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I recently came across this statement on the U.S. Department of Agriculture website: “About 90% of Americans do not get enough dairy.”1 A review of dairy consumption by country shows that the United States ranks 17th in the world with an average intake of 560 pounds per person per year.2 In comparison, the average Japanese person consumes about 158 pounds annually, ranking Japan 109th on this list. Meanwhile, Japan ranks first in the world for life expectancy. The United States is 54th.3 If a country that consumes 28% as much dairy as we do outlives us by an average of eight years, is it accurate to say, “90% of Americans don’t get enough dairy”? Who defines “enough”?
It's questions like these that inspired me to create a new kind of course in nutrition – one that teaches people how to think critically, listen to their bodies, and develop a healthy relationship with food. In How to Eat, I explain how to achieve your optimal weight without counting calories or eating in a totally unnatural way. I lead students to a way of eating that promotes abundant energy and a clear mind without having to wade through all the contradictory information out there. Through a combination of modern science, psychology, and a strong foundation in traditional Eastern systems of medicine, I’ll teach you that it’s not just what you eat, but how you eat that matters.
For today I want to offer you just one simple piece of nutrition advice: stay conscious while eating.
We all tend to think about things other than the act we’re currently engaged in, and this is an especially bad habit while eating. We daydream, we work, we read, we watch TV, we talk, we drive, we play on our phone. This causes us to miss out on many of the benefits of eating, and it also makes us more likely to eat in ways that aren’t healthy.
There are three good things that happen when we stay conscious (i.e., mindful):
- The eating process tends to work better. We're relaxed, we consume at a healthier pace, the body assimilates it better, and I believe we probably derive more nutritional value from the food.
- We notice and can respond to the subtle (or not-so-subtle) messages our body is giving us, such as, “I’m not hungry anymore” or “This food is not compatible with me” or “Slow down.” You can learn virtually everything you need to know about how to best feed yourself – both the specific foods and the ideal time and manner to eat them – just by giving all of your attention to the act of eating.
- We have an amazing opportunity. Truly. I believe that most people may never experience just how profound the act of eating is. This profundity is only available when we give it our full attention. Then we start to get an inkling of it . . .
. . . the complexity of colors, textures, flavors, and nutrients in the food
. . . the incredible sophistication and intelligence of the human body; its ability to extract what it needs from the food and turn it into energy, blood, muscle, bone, and the capacity to remain conscious and sharp
. . . the whole ecology we’re part of – the sun and the almost magical ability of plant cells to turn its light into biological energy; the constructive roles of soil and water; the human labor and the care that was taken to cultivate this food; and the lineage of thousands of generations of plants and animals that were intentionally chosen for the purpose of nourishing us.
When we have an experience of just how special this is, eating is no longer just about making the hungry feeling go away or getting a good taste in your mouth. It can be calming and centering. It can be a beautiful spiritual practice. It unites us with our environment.
If you’re ready for a new way of relating to food and how you feed yourself, check out my course, How to Eat. It’s on sale for 60% off right now.
Be well,
Peter
1. https://www.myplate.gov/eat-healthy/dairy
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_milk_consumption_per_capita
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy
[post_title] => How to Eat: Discover a New Way of Eating
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When Samuel Thomson (1769-1843) was four years old, he happened upon an herb called lobelia growing near his New Hampshire home. Curious about the seed pods, he chewed some and promptly threw up. “Afterwards,” he later wrote, “I used to induce other boys to chew it, by way of sport, to see them vomit.” By “afterwards,” he meant for the next twenty years.
In his early twenties, he was out mowing a field with a group of men when he was happy to spot some lobelia. He tricked one of his coworkers into eating it, and the man immediately turned pale and began sweating and trembling. As he puked his guts out, the man told Thomson that he believed he was about to die. But after taking a nap, he ate lunch, did a full afternoon of labor, and, “told me that he never had anything do him so much good in his life; his appetite was remarkably good, and he felt better than he had felt for a long time.”1
Thomson went on to become the founder of a system of natural medicine based largely on using lobelia to purge the body of toxins. It had great appeal to the gritty, anti-elitist, and sometimes puritanical sensibilities of many early Americans.
While it may sound trendy and modern to hear that a certain celebrity is “doing a cleanse” it’s actually an old and enduring tradition. About 70 years after Thomson’s death, Arnold Ehret published the acclaimed Rational Fasting, with a similarly empowering do-it-yourself and clean-yourself-out message. 1939 brought Jethro Kloss’s Back to Eden – often regarded as a kind of bible of natural medicine – also focusing chiefly on the idea that disease comes from too much garbage in the body. Such philosophies have even older roots in Europe and Asia.
