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Devon and I will be participating in a 10k run in Santa Monica, California on Sunday, December 4th. Get in touch with us about meeting up and click here for more details.

November Nutrition Month: Week 8-Dogmatic Approach to Nutrition

 

One of the members of our Open Sky Fitness Podcast Facebook Group shared her experience watching a documentary on Netflix called “Food Choices.”

 

If you watch this documentary, you will see that it uses a one-sided, dogmatic approach to nutrition. This approach basically uses scare tactics to teach people that the only way to live a healthy life and help the environment is to follow a plant-based only diet.

It’s great to learn about different diets and to be well informed about what you’re eating. We want you all to know that there is not just one correct way to eat healthy. This prompted Devin and I to want to talk about why using a dogmatic nutrition approach is so problematic.

What this documentary could have focused on instead is why we should always approach nutrition with an open mind and look at different facts, arguments, and discussions.

Nutrition Topics for October and November

October:

Week 1– Which Popular Diet is Best for You?

Week 2–Kitchen Clean Out Hacks

Week 3– Nutrition Tips for Your Family

Week 4– Convenient Foods and Meal Prep Hacks

November:

Week 5– How to Hack Your Diet: Carb Cycling and Fasting

Week 6– Keys To A Healthy Gut

Week 7– Hot Topics: Gluten and Sugar

Week 8– The Problem with the Dogmatic Nutrition Approach

The Evolution of the Human Diet

 

“We’re constantly learning more  each day about nutrition and we need to be open for change.” – Devon Dionne

 

The human race has been developing for thousands of years and we are still evolving to find the best nutrition for ourselves.

In accordance to different cultures and environments, groups of people will always follow different diets that are the best for them. Why? Because we all have different genetic makeup so one food that may be good for one person, might not be so healthy for another person.

One great example is dairy. Only a small percentage of the population can digest dairy, but the rest do not have the genetics for that type of capabilty.

Inuits have a diet that contains mostly meat because they can’t grow vegetables in the cold. They need different sources of meat to help them live and stay healthy in that extreme environment.

Aboriginal cultures in Australia ate off of the land and that includes reptiles, bugs, birds, plants and other sources of protein from fish when they can find it.

Other cultures that follow different diets that we mention in the podcast include:

• Native Americans
• Tribes in Africa
• Okinawans
• Finnish
• Japanese
• Chinese
• Other cultures that purposefully drink raw milk

Because of their environment and genetics, the diets of these cultures worked great for them compared to other diets.

Even in the mainland part of the USA, we never used to eat as many grains and cereals as we do now. More grains and cereals were introduced into our diets because of the agricultural revolution.

 

Myths About Omnivore Diets

Myths About Proteins

As humans, we are naturally omnivores and need both meat and plants in order to absorb the nutrition that our bodies need.

According to the documentary, “Food Choice,” we don’t actually need as much protein like we thought we did. Therefore, there’s no nutritious reason to eat meat when we can just eat plants.

But our bodies do need that protein and there are plenty of healthy options to eat grass fed meat compared to grain fed meat.

Our brains also need that protein from meat to stay strong and healthy. During the Paleothic era, our brains actually grew 20% once we began to consume meat from nature. 

Our bodies are built to consume meat for protein because it is bioavailable and therefore easier to absorb the nutrients.

Vegetarians can consume their protein from eggs and dairy, but it’s much harder for vegans to consume the right amount of protein that their body needs just from grains and beans.

 

“It’s possible to be healthy as a vegan or vegetarian, but it’s more difficult and you have to be thoughtful all the time.” – Devon Dionne

Myths About Cholesterol

 

“It has been highly debunked that meat has a direct connection to high cholesterol.” – Rob Dionne

 

Not only it is false that meat has a connection to high cholesterol and it harm both you and the environment if you eat a lot of it, but it is also not true that a high fat diet causes cholesterol and that in turn causes heart disease.

But what can make your cholesterol go up? A high intake of carbohydrates. 

We also tend to forget that there are two types of cholesterol: HDL and LDL.

Meat has LDL cholestoral and this is actually a good thing because LDL feeds your brain.

