Breaking paradigms has presented some of the biggest challenges I have faced. It continues to be a rewarding goal to recognize them and meet them head on. Paradigms are those thoughts, values and judgements we place on things without any doubt that they may be false or not in our best interest. These belief systems are what create our reality. Simple things like everything is made from atoms or the earth is round are safe bets and have been well proven centuries ago. We rely on those simple things to be a basis of our reality and need not question them. It's simple and thoughtless paradigms that we place in our individual lives that can limit our potential and limit the outcome of our goals and happiness. These are almost always things that we were taught as children and told repeatedly by people in our lives who we love or trust such as teachers, parents, friends and the media.
The problem is that these guidelines may never have held any truth. So with or without bad intentions our trusted sources and loved ones may have passed on beliefs that are imperfect. No one likes to admit that they are wrong... especially if it's something they have placed a heavy amount of commitment behind for many years. I noticed in my own self when I began to become aware of these things that not only did I not want to admit when I was wrong but I was willing to fight about what I identified as the truth. (that mindset coupled with greed is the basis of all war incidentally) It all just led me back to the fact that, if left unchecked, my ego will run the show and the best version of the real me doesn't stand a chance. I couldn't possibly list every paradigm we subscribe to...I'm pretty sure the internet doesn't have enough bandwidth. Here are just a few nutrition paradigms that were groundbreaking for me.
Growing up I was told that milk is my best bet for strong bones and health. There is no better source of calcium and vitamin D than dairy products and if I want to grow old with strong healthy bones it is important that I get my daily servings. So we drank a lot of milk and ate dairy foods growing up. It was my mom doing what she thought was best for us. Even when there wasn't the healthiest of choices in our house as a kid there was always a gallon of low fat milk. I can even remember a time that must have been pretty lean when we had this giant box of powdered milk. You would just scoop out some powder and add water...Presto! You've got some bone building milk. Later in life, milk/dairy foods and whey protein powder became performance supplements to my fitness goals. At one point I was going through a gallon of milk every couple days all by myself. I also had pretty bad gut issues, severe inflammation throughout my body, poor energy levels and a constant battle keeping off fat. I could lose it but it came back just as quick as it was gone. Basically I was imbalanced and toxic. I had been told to quit dairy by many people but there was no way I was going to listen. Those people did not know what they were talking about. They weren't aware of MY goals and how unique MY situation was. And besides cheese is awesome. No way in hell I can ever survive without it. So fast forward through many years of chasing my tail and I got to reading about the possibility that there may be a slim chance that possibly I may have been wrong all along. Let's just say I was wrong in ALL my beliefs...across the board. Wrong, wrong and WRONG.
I learned about the hormones being used to keep the dairy cows constantly lactating, the huge quantities of antibiotics being used to keep them from sickness and dying due to their sickening conditions and about the infections they suffer on their udders from constant milking which in turn releases pus into the "product". All of these things are in this "healthy drink" I believed I had been drinking and eating my whole life. These actually were things I already knew and unbelievably just kept myself in denial about..."my milk is different because....umm....well it just is!"
So all of that said, the one really unexpected thing I learned was that there have been studies proving that milk not only doesn't build strong bones but it in fact contributes to their deterioration. Milk protein is naturally acidic and the body's natural state is alkaline. Our body is constantly in a state of adjusting it's PH to maintain alkalinity. An alkaline state is optimum because it's the state which the body can heal, recover and fight sickness. Diseases like cancer can not survive in an alkaline state. So when we drink or eat acidic dairy protein the body does what it has to in order to correct the acidity. There's a nice supply of alkalizing calcium in our bones that the body can draw from to correct the acidity. Not a big deal to have to do this occasionally to correct a situation but over a long life of dairy consumption it can be ruinous to our bone health. It causes weak brittle bones. Opposite of anything I thought...dairy CAUSES osteoporosis. There are many studies to back this but I will just link one randomly HERE. So with this information I was left with the question of what then to do about all of that perfect milk protein I won't be getting anymore?
