Finding the Right Foods Your Own Body Needs

The more of life I experience, the more I realise that we know ourselves what is best, and also what is needed for our own bodies for us to experience happiness, but so often we go against our inner wisdom because some ‘Expert’ wants their profile raised.

A case in point is my own daughter, who recently developed allergies whilst working at home. She sent a few strands of her hair to a company that specialises in allergies and food intolerance. When her test results arrived she was surprised that all the foods she didn’t like, were high on the list of her food intolerances.

She read through the list with me: “broccoli — I’ve never liked broccoli but everyone says it’s good for you; avocados, I can’t stand avocados.” The list went on, and then she said, “everything on this food intolerance list are the foods I detest.”

Her body had a natural aversion to certain foods, after all — ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL

Inspired by the results, I too sent a few strands of hair for a test. The results shocked me when I realised I was eating foods partly out of habit, but partly because I’d been brainwashed into thinking these foods were good for me.

The Mediterranean Diet

There’s been a lot of research done on the ‘Mediterranean Diet’ and how people in Mediterranean countries live longer. There’s pressure on the rest of us to follow these diets. But hold up a minute…in all areas of the planet, people hunted indigenous animals living in the wilds of their own country, and ate the meat, fish, and seasonal vegetable that were naturally suited to the climate.

Thousands of years of the same diet and those foods have been built into their DNA. Where does the idea come from that ‘people who live thousands of miles from you, who have eaten different foods for millennia would have the same food formula requirement as you do?’ — it doesn’t make logical sense does it?

Europeans didn’t eat bananas, coconuts, pineapples, and mangos — although delicious, because hundreds of years ago they were expensive and unavailable to the masses. Towards the end of the 19th century, some of these fruits were grown in hot-houses by wealthy people, and so the traditional diets changed, but also too, the incidence of intolerance.

It will probably take decades to establish whether the advice given to us was correct and whether we had avoided illness.

…But What if the Experts are Wrong?

Your body may recognise it needs a nutrient not present in your established diet, so it’s sensible just to listen to your gut. If you have experienced a wide range of foods, the body may start to crave an unusual food, but it may be the body’s way of alerting you.

It might be a good idea to listen to that advice even if seems to go against traditional wisdom.

You are what you eat

When my mother was alive she suffered from Parkinson’s Disease and would always be craving ‘nuts’ but believed that nuts would make her fat and felt this was a weakness, so resisted the temptation. She was literally going nuts for nuts.

However, many years after her passing I read an article about how ‘nuts’ can be one of the superfoods to relieve the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease — who would have thought it!

Since Parkinson’s is closely connected to a lack of dopamine cells in your body, researchers looked for ways to increase dopamine naturally through diet. Eating a diet high in antioxidants reduces ‘oxidative stress’ that aggravates Parkinson’s and similar conditions, according to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research.

You can get lots of antioxidants by eating: tree nuts, like walnuts, brazil nuts, pecans, and pistachios; blueberries, blackberries, goji berries, cranberries, and elderberries; tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and other nightshade vegetables and spinach and kale.

This brings me neatly to:

An expert’s view on our staple foods

We are bombarded constantly about what is good for us, and what is bad for us. Many times these ‘experts’ cannot agree, one minute eggs are bad for us — then next they are not. Eggs are actually good for us, along with red wine, chocolate, whisky, and butter.

Should you choose butter or margarine? Dr. Michael Mosley shares surprising verdict

(Extracted from the Daily, Express) If you ever wonder to yourself whether butter or margarine is the healthiest option, Dr. Mosley has settled the debate. Once placed on a pedestal for being a ‘healthy version’ of butter, scientific evidence now suggests otherwise. “Margarine itself is processed and made from vegetable oil,” explained Dr. Mosley. “As vegetable oil is liquid at room temperature, a process called hydrogenation takes place, which resultantly creates trans-fat.”

“Trans fats should be avoided where possible”, urged Dr. Mosley. “There is a plethora of scientific evidence linking increased intake of trans fats with inflammation, heart disease, stroke, and poor cholesterol”.

Research has shown that margarine was linked to raised cholesterol and heart disease and new evidence is showing that it is better to use vegetable oils in their natural state e.g. canola oil, corn oil, and olive oil.

While margarine does have less saturated fat than butter, Dr. Mosley pointed out that “saturated fat is not necessarily a bad thing”.

He added: “New studies have found no direct link between saturated fats and heart health.”

Butter is made from churning cream — a natural whole food. “We’re not advising you to lather butter onto every meal,” said Dr. Mosley. “However, a small amount every now and then will cause far less harm than processed margarine and spreads.”

Jennifer Moll, a pharmacist, and educator for Verywellhealth.com, also supported the claims of Dr. Mosely when she explained that “unsaturated fats in most margarine undergo a process called hydrogenation, which creates harmful trans fats. Trans fat raises LDL or “bad” cholesterol even more than saturated fat does. The trans-fatty acids are what give margarine its solid consistency at room temperature. Stick margarine, the hardest kind, contains the most trans fats — and they are still widely sold today despite what we know about their harm.

Bees and Pollinators

When I started beekeeping there was a movement to ban certain pesticides which were killing the bees — the biggest danger was from Neonicotinoids, they are classed as systemic insecticides.

A systemic pesticide is a form of pesticide that is water-soluble and is absorbed by a plant when applied to its roots, seeds, or leaves. Once the pesticide is absorbed by the target plant, the chemicals in the pesticide will circulate through a plant’s system. This results in the plant killing any insect or pest that feeds on it.

Also, I notice my honeybees do not collect pollen and nectar from poisonous plants like foxgloves and deadly nightshade — there’s probably a reason for this, I know Darwin has mentioned that honeybees do not take pollen from foxgloves because they have ‘hairs’ inside the flower and the honeybee cannot navigate over these. With regard to deadly nightshade, if bees feed upon its nectar, the honey produced will also contain the alkaloids! Honey bees cannot access the pollen of this plant.

Final thoughts in closing

This weekend I joined with neighbour to congratulate a beekeeper who celebrated his 100th birthday. Although in a wheelchair, he was bright and fully engaged.

Honey has long been used as a cough suppressant. This works because honey produces a protective coating that soothes the throat. Honey has also been used to treat wounds as it is full of antibacterial, antioxidant, and anti-fungal properties.

Two other uses for honey may be for reducing herpes symptoms and for increasing immunity to allergies. In the last example, pollen contains allergens and when consuming locally produced honey, very small amounts of these allergens are introduced into your system, thus leading to increased immunity in the long term.

If you have concerns about your health consult a Doctor, this article is written to raise awareness but should not be construed as medical advice.

Thank you for reading to the end, if you have any comments I would be grateful to hear them. If you enjoyed this article, please consider leaving a Heart...❤

With thanks to The Daily Express and an article from Dr. Michael Mosley on Butter and Margarine.