What is bad about LDL is that it can become oxidized from the consumption of too many carbohydrates which can create plaque in your arteries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGOpjPNtjes

 

Research and Choose a Diet That is Right for You

Dogmatic approaches to nutrition like the one from “Food Choice” create a Doomsday mindset for us. They create fear in our minds that we have to follow their way or we’ll get sick and die.

The problem with dogmatic approaches to nutrition is that they don’t bring up arguments from different opinions. Why would they? They purposefully don’t want to create a sense of doubt with the information that they are proving so they can create a following and make money.

We’re not saying that you shouldn’t follow a vegan or vegetarian diet, but that you should make healthy decisions about food based on what your body needs. 

If you have strong beliefs about not eating any kind of animal, that’s a wonderful thing and we’re happy for you. We might not necessarily agree with that choice because we believe that meat is an important part of a nutritious diet, but if you believe that a vegetarian or vegan diet is right for you, that’s great! If you follow a diet because of religious or other beliefs, that’s beautiful as well.

Discovering the Perfect Diet for You

Devon and I really suggest that you look at both sides of the argument and look into different diets. Listen to your body and pay attention to your gut.

A diet isn’t right for you if you’re experiencing any gut or gas problems, if you’re sick a lot, or your energy is low.

If your weight is not where you want it to be and you have trouble either gaining weight or losing weight, you may want to look into changing your diet as well.

Look at your blood markers including sugar and protein levels. What is your body lacking and how can you fix it?

Pay attention to your emotions as well. Is your thinking cloudy or are you having negative thoughts? Are you depressed? These are also all signs that your diet is not working of you and something has to be changed.

 

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Check Out The Brand New Open Sky Fitness Podcast Facebook Page

That’s right! We’ve started an Open Sky Fitness Podcast group, where you and everyone will have the opportunity to talk about your health and fitness goals in a safe environment. We’ll be posting workouts and starting discussions about how to be strategic around finding a healthier you. Check it out!

Have a Question or Review for Rob or Devon?

We love answering questions and getting feedback from you, our listener! If you have any questions to ask us, want to share a review of the show, or tell us any suggestions for guests/topics that you think would be great to have on the show, just email Rob at rob@openskyfitness.com or Devon at devon@openskyfitness.com or you can also leave us a review at www.openskyfitness.com/review and even text OSFreview to 33444 to get the link.

What You’ll Hear on This Episode

00:00 Open Sky Fitness Introduction

1:15  Opening comments with Rob and Devon

2:00  OSF Facebook Group shout outs

5:00  Nutrition Months October and November Recap

8:00 The Problem with the  Dogmatic Nutrition Approach

16:00 The evolution of the human diet

19:00  What’s the biggest difference between the amount of protein or aminos for a vegan and someone who does eat meat?

23:00 Why it’s important to be open to research and change around nutrition

28:40 The false idea that meat is high in cholesterol

32:50  Dogmatic nutrition beliefs are one-sided

35:30 Fact or Fiction: Does constantly eating meat shorten your life?

38:00  What are the other healthy diets for different cultures?

44:00  Why do dogmatic approaches to nutrition exist?

49:00  The best thing is to choose a diet that is right for you

50:30  Closing comments with Rob and Devon

52:30  Open Sky Fitness Closing

RESOURCES MENTIONED DURING THE SHOW:

• The Open Sky Fitness Podcast Group on Facebook
• Holiday Fun Run in Santa Monica, California
• Dr. Loren Cordain: The Orign of the Paleo Diet- Ep. 97
• Dr. Jonny Bowden: Breaking Down Choesterol & Nutrition Myths-EP 112
• Smart Fat: Eat More Fat. Lose More Weight. Get Healthy Now by Dr. Jonny Bowden
• Sally Fallon Morell: Saturate Fat is Ideal, Raw Milk Heals-EP 69
• Weston A. Price Foundation
• Interview with Nina Teicholz, Author of The Big Fat Surprise– EP 13
• The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz

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Thanks for listening/reading Episode 124- The Problem with the Dogmatic Nutrition Approach! We hope you have gained more knowledge on how to be a healthier you!