It’s an attractive idea to consider: maybe you can simply undo all your crappy eating habits. Maybe you don’t need supplements or surgery – you just need to get the evil out of you. Maybe you’re not lacking anything – you feel ill because of something bad that you’re carrying around or keep exposing yourself to. And maybe there’s some crossover with your religious upbringing – you need to repent for your sins and perhaps this is the way to do it. So, does it work?
As with many D-I-Y health trends, there’s a lot of hope that it’s going to fix everyone. But sometimes a cleanse is the right thing and sometimes it’s not; it can be difficult to discern. I’ve had patients report that all their symptoms – pain, insomnia, digestive upset, skin problems, fatigue, ADD, anxiety, depression, and more – disappeared when they did a cleanse. Most of the time, though, people say they aren’t sure if anything useful happened. And occasionally, they tell me they felt bad – achy, tired, foggy, depressed, etc. – which could be part of a healing process, or might just mean the cleanse wasn’t ideal for them.
From the perspective of Five Element philosophy, this would be the most appropriate time of year for a cleanse. We’re emerging from winter – the season of storage, rest, and inertia – and entering the “resurrection” of spring. (There’s a reason Easter was combined with pagan symbolism of spring – the “rebirth” we witness after the “death” of winter – flowers, eggs, chicks, bunnies, etc.) It’s a phase of new plans and rapid growth, and there’s a certain shedding that happens now. If you have cats and dogs, you’re well aware of what’s coming. We humans shed our bulky layers of clothing and extra “insulation.” Symbolically, it’s a good time to release an outdated image of yourself – to shed the limitations of your former life even – so that you can create yourself anew. Given these different expressions of shedding, a spring cleanse might take the form of a physical cleaning out, a psychological release, or a spiritual process (or all three).
We usually think of a cleanse as a deliberate expulsion of the unhealthy – an act of purging, scrubbing, or active detoxification – and it can be this, if necessary and appropriate. But more importantly, I believe it should entail a simplification and reduction of what you’re putting into the body (and mind). The body knows how to get rid of waste, but it may have a hard time doing so if it’s continually struggling to keep up with what you’re adding to it. So, as a general principle, aim to consume less and to reduce your consumption to things that will be gentle and easy to assimilate.
Unless you’re doing a more active detoxification or water fast, it’s enough to just supply your body with its nutritional needs in a simple, digestible format while cutting out anything that might be an irritant or harder to digest. The goal is to cause the body to expend a minimum of energy on digesting the food so that its resources can be dedicated to cleaning house.
During a cleanse, it’s also important to reduce your activity level. Again, the idea is to maximize the resources that are available for the cleansing process. The more intensive the cleanse, the greater the need to be really devoted to it. Besides doing less physically, it’s worthwhile to conserve mental energy. Likewise, while limiting physical consumption, it’s also advisable to limit mental consumption – take a break from news and other media so there’s less to digest on all levels.
Always stay well hydrated during a cleanse. Movement in the body occurs via liquid pathways, and the metabolism and excretion of toxins works better with sufficient water in you. Figure out how many pounds you weigh and divide that number in half. Then aim to drink that many ounces of water evenly over the course of each day. Ideally this water should be room temperature. You can drink more if you wish, but don’t have so much at once that you feel bloated or “sloshy” inside.
Next week I’ll discuss some specific kinds of cleanses and common simple diets for cleansing. Meanwhile, if you’re up for a cleanse, I recommend taking some time to ponder and write about what exactly you intend to release (physical and/or mental) and what will be liberated, revitalized, or birthed through the process. Set a clear intention. If you resonate with moon symbolism, you might consider beginning your cleanse with the new moon (the next one is April 5th).
Be well,
Peter
[1] Thomson, S. (1835). A narrative of the life and medical discoveries of Samuel Thomson: containing an account of his system of practice, and the manner of curing disease with vegetable medicine, upon a plan entirely new. Columbus, OH: Jarvis Pike.
[post_title] => How to Consciously Cleanse
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In the past month's series on nutrition, I explained how the manner in which we eat can affect us as much as our food choices can. We looked at the vital roles that cooking and chewing play in digestion, and the importance of eating slowly and not too much. And I described the digestive tract from the mouth to the stomach. I think it’s important that everyone understands at least the basics of how their organs work, so let's look at the rest of the digestive tract this time.
