This is a common question that I get, and if you haven’t heard of the 80/20 rule, it’s basically where you eat good 80 percent of the time and whatever you want 20% of the time. Several years ago, when we learned about eating a more traditional diet, that was based upon the work of Dr. Weston Price, I thought we would eat good most of the time and eat whatever we wanted the rest of the time (although we were avoiding some foods for allergy reasons). Over time we observed that the more traditional food that we ate (especially if it was grown on our farm) the better we felt.
If someone from the 1800s walked into a modern-day grocery store, they wouldn’t recognize most of the food in there. In a quest to feed the world, modern plant and animal breeders worked hard to produce bigger and larger animals, plants, fruits, and vegetables in the 1800s using new techniques to grow them. An unexpected consequence of this breeding, is that these newer foods are lower or lacking in many nutrients, harder to digest, and can be very addictive when processed using modern techniques. When our bodies don’t get the nutrients they need, are bombarded with toxins, and experience a harder time digesting these new foods, we may see a rise in health issues.
Not only did we breed for bigger and better, we also started using chemicals to produce and process our food. Recent foods are grown using a number of chemicals, and some of these remain in the food. They can be toxic to our bodies when we ingest them, or when we are exposed to them in our environment. They can also cause a lot of issues with the health of the soil and result in less nutrients in the food (certified organic is better but still has some problems). After harvest, much of our food also has chemicals added to it to make it last on a supermarket shelf for a long time, look/taste better, or make it “safer” to eat (so it doesn’t contain so many pathogens).
We know that confinement meat has a higher risk of bacteria, and one of the solutions to this problem has been spraying or dunking meat into a disinfectant. I have heard some producers say that their pastured meats tested cleaner than the disinfected meats from the store. Wow! Meats, grains, fruits, and vegetables are even getting sprayed with products to help them store, look, and taste better (even organic ones). There are around 10,000 additives being added to food today. For example, MSG occurs naturally in some food and makes it taste great. For this reason, MSG was recreated in a lab to basically make less quality food taste better many years ago.
MSG tricks our body into believing that what we are eating tastes good (our bodies are amazing and crave nutrients; flavor is a good indicator of this). This is one of the ways the food industry today can use inferior ingredients to produce food that most people would not desire or find flavorful without them. The lack of nutrients in our food and the addition of some of these additives have been found to make people eat more and not feel satisfied. Once I eat a little (think 20 percent) I’m going to want more and more. While I don’t agree with everything she believes, Vani Hari states,
The way that these chemicals work in your body to keep you addicted to the flavor of processed foods, I’m not sure 80/20 works. The 20% that you are eating, the Domino’s, the Doritos, and the other stuff out there that’s full of these chemicals, will continue to disrupt your taste buds. It will disrupt your gut too, your gut bacteria. You’re going to be constantly exposing yourself to glyphosate. That’s in the majority of processed foods.
Every once in a while, I’m reminded why I don’t eat modern foods. A few weeks ago, I tried a natural friend’s homemade beef jerky. It tasted great, and after I had taken a few bites, she shared that she used Worcestershire Sauce. Whether it was organic or not didn’t matter (I have heard that a lot of organic products like this contain MSG). I didn’t worry about it, because I thought it would be a great test to see how my body handled it (it’s been several years since I have done this). The first day was fine, so I assumed I wouldn’t have any trouble. The next day I experienced the same burning joint and back pain that I used to get several years ago before switching my diet. This has happened so many times to me in the past that I mostly just prepare my own food all the time so I don’t have to suffer.
We have been converting our diet from a highly processed diet to a more natural one for many years. For us, this is not a restrictive diet. We eat whatever we want and make observations about what works best; it’s different for some family members. We still enjoy homemade chips, homemade candy, pizza, and all the things we used to eat. The only difference is that we use the best ingredients we can and use methods that make our food more digestible, nutrient dense, and as toxin free as possible.
It has been so fun to see health issues disappear in our family, but we also know that we will never experience perfect health this side of heaven, and that food is not our Savior. I really don’t miss modern food, but I do feel really bad when someone offers us food that they have lovingly made. I don’t like disappointing people. I have been able to give people the ingredients to make food for us or just allow them to help us in other ways, and it all works out. I don’t share this to convince anyone to do what we are doing. I simply share because I get asked a lot of questions about this, and if I can help someone else to not suffer as much then praise the Lord. Anything good is of Him!
Do you notice any difference in how you feel when you eat certain foods? We love to hear from you!