or, Are you gonna eat that?
On the 24th day of my fast, I saw my doctor for a routine physical examination. He asked me about my diet, whereupon I told him of my fasting. He says, “Oh, intermittent fasting. How is that going for you?” I told him it could be considered intermittent fasting in that I’m doing it on a yearly basis, and then I told him the extent of it. I was prepared for quite a lecture on the dangers of such extreme fasting, but thankfully, I was spared.
Now here’s the thing about intermittent fasting… in evolutionary terms, it is that for which our bodies have been geared. That being the case, it isn’t something that some of us should do; rather, it should be somewhat de rigueur, the norm rather than the exception. Think about it in terms of nature… one is hungry, not having eaten for hours, and forages for food. Finds food (might have to kill it first). Eats until satiated. Only the one food that was found. No food pyramid or food plate. No balanced diet. Content and satisfied, sleep sets in until the cycle begins anew the next day.
If you really think about this scenario, aside from daily intermittent fasting being par for the course, you would find that it very much flies in the face of what modern doctors, scientists and nutritionists generally tout, for there is no balanced diet, and the critter sleeps soon after eating (no chance of acid reflux disease or GERD there). I would venture to say that most animals do not choose to be omnivorous, but probably only do so out of a need for survival when their primary food source is low.
The Myth of the Balanced Diet
There, I said it. I referred to the concept of a balanced diet–or rather the need for it–as a myth. It’s pure, unadulterated blather perpetuated by those who are after your grocery dollars. Think of so many animals that have only one item on their dinner menu (likely the only meal of the day–or possibly week!). Consider the cow. Quite a beast. Yet one that can do quite nicely on a diet of nothing but grass. Further on up the food chain, consider the lion. What’s on the menu for tonight? Steak. What kind? Doesn’t matter, as long as it’s steak.
My brother and I used to debate the virtues of a high protein diet versus a diet high in complex carbohydrates. He was into protein, while I preferred a diet with little protein and mostly complex carbohydrates. We eventually concluded that either type of diet is fine, it’s just that you shouldn’t mix them. This is especially important within the context of a single meal, for if you have a lot of protein and a lot of carbs, you’re confusing your digestive system and in turn causing poor digestion. As for not mixing proteins and carbs, I happened to mention what my brother and I concluded to a friend who told me that was exactly what Dr. Harvey Diamond and his wife Marilyn espoused in their book, Fit for Life.
The Intestinal Biome
With respect to the sort of diet one maintains, it is ultimately the digestive or gut biome, the intestinal bacterial environment, that actually digests your food. A healthy biome is absolutely vital to a healthy organism. While its importance has been increasingly recognized in recent years, very little thought is seemingly given to it when it comes to daily diet and nutrition. How important is the biome?
Your cravings are not YOUR cravings!
It’s a tad discomforting to think that we don’t always exactly think and feel for ourselves, that there could be a colony of bacteria all crying out for McDonald’s french fries that cause us to pull up to the drive-thru. Or, as was seen in a study involving mice, gut bacteria was transplanted from alcoholic mice to normal mice, and it resulted in the normal mice exhibiting signs of alcoholism, including the craving. So as much as we dislike the thought of it holding so much sway over us, we must consider our biome and its cultivation, its proper care and feeding, if we ourselves are to maintain good health.
There are a few good, common sense suggestions I always consider for myself:
- avoid short term digestive confusion; eat only a high protein meal or a high carbohydrate meal, but not both at the same time
- avoid long term digestive confusion; eat a limited variety of foods, ones to which your biome is accustomed
- avoid habitual eating, that is, avoid routine eating your favorite brand of whatever; it lessens the chance of eating too much from a tainted food source. Even if you eat organic, you can’t be certain that the soil or water supply your organic veggies came from doesn’t contain toxins.
- avoid unhealthy foods that may result in an increase in unhealthy cravings
Of course, antibiotics really do a number on the biome, as their antibacterial action results in collateral damage to beneficial bacteria there. Since there is a fair amount of decimation caused to it, it’s probably a good time to cultivate a different variety of biome by changing one’s diet. As for prebiotics and probiotics, my personal preference is to stay away from them. I don’t trust them, whether it’s the science behind them or the safety of the actual products themselves. Still, there are those who extol how they have helped their digestive issues.
The bottom line is… do that which serves you best.
* I sincerely hope you weren’t expecting to read of an actual diet to try. Hunter/gatherers had no “diet” to speak of. Find food. Eat food.
to be continued…