That leads to the next obstacle I had to recognize and snuff. This is the idea that animal protein is the "perfect" protein and we absolutely need it for good health... or in many cases athletic performance and strength. Dr. T. Colin Campbell is a professor of nutrition at Cornell University, author of "The China Study" and "Whole" and has led the most extensive nutrition studies ever conducted. He lists what he calls the 8 Principles Of Food and Health which were written as crucial guidelines to follow. (link HERE) Principle #3 says "There are virtually no nutrients in animal-based foods that are not better provided by plants- based foods." The science and data behind this is extensive and can all be found in his first book The China Study (link HERE)
One of the basic ideas behind this is amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. They are found in many foods but are found abundantly in plant based foods like leafy greens, vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts, grains, legumes, etc...Our body, being the efficient machine that it is, can use amino acids from these foods and synthesize it's own protein... quality protein that suits it's needs and can readily use. All but about 10 to 20% of the protein that we need is created within us by eating a balanced plant based diet consisting of whole plant foods with a full rainbow of colors. The remaining protein out bodies do not create will be found in our food and absorbed regardless of whether or not we monitor the numbers. It really is as simple as saying all we need to do is put in the proper fuel and trust our bodies to take care of the rest. Animal protein from mother's milk, for example, is excellent when we are babies and developing but after we are grown we are just that...grown. Animal protein is used by athletes and bodybuilders to grow large amounts of muscle but it is a case of overload. The body does not need or want it. It consequently either discards it, stores it as fat or in the worst case scenario contributes to sickness and diseases like cancer.
We innately have a drive to be in control and orchestrate what happens with us internally but in the long run nature knows best and we only end up causing problems. It took me a lot of time and much reading to admit my mistake on this matter. For one thing I loved the taste of meat and for another it really was the only framework from which I had ever created my meals. Meat was always the centerpiece and then there were other things like starches or vegetables on the side. Egg and bacon in the morning, a sandwich with mainly meat as a filling for lunch and then dinner. Dinner could be just about anything but meat was ALWAYS the centerpiece.
That leads to another paradigm which was a challenge to grasp. The firm belief that certain foods are ONLY for certain meals. Forget the fact that they all included animal protein but they were also all constructed around a cultural training I received from childhood. Presently I start each and every day with a green smoothie consisting of leafy greens and various plant and super foods. (super food examples HERE) I also have a fresh pressed vegetable juice every morning. These two things I enjoy a great deal now but they would've sounded awful to me before. It's basically the equivalent of having 2 giant salads for breakfast. There isn't a healthier way I could start my day but salad for breakfast is not what we culturally have been trained to eat.
What we have been trained to eat are things like bacon, eggs. pancakes, cereal with cow's milk or even donuts. We've been directed to drink coffee or sugary processed fruit juice. It isn't that everyone is wrong or lacks intelligence; it's just what we know and have grown up believing. Breakfast is an easy example in the confines of this paradigm and I could continue through each meal but I trust that the point has been made. I have become open minded to new ideas and made healthy changes so each meal consists of WHAT I NEED no matter the appearance of it as weird or different. Having the foods I should be having throughout the day rather than taking the path of least resistance and eating "what" I have been told is for "when." It's not all that crazy actually....just food choices....that's all.
I have only scratched a very small surface here with these three examples but it opens the mind to so many ideas once you get to thinking. It's actually a little comical when we begin to consider the choices we make or made and the reasons behind them. The template for eating was set for me years ago and when I went outside the box it required careful thought and became more of a quality effort. It isn't the case any longer that I rely on whatever is available to feed me. Whatever is available doesn't have my good health in it's plan. Deciding my food choices is now done with care. The preparation and result that's returned to me is better quality.
I think if we spend time carefully considering our thought process on these things it becomes clear that there is huge a need to QUESTION EVERYTHING. One by one we might all find ourselves a little surprised at the poor choices we have grown to just blindly accept.
