Ask A Healer Nutritional Health Series

How Important are Your Dietary Choices?
Want to stay healthy and vibrant? Take a clue from your forefathers
© Loren Howe, All Rights Reserved
Adrenal Insufficiency Diet > Natural and Organic Supplements

"A wise man ought to realize that health is his most valuable possession and learn to treat his illnesses by his own judgment."  - Hippocrates

Often it is argued, "I would rather enjoy my life and eat what I want rather than live a few years longer." This overlooks two significant issues. First is the negative impact that chronic conditions have on your quality of life.

Living one year longer might not matter (now), but living a decade with Alzheimer's disease or a lifetime with poor health will matter. Secondly, health not only increases your physical ability, but also your mental aptitude and outlook.

People are designed to live happy, healthy, and fulfilling lives. If we are not doing so, it is often because we have dietary and physical constraints outside of the natural state for humans. 

It is a tribute to our adaptability that many people endure years of inadequate diet before a breaking point is reached. Yet, despite our modern surroundings, we can always incorporate lost elements from our intended lifestyle and diet.

People obtain truly remarkable health results by simply restoring lost elements of a traditional diet and lifestyle. An unbelievable potential for improvement is often within easy reach when we simply reclaim the knowledge of health that has been gradually forgotten.     

Society today often makes the mistake of acting as if all dietary knowledge has been discovered. In order to achieve optimal health, it is vital to escape this mindset. 

Remember that only 100 years ago, we did not even know what vitamins were, and many doctors advised that vegetables should only be eaten people who couldn't afford higher caloric foods.

It is nearly inevitable that a broad range of generally unstudied substances exist in our foods that are harmful, healthful, or neutral depending on dietary intake, combinations, and individual genetics.

There is such a broad range of variables involved in diet that no one can analyze everything at once and definitively determine the perfect diet. For this reason, empirical and traditional knowledge are some of the best starting points. 

A second problem with dietary knowledge is that a great deal of harmful information is disseminated through press agents on behalf of industry. 

Most information has little to do with health and a great deal to do with profit. The greater the profit margin and industrialization of a food product, the more positive press will be created. 

Thus, you hear about the purported benefits of soybean and dairy products while negative stories are run on fish that is produced by smaller, less organized businessmen.

A classic example is propaganda campaigns convincing most of America that tropical oils were bad and margarine was good. That tragedy is partially documented in the book The Coconut Oil Miracle by Bruce Fife. Even cigarettes were at one time promoted as healthy for various ailments. Find coconut oil and raw foods here

Most widely publicized studies are actually funded and (if positive) disseminated through an industry group. If the researchers obtain a negative result, the study generally never sees the light of day.

Of course there are also many extremely valuable (mostly government funded) dietary studies. Just remember that much of what you hear in the popular press regarding diet is about as useful as what you hear regarding investing.    

part two: are you complacent about nutrition? > part three: why did our diet change? > part four: the evolution of food continued > part five: positive vs. negative effects of diet >part six: our nutrition and our enzyme quotient

To learn much greater detail regarding traditional dietary and health practices, you can read The Real Story of Money, Health, and Religion, by Loren Howe available in paperback or $1.25 download at LuLu Online Bookstore