Do you know where your food comes from? Do you understand how food creates energy in the body and is either expelled or stored? I recently saw an incredible documentary called Food, Inc. which I highly recommend. As a country, we need to begin to demand fresh, wholesome food again. But within the past 50 years we haven’t done a very good job at understanding the source of our food. Where does it come from? Who made it? What’s in it? What is it doing to my body? Instead, we are conditioned, marketed to and blatantly manipulated into making poor food choices on a daily basis. Substandard food is cheap, quick and convenient.
Most Americans do not know how to grow food or store it properly. And as a result, we have become less and less connected to the source of our food and extremely tolerant of additives, preservatives and a slew of chemicals designed to keep food on shelves longer. Processed food includes ingredients that trigger reactions in our brains which increase cravings and essentially hardwires us to go back to bad food again and again. I implore my patients to do a quick check of what and how they eat on a daily basis. While it’s fine to have the occasional treat, eating whole foods and meals with simple, fresh, locally grown ingredients naturally begins a healing process in the body which creates a solid environment for detoxification and rejuvenation. Foods like organic fruits and vegetables, eggs, lean meats and whole grains begin to cleanse and strengthen the body, giving it that extra jolt of energy to help you bounce back from years of processed foods.