The Ugly Duckling Revisited

This type of story seems to always be about an ugly duckling turning into a beautiful swan. What about the beautiful duckling that turns into an ugly swan? It occurs much more often and could be the better story of the two, the more truthful tale, the more realistic narrative. O Nutrition! I wish I could fast forever to avoid all your pitfalls.

Nutrition, in one form or another, is always ugly to someone out there in the real world. It is rarely beautiful, especially when it includes bloody parts, both from the animal and the plant worlds. Plants bleed too. If you prick us, do we not bleed? They do! They even scream! Their pain and suffering have been recorded recently. Not all of them yelp; only those that do not want to be eaten. And who wants to be eaten? Well, there is always something or someone that needs to be eaten, but such tales are beyond the scope of this story, but more than a few can be read here.

So, what is the story? Since we have to eat something, we might as well eat matter that is both healthy and humanely-derived. Unfortunately, most matter, so it appears, is not beneficial, and most matter also proceeds from inhumane practices. So, what can one eat to remain both healthy and humane? This may be a very tall order. While the first part, health, can be cultivated with scientific discovery and knowledge, the second slice, humaneness, is much harder to accomplish and may be impossible to attain. The way that we treat each other is surely a smoking gun.

To me nature is… spiders and bugs, and big fish eating little fish, and plants eating plants, and animals eating… It’s like an enormous restaurant, that’s the way I see it. – Woody Allen

What about veganism? Proponents of this nutritional rollercoaster (I was vegan for three years and a vegetarian for many more) appear to be supra-humane but are neglecting their health, since in the long run, their bodies will dictate what they should eat, as important nutrients are inherently missing from their diet, and many animals are indirectly (and directly) killed to keep foods like tofu traversing minds to be squared away into human guts.

The mind may think otherwise, but the good body tends to adopt the benefits, the good outcomes, and any recommendations and or amendments that become manifest. What about mind over matter? We have to become magicians for that, and how many avocados can one juggle before dropping at least one?

These small things – nutrition, place, climate, recreation, the whole casuistry of selfishness – are inconceivably more important than everything one has taken to be important so far. – Nietzsche.

We can, however, become real magicians, but this magic has to be cultivated individually for some time and perfected. Most individuals are not born perfect. Not long ago, I would have written that no such individuals can even exist, but then I met Anthi Kanéna, and she is perfect, at least to me.

We follow the ketogenic (keto) diet, where organic beef is the most important food, followed by most vegetables, most nuts, and a few fruits like avocado. After all, an avocado a day may keep the physician (most physicians are not doctors) away, but certainly not an apple given its high fructose content.

Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food. – Hippocrates

Grain Brain by Dr. David Perlmutter is one of the greatest books on the benefits of the keto diet and an eye-opener (both eyes and all other senses) about the pitfalls of the field of medicine.