If any of you are like me, you spend some time each day
reviewing the Facebook or Twitter newsfeed for interesting posts, information,
or funny/cute online videos (yeah, we all know they are a time waster, but come
on, who can resist the mini-piglets eating a salad). Each day as I engage in this shameful ritual
I tend to notice posts that purport a food or a beverage that “melts belly
fat”, “detoxifies your body”, “boosts immunity” or has some other to-good-to-be-true
superpower. Are these things really all
they are cracked up to be?
The answer is no. The
human body and therefore human health are extremely complex and to take the
whole of nutrition and health and funnel it down to “Drink this lemon water and
lose your gut” is both extremely misleading to the public and somewhat
discourteous to the body. We’ve all seen
them, they claim a shake or infused drink is going to be the catalyst to
burning fat, looking younger or any number of zero evidence based claims.
Additionally, we have come to be taught of the existence of
superfoods. Let’s review the types of
food products we have labeled “super”; blueberries, blackberries, kale,
spinach, acai, sauerkraut, avocados, pistachios, beans, broccoli, oats,
oranges, pumpkin, salmon, soy, tea, tomatoes, turkey, walnuts, yogurt,
etc... There was a time that we called
these food products something else, just plain ol’ food!
So why have we been led to believe that heirloom tomatoes cure
heart disease and foods possess super powers?
There are two reasons. First, as a culture we have actually lost
sight of what food truly is. The foods
we have become accustomed to are things like tacos, burritos, hamburgers, hot
dogs, pizza
etc… These things are all really tasty,
but they are decidedly not super, as a matter of fact many people who eat these
kinds of foods report a feeling of sluggishness or lethargy soon after their
meal. So, these foods are what we have
become accustomed to, to the degree that if you ask a child to identify a piece
of produce in the grocery store it becomes a toss-up when trying to predict
whether or not they can tell you. As a
result we have collectively come to call foods that make us feel energized and
focused (isn’t that what food is supposed to do)…super!
Additionally, from a social science perspective we tend to
label everything around us in order to categorize and organize our world around
us into easily understood symbols. These
symbols appear to us on traffic signs, through language and in the media. This is a particularly good example of a label
that we have affixed to natural foods that has been usurped by the media. Advertisers are crazy about the “superfood”
buzzword. It is a concept that has been
applied to many of the items that are examples of real whole foods.
The combination of losing sight of what food truly should be
and the recent uptick in pseudo-science based claims about the potential of
food to cure everything from zits to failing marriages leaves us with a
difficult task in sifting through the garbage.
But, if you understand that your body is a dynamic complex interplay of
systems that needs an array of vitamins, sodium, potassium, cholesterol, fats,
sugars and proteins you can begin to think of the fueling of your body not in
terms of seeking the one miracle food that will get the job done, but in terms
of picking the items your body needs and loves throughout the day; this will
result in a perspective shift.
And by the way, it is okay to order a pizza once in a while,
just make sure the next meal gives you an array of the stuff your body will
appreciate a little more.
Happy Running!!
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