  So why would I want to consume the milk of a cow.  I do consume small amounts of butter since it is mostly the fat from the milk and contains little lactose or casein.
• Cottonseed Oil – This stuff may be natural but so is Lead and it is not very good for you.  Try to stay away from this stuff.  Almost all cottonseed oil produced in the US is from genetically modified cotton and has been treated with large amounts of pesticides.
• Soybean – Most cultures around the world only consume fermented soy.  Here in the US we consume a huge amount of it in the form of soybean oil.  Soybean oil may be natural but it doesn’t match the traditional use of soybean.  The tradition of fermenting soy changes it and reduces some of the known side effects.  The most significant known side effect of eating soy is its impact on the thyroid.
• Refined Sugar – Especially High Fructose Corn Syrup.  Refined sugar goes directly into the blood stream raising the blood sugar of the person consuming it.   This causes the body to release more insulin.  Insulin allows the body’s cells to use the sugar as energy, but if the body doesn’t need the energy now the insulin tells the body to store the sugar as fat to burn later when energy is needed.  Consuming too much sugar leads to excess body fat.  The reason why a lot of kids today seem overweight; is because the amount of soda and sugary snacks consumed is significantly higher than what I consumed when growing up.  Children today are much less active so that sugar stored as body fat doesn’t get burned.

In summary, remember to ask yourself would my grandfather be able to get this same food and recognized it as food.  Remember to not eat if you are eating to numb your emotions.  Also remember to avoid Gluten, Dairy, Cottonseed Oil, Soybean, and Sugar.  For the last two years avoiding these substances has left me with more energy, better sleep, better digestion and overall better health.