There’s been a strange fragmentation of nutrition advice generally which, more than anything, would seem to be dietary variations on the medical theme of specialists and specialties. Indeed, there’s no end to the diets recommended for different parts of your body. The American Heart Association recommends a diet (with accompanying cookbook!) for heart health. The American Diabetes Association has its own dietary recommendations and resources for people needing or wanting to maintain a stable blood sugar. A quick walk through the local bookstore or library reveals a wide selection of books that explain how to eat for a specific condition or part of the body (brain, thyroid, etc.). While many of these books and organizations offer a lot of helpful advice, a fragmented approach is not helpful in most cases. In practice, it can yield confusion and be counter-productive, as in the case of one client who came to me for help several years ago. With an AHA cookbook in one hand and an ADA cookbook in the other, this sincere but overwhelmed woman exclaimed, “How can I take care of my husband’s heart and my insulin levels at the same time? I need to keep one set of guidelines in mind for him and another for me. Is there some way to simplify this?”
Yes, there is! In fact, that is the goal of this blog: to simplify the often abundant and sometimes conflicting nutrition recommendations that we get from well-meaning practitioners, authorities, friends and relatives.
Here’s my premise: healthy eating is not complicated. Food that promotes health will do so throughout the body; if a food nourishes one part of your body, it will most likely benefit the rest of you too. So . . . no worries that you’re overlooking your thyroid while focusing on healthy eating for your brain, or that in taking care of your blood sugar levels, you’re ignoring your heart. Nutritious eating is a win-win scenario; focus on that, and your whole body will thank you.