Although we may have teeth and reality TV, we’re more like worms than we like to think. We’re all just a bunch of cylinders, with a tube of the outside world running through us. Worms put dirt in theirs, we put marshmallows in ours.
After the mouth, esophagus, and stomach, food enters the small intestine, which is about 23 feet long. It's where most nutrient absorption takes place, and all the value of good nutrition hinges on good absorption. At the beginning of the small intestine, a bunch of gastric juice is injected from the pancreas and gallbladder, which neutralizes the acidic food coming from the stomach, and makes the nutrients more absorbable. The pancreas produces a blend of digestive enzymes that break down the different components of food - fat, carbohydrates, and protein. The gallbladder squirts out bile (which is produced in the liver) to make fats absorbable.
The lining of the small intestine is composed of many folds, covered with tiny hair-like protrusions called villi (which are further covered with tinier hairs called microvilli). These greatly increase the surface area of the small intestine to maximize nutrient absorption. Some inflammatory conditions, such as celiac disease (gluten intolerance) and bacterial overgrowth of the small intestine (SIBO) can damage this membrane, leading to malnutrition.
The small intestine is followed by the much shorter but wider large intestine (most of which is called the colon). Food spends a very long time in the large intestine, where water and some remaining nutrients are absorbed, and stool is compacted and waits to be liberated. Finally, the stuff we can’t digest, along with waste products from throughout the body, leaves the rectum as stool. About 60 percent of its dry weight is bacteria.
Where does it come from? Riding along with us in our intestines are about 100 trillion microorganism passengers. There are about 500 different kinds, most of which are bacteria. They’re known as our “gut flora,” and they do all sorts of useful things for us, such as helping us digest things, protecting us from harmful microbes, synthesizing some vitamins, stimulating growth of intestinal cells, and assisting the immune system. We acquire these microscopic pals by eating food that’s contaminated with them or deliberately cultured with them (like yogurt and sauerkraut), and by taking them in supplements known as probiotics.
So, as we’ve seen, our environment (what we select from it based on taste) literally passes through us. We make the outside world into ourselves. It’s a practice worth taking seriously. Besides the healthy eating practices I discussed previously, some of the main factors in good absorption are having enough gastric juice, having healthy gastric membranes, having a strong and healthy population of gut flora, and having a relaxed nervous system.
Cultivating a relaxed nervous system has many additional benefits, so spend time in nature, eat in a calm environment, get massages, meditate, do whatever works for you to become peaceful. As for gastric juice, insufficient enzyme secretion is pretty common. Consider a good digestive enzyme complex, taken at the beginning of a meal. I’ve had at least a hundred patients who have overcome longstanding digestive problems just by supplementing for a while with digestive enzymes. Some people who have trouble digesting fat do well to take a product that also contains ox bile. Finally, promote healthy gut flora by eating live, fermented/cultured foods on a regular basis, and occasionally taking a course of probiotics (especially after using antibiotics).
If you’re interested in learning more about the big picture of eating and nutrition, check out the four week course I developed for The Dragontree, called How to Eat.
Be well,
Dr. Peter Borten
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I recently came across this statement on the U.S. Department of Agriculture website: “About 90% of Americans do not get enough dairy.”1 A review of dairy consumption by country shows that the United States ranks 17th in the world with an average intake of 560 pounds per person per year.2 In comparison, the average Japanese person consumes about 158 pounds annually, ranking Japan 109th on this list. Meanwhile, Japan ranks first in the world for life expectancy. The United States is 54th.3 If a country that consumes 28% as much dairy as we do outlives us by an average of eight years, is it accurate to say, “90% of Americans don’t get enough dairy”? Who defines “enough”?
It's questions like these that inspired me to create a new kind of course in nutrition – one that teaches people how to think critically, listen to their bodies, and develop a healthy relationship with food. In How to Eat, I explain how to achieve your optimal weight without counting calories or eating in a totally unnatural way. I lead students to a way of eating that promotes abundant energy and a clear mind without having to wade through all the contradictory information out there. Through a combination of modern science, psychology, and a strong foundation in traditional Eastern systems of medicine, I’ll teach you that it’s not just what you eat, but how you eat that matters.
For today I want to offer you just one simple piece of nutrition advice: stay conscious while eating.
We all tend to think about things other than the act we’re currently engaged in, and this is an especially bad habit while eating. We daydream, we work, we read, we watch TV, we talk, we drive, we play on our phone. This causes us to miss out on many of the benefits of eating, and it also makes us more likely to eat in ways that aren’t healthy.
There are three good things that happen when we stay conscious (i.e., mindful):
- The eating process tends to work better