It is so hard to know what you are supposed to be eating and, as a mom, what I should be feeding my kids. I have been watching several documentaries with my husband and reading books on nutrition from our library. There are so many different philosophies and studies and I don't have the training and time to read through them all to evaluate their truth and methodologies.
There's the vegan diet, the vegetarian diet, the Mediterranean diet, Live Dirty-Eat Clean, the Daniel plan, high protein, Paleo diet, and now the pegan or veleo diet. My religion has a Word of Wisdom and some people have turned that into a standardized diet. Weston A Price Foundation, Nourishing Traditions, GAPS diet, diabetic diet, DASH diet.
Doo, doo, doo, dooo. You are now entering the Twilight Zone.
Some people swear that dairy is bad for you and the environment. "Dairy is only for baby cows and makes you gain weight and makes your girls enter puberty earlier. It introduces too much waste into the oceans and creates dead zones.". Oh, but how will you meet your calcium requirements? You're going to give your children rickets. Yogurt has good probiotics and protein. No, yogurt is really just a vehicle for sugar. Dairy will kill you! Or at the very least, mess up your gut microbiome.
Gluten is a bad guy also for many diets, but wait! It's not really gluten or wheat that is the problem, it's that we have changed the wheat from what it once was or that we are not using natural yeast that is being fermented by lactobacillus. Ban all the carbs! But, but bread is the staff of life. We need carbs for energy. But the carbs have to be prepared correctly. Oh no, you're wrong. You can live on fatty meats alone like the Inuit. No, you can have carbs but they have to be gluten-free carbs grown under the full moon in your own backyard. And, if you stop eating gluten, you can never eat gluten again.
Fat is good for you and needs to be about 30% of your calories. No, no, fat is the enemy. All products must be low fat. No, if you take out fat, you will add in sugar to make your food taste good. Fats are needed to properly digest your vegetables.
You need more salt in your diet. You need less salt in your diet. You need special Himalayan salt or Celtic sea salt or special Real Salt with clay.
You should eat heaping servings of kale everyday. But, wait, there's a new study that shows people who eat kale everyday have a higher level of something bad in their blood. Okay, blueberries are the new superfood. (Expensive.) Now it's pomegranates! Now it's quinoa! Now it's coconut oil!
The average American needs more protein in their diet. Oh, no they get too much protein already. You can get all your protein from a can of lentils. (I don't know that I want to eat a whole can of lentils.) Meat is much more efficient to get your protein and iron requirements. If you don't eat meat, how will you get your B6 or B12 or whatever it is? But red meat will kill you. It's worse than cigarettes and it's killing the environment.
Aaaagh!
What's a reasonable person to do? Especially if we are trying to live on a budget and be wise with our money? These special, low-carb flours are expensive and they only come in little tiny bags. Non-dairy milk is quite a bit more expensive than regular milk. I have no clue what actually is the truth or if there is a one truth. Maybe in the future there will be a study that says this diet is right for that person and that diet is right for this person. Are we so different from each other that we need specialized, customized diets? I just want to feed my house, not get a degree in dietetics. But, wait, the science on dietetics keeps changing anyways, so it probably wouldn't even do much good.
There do seem to be a few things that there is a consensus on. First, sugar is the devil. (Dang it!). Second, we should be eating a lot more vegetables. Third, if you eat grains, make them whole. Other than that, facts and opinions keep changing all the time.
There's the vegan diet, the vegetarian diet, the Mediterranean diet, Live Dirty-Eat Clean, the Daniel plan, high protein, Paleo diet, and now the pegan or veleo diet. My religion has a Word of Wisdom and some people have turned that into a standardized diet. Weston A Price Foundation, Nourishing Traditions, GAPS diet, diabetic diet, DASH diet.
Doo, doo, doo, dooo. You are now entering the Twilight Zone.
Some people swear that dairy is bad for you and the environment. "Dairy is only for baby cows and makes you gain weight and makes your girls enter puberty earlier. It introduces too much waste into the oceans and creates dead zones.". Oh, but how will you meet your calcium requirements? You're going to give your children rickets. Yogurt has good probiotics and protein. No, yogurt is really just a vehicle for sugar. Dairy will kill you! Or at the very least, mess up your gut microbiome.
Gluten is a bad guy also for many diets, but wait! It's not really gluten or wheat that is the problem, it's that we have changed the wheat from what it once was or that we are not using natural yeast that is being fermented by lactobacillus. Ban all the carbs! But, but bread is the staff of life. We need carbs for energy. But the carbs have to be prepared correctly. Oh no, you're wrong. You can live on fatty meats alone like the Inuit. No, you can have carbs but they have to be gluten-free carbs grown under the full moon in your own backyard. And, if you stop eating gluten, you can never eat gluten again.
Fat is good for you and needs to be about 30% of your calories. No, no, fat is the enemy. All products must be low fat. No, if you take out fat, you will add in sugar to make your food taste good. Fats are needed to properly digest your vegetables.
You need more salt in your diet. You need less salt in your diet. You need special Himalayan salt or Celtic sea salt or special Real Salt with clay.
You should eat heaping servings of kale everyday. But, wait, there's a new study that shows people who eat kale everyday have a higher level of something bad in their blood. Okay, blueberries are the new superfood. (Expensive.) Now it's pomegranates! Now it's quinoa! Now it's coconut oil!
The average American needs more protein in their diet. Oh, no they get too much protein already. You can get all your protein from a can of lentils. (I don't know that I want to eat a whole can of lentils.) Meat is much more efficient to get your protein and iron requirements. If you don't eat meat, how will you get your B6 or B12 or whatever it is? But red meat will kill you. It's worse than cigarettes and it's killing the environment.
Aaaagh!
What's a reasonable person to do? Especially if we are trying to live on a budget and be wise with our money? These special, low-carb flours are expensive and they only come in little tiny bags. Non-dairy milk is quite a bit more expensive than regular milk. I have no clue what actually is the truth or if there is a one truth. Maybe in the future there will be a study that says this diet is right for that person and that diet is right for this person. Are we so different from each other that we need specialized, customized diets? I just want to feed my house, not get a degree in dietetics. But, wait, the science on dietetics keeps changing anyways, so it probably wouldn't even do much good.
There do seem to be a few things that there is a consensus on. First, sugar is the devil. (Dang it!). Second, we should be eating a lot more vegetables. Third, if you eat grains, make them whole. Other than that, facts and opinions keep changing all the time.