Archived News of the Week

What and How Should I Eat?

I could probably answer that question in about one sentence, and I will later on, but first I want to lead up to my nutritional denouement with some good background information: We are all bombarded daily with information about how to eat, which diet is best, how awful it is that the obesity rate is soaring in our country and our kids are so fat, how the government's food pyramid has been altered yet again and esp. how carbohydrates are now considered the Progeny of Satan. Diet books have actually been published with titles like How Would Jesus Eat? and The Maker's Diet, supposedly giving us tools with which to exorcise our satanic and straight- to- hell food habits.

Not only do I examine every new diet plan book that comes around, but most every seminar I attend has strident views on the penultimate diet. Just like you, I am trying to make sense of it all too. I have spent countless hours and days experimenting with diet and supplement plans, not necessarily to lose weight, but so I can feel and look as good as I possibly can as a non-surgically enhanced woman of a certain age.

The latest and most popular plan for me is the Metabolic Typing Diet. This plan divides us into three pretty simple categories, each of which is supposed to eat in a certain way: According to this plan, we are either Parasympathetic Fast Oxidizers, Sympathetic Slow Oxidizers or Mixed. Simply put, the PFO's are serious meat eaters and do very well on large portions of beef, buffalo and lamb, love all sorts of oil and full fat dairy. The SSO's seem to be happier with good carbs like whole grains, low fat foods and lighter meats like chicken and fish, and the Mixed is a bit of both.

I have an in-office muscle test that will reveal whether you are a PFO or a SSO or a Mixed plus some xeroxed sheets from a book called The Nutritional Solution by Kristal and Haig to get you started on your metabolic type, but if you are really interested I suggest you buy two books: The Metabolic Typing Diet by William Wolcott and The Nutritional Solution by Kristal and Haig. There are some nifty little tests in both books to suggest which type you are.

Metabolic Typing makes a lot of sense to me in that my Ferrari may run on a different fuel than your Ferrari and in order to have a healthy life, full of energetic forward motion and no vapor lock, I need to provide my particular body with the fuel that makes it run the best.

I am a PFO or a meat eater, so my Ferrari runs best on some form of animal protein 3 to even 6 times a day, a variety of nuts, occasional whole grains (maybe 3X a week) in the form of steel cut oats or brown rice or millet toast, and hoards of vegetables. Although I have a sweet tooth and love sugar and fruit, I obviously don't allow myself sugar very often and restrict my fruits to a couple a day. I am not good with grains, sugar, alcohol or too much fruit - it burns really, really fast in my body and leaves me shaky, hypoglycemic and prone to panic attacks. The high-protein/ low-carb way of eating makes me feel GREAT and full of energy yet calm and centered. I sleep better, my skin looks better and the dark circles under my eyes (which I tend to get when I stress my digestion with the wrong food) fade and sometimes even disappear.

What if you can't get in to be tested for your metabolic type? How do you find out how you should eat? Try this: Do you feel better when you have a breakfast of eggs and bacon, no toast (high protein)? Or do you feel better on oatmeal and whole grain toast (high carb)? Do you tend to lose energy around 10 or 11 with either one of these breakfasts? The breakfast that sustains you until lunch with high energy and clear headedness is prob. the one that is your fuel type.

Or, you might want to try this for a few days: Try eating like a PFO with lots of meat, veggies, nuts, full fat dairy and no grains and see how you feel. Or try eating like a SSO for a few days with more whole grains, veggies, non-fat dairy and light meats and see how you feel. Which way of eating keeps you clear headed? Which way of eating allows you to sleep better, to sustain your energy throughout the day, to lose weight or at least not to gain weight. If neither way works for you, try mixing it all up, some heavy meat, some light meat, some grain. Maybe you are the classic mixed type.

So my nutritional secret denouement is this: There is no one diet for everyone. We are all different. So, Eat what makes you feel good! And sustains your energy and keeps you clear-headed and in a good mood and sleeping well. Eat what makes you feel good long term - not just that short-term chocolate chip cookie syndrome where it feels so luscious and satisfying in your mouth and the act of eating that cookie becomes almost a religious experience. C'mon, admit it. That cookie will make you feel like crap in a couple of hours! Your body won't feel good and esp. YOU won't feel good about yourself.

Set long-term goals for yourself and have INTENTION about your health and your eating. Keep your agreements with yourself and start eating intuitively.

You can do it.

PS. Next time I will have some recipes for The Sweet- Toothed Tribe that are safe and won't plunge you into the black depths of sugar hell.

No statement or content in this web site shall be construed as offering diagnosis, cure, mitigation or prevention of any disease. Anyone having questions regarding the content of this site should contact their own health care provider for verification.