Eating What Our Ancestors Did

Learn to Like the Foods that are Simple and Clean

This is a bit of a change from my last couple of articles. But that is the life of an Integral Warrior. The point is to develop yourself as a whole person and lead a balanced life. To do this you need to develop yourself on a number of levels. Yes we all concentrate on the exercise stuff, and that is an important point, but so is developing  your spiritual awareness, emotional awareness, mental intelligence, as well as your physical ability and your nutritional awareness as well.

It is no good committing to a physical practice and expect to get results if your diet is no good, or has not changed for the better at least. It is like a V8 Supercar turning up for a race and putting in the lowest grade of fuel you can, thinking you are saving money and still thinking you can win. Not going to work. Okay maybe your diet is all right, but you work 14 hour days, or run your own business trying to do everything yourself to save money. Heaps of stress, poor sleep,poor diet. It is all piles on top of one another and at 50 years of age you could possibly be a Type II diabetic, or have high blood pressure, will be 10 to 15 or 20 kg overweight and just a bloody hard person to be around. How can you expect results when on some level of your total person you are way out of alignment. You need to bring yourself along on a reasonably even keel. So you can see one part is interlinked with the others. If you are good in one area then you need to be attentive to your other areas as well, "bring them along". What I want to do here is to talk about the nutritional aspect of your whole person as part of being an Integral Warrior.

Now I know you might be thinking just another dammed article on what we can and cannot eat and making our lives in abject misery. Well, yes and no .

My views about Nutrition have changed a lot with since I completed my nutritional course and I am living what I have learned. And I do feel a lot better for it. It does make a difference.

I might start with an interesting quote attributed to Thomas Edison whom I am told invented the motel. When I heard this I thought he did not invent the motel he invented the light bulb and then a light bulb came on in my mind in that all motels have an abundance of lighting to advertise themselves in all different ways shapes and means.What a marketing guru!!!!!. Creating a market for his invention( just joking) . His quote is this, "The mindset, thoughts and decision processes that were used to create the problems should not be used to get yourself out of that hole". Otherwise you are all doomed to failure. The take-home message is, we have to change our mindset and the way we make our decisions regarding what we eat and when we eat. I guess he was trying to say that we have to think out of the box, left of centre and not be stuck in the same old way of doing things simply, because.

Gone are the days when you had to chase a reluctant horse around the paddock  to ride to school, or to a large extent a decent walk to the school bus stop, testament to the huge pile of cars at school at the start and finish of the school day. The hard, hard truth is we are not that active any more, and the type and amount of food we eat is way beyond our level of activity. Food manufacturers spend millions on observing shoppers, and using every trick in the book to get them to buy their product. Have you ever wondered why the Tim Tams are at eye level in the biscuit section and  all the other delicious chocolate coated delights?  The advertising of these products just goes on and on. These people are very skilled. They mostly do not care about how good or bad their product is. They make it with the cheapest ingredients or artificial substitutes, and bend the labelling and advertising laws to the maximum, to maximise their company's profits.

The harsh truth is we are as addictive to the easily digestible highly processed foods with God knows what in them as the people who are addicted to drugs. Do not believe me? Try an experiment on yourself. Don't  eat any processed foods at all for a month  including cordials, lollies, biscuits, cereals, bread ,cakes, pastries and  most things that come in plastic or cardboard. I bet you become pretty damm irritable, because that is what happened to me.  If I had not thrown out all the rubbish in our pantry I would have just binged 'till they were finished.  I tried an experiment with ice cream during my 2nd week of this trial. I really have a weakness for  that stuff. I bought a 2 L container and ate the lot over 2 nights, and I only stopped on the 1st night because I got an ice cream headache!! I hope you get my point. You have to "hold the line" get over the hump.  It does get easier, much easier. For me it was an interesting experiment as I did this while I am training for my 18th Ironman triathlon. I must admit I felt terrible during training initially, with no energy, and I slept like the dead and just mentally felt right out of the game, but after 4 weeks or so, one day I realised I was flying along. My body had finally adapted and that is how it will stay- for life, not just 6 months or 12 months.

OK  you say what is the secret, and I will tell you there is no secret. There is a lot of information out there that makes this whole nutrition "thing" very confusing. Everyone seems to be promoting something. And you can get a scientific study to support almost anything. Yes I am promoting something too, it is called "eating clean".

If we decide to start a physical training program and think that we can eat whatever we want then wrong. Most training plans are 3 to 4 times a week for 45 minutes, 60 minutes, 30 minutes.  Fact:  The body during very high intense exercise, Resistance or Cardio will burn roughly a maximum of 10 calories a minute (sorry walking and jogging and all other activities at the same exertion level do not count) so you do the maths. Most people are not doing that much. 60 minutes equals 600 cal. 30 minutes 300 cal. Go and have a cappuccino and muffin  or carrot cake, whatever,  because you have been so good and you have just added 800 cal. You have just wiped out all that effort in your physical practice. Not getting the results you want? Do not blame the trainer, or the program. Look at yourself, your own mindset and decision-making processes. Could it be you that is holding yourself back? Go back to what Thomas Edison said we really have to think out of the box, we have to change our mindset and the way we think about things to actually get the results that we want.

The basics are this: Plenty of protein. Fish, lean meat, (no processed meat) chicken, eggs, egg whites, whey protein, tofu, legumes, and nuts.

Carbohydrates need to be broken into 2 groups.

High density carbohydrates and Low density carbohydrates. This is really where we need to change the way we look at these 2 food groups.

Carbohydrates per se are not bad. In fact we need them to operate effectively. If your career is a very physically active one i.e. a framing carpenter, then part of your meals need to be high density carbohydrates. And I am talking about pasta, bread, rice, wheat, barley, potatoes. They need this to be able to match their energy needs with their food intake. (Unfortunately it does not include the beer some of them down as well!!) But for the large majority of people these high density grain based carbohydrates are not required to get us through the day and so to make ground with good nutrition we need to rely on the low density carbohydrates. They are fruit and vegetables with a small amount of nuts (not the whole packet) and good quality omega 3 oils. So for the majority of our day, your meals and snacks need to be high in protein with either salads or vegetables with good quality high ratio omega 3 oils found in walnuts and flax seeds and Chia seeds and olive oils. Vegetable and salads are not about cabbage and lettuce. I am talking about tomatoes, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, beans and peas, zuchinni, cucumbers, peppers. You get the idea. If you eat a meal that has a good fist size steak, chicken, fish, that takes up one 3rd of your plate, and two thirds vegetables. Your full stomach will win often before you are finished without the huge load of calories that grain provides along with its insulin spike. One of the things we are trying to achieve by (eating clean) is to even out our secretion of insulin and energy that we eat. This poor organ works flat out in most people for most of the day and eventually you wind up with adrenal fatigue, things like type II diabetes, or metabolic syndrome. The more you can keep your insulin levels on an even keel and not spiking up or down the better able you are to control your urge to eat whatever is closest to you.

Make sure your snacks are the same. Some whey protein, various, fruits or fruit salad, a small amount of chocolate, some flax seeds or Chia seeds some flaxseed oil and some milk. If you mix it up in a blender with ice, I can tell you it is a pretty damm  good snack. The only time that we make a change to this is when you do your physical practice i.e. your training program. This is only if you are doing high intensity resistance training or cardio training. With a small snack beforehand, a small whey protein shake mixed with some rolled oats and may be a small amount of honey and afterwards some tuna some rice potatoes or pasta in one or 2 small meals afterwards. If your physical practice is close to one of your main meals then grain based carbohydrates are part of that meal. Your window for these high density carbohydrates is about 3 hours, after that you go back to fruit and vegetables, good protein sources and good quality oils.

So over your day you need: Breakfast, lunch, tea plus 3 snacks or mini meals to replace your normal morning and afternoon tea and a small snack at night. Most people get caught up on all food that you suddenly have to eat and yes the volume of food is increased but not the overall caloric value. What you must do is break up your meals so that you eat smaller meals each time but with more regularity so the total energy for the day quite often will be less but  the volume will be more.

Tea and coffee are okay, but try and drink as much water as you can, but do not force the issue, rely on your thirst.  A big NO is soft drinks unless you have just completed an Ironman triathlon or marathon or other long endurance event. These drinks can be up to and over 350 cal per can. It causes a huge spike in insulin production, it is like throwing petrol on a fire it is a quick burn and then the fire dies down. It is the same in your body. A big hit of sugar a big release of insulin a big release of energy and then it is gone, and then it is I want another can. A vicious circle that leads to a tractor tyre around the middle.

Dairy is a sticking point for some people. Whey protein, low fat cheese, plain flavoured low-fat yoghurt's to add to your protein shakes are all fine. Just keep away from anything dairy that has sugar in it. So no mousses or any other dairy deserts including flavoured yoghurt's, use fresh fruit to flavour your yoghurt's.

One important point I want to make is that no one is perfect. And you do not have to be to get the results. The 80% /20% rule makes this very easy to fit in to modern day life. If you go to a restaurant occasionally or out to someone's party then have a good time and eat what is there. Then when you get back home you go back to what you were doing without feeling the least bit guilty because for 80% of the time you are doing pretty well.

Remember at the start I said something about being Integral Warrior? Nutrition in today's modern world can be likened to a fire storm, a huge battle where the stakes are high. It is your long-term health that is on the line. They are high-stakes. As you age do you want to be medicated to keep some quality in your life, and hand over your health responsibilities to the medical profession, or do you want to stand on your own 2 feet, be fit and healthy energetic and responsible for your own health and those of your family.

Be a leader and be responsible for yourself, for your children, and your grandchildren. It starts with you and then you lead those that you care about along as well. That is what being an Integral Warrior is all about.