What the Heck Do I Eat?

With all the conflicting information on what to eat, what not to eat, and how to eat it, this is what I know for sure.

Foods that are healthy for you may not be so healthy for your friend. Or vice versa.

The tricky part is figuring out the “best way to eat” plan for you.

I’ve spent some time studying the role our genes play in this, and it’s fascinating stuff.

It’s also rather complicated.

Add in your personal gut microbiome, current health status, taste preferences, and it gets even more interesting. (“Interesting” is code for “Are you kidding me?”)

For example, fermented foods, such as sauerkraut, yogurt, kimchi, and kombucha, are good to add to the diet for increasing diversity of the “good bugs” in our intestinal tract. 

This is true for lots of people. However, there are folks with a genetic makeup or food sensitivity that do not tolerate them.

Have you ever wondered why some people can drink one cup of coffee and be like the Energizer Bunny, and others can go to sleep after consuming a pot?

Some of this may be due to a caffeine tolerance/addiction. Conversely, some people carry a gene that indicates that they are slow caffeine metabolizers.

I bet we all have loved ones who think that they can handle lots of coffee, yet they probably don’t handle it as well as they’d like to believe. A few names come to mind here… 🙂

Nuts and seeds are good for some, not for others.

Same goes for dairy, grains, and even spinach.

An aside: Foods high in oxalate (spinach is such a food) may contribute to certain types of kidney stones in susceptible individuals. They may do well to be mindful of high oxalate foods and eat smaller amounts. The downside is that these are nutritionally dense foods, and to eliminate them completely kicks out lots of benefits.

Genes can even indicate if you would feel better eating more fat, carbs, or protein. People who thrive on a higher fat intake are probably the Keto lovers.

It’s complicated.

At any rate, as I’ve stated in previous posts, one way of eating is not right for everyone. I am even more convinced of this today. 

As I experiment on myself to figure this out, Mr. Non-Compliant has suggested that I go on the show “Naked and Afraid.”

He thinks I would at least be able to find water, and perhaps a gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free branch to gnaw on.

He’s a prize. I’m not doing it.

Instead, I’m working my way through a course to better understand how genetics add a missing puzzle piece to living our best life. (I may one day offer this as another service to help my clients.) It’s a better use of my time than hunting in the wild, getting sunburn, and driving a complete stranger crazy.

Besides, he’d go off the rails with his non-compliant eating if I were gone for 3 weeks.

Cheers to the great mysteries of life,
Health Coach Carol

“As with most preferences, health risks, and genetic traits, there are many complex, interrelated factors. There is almost never one single gene that inevitably leads to a given result.”—”Genetics: The Universe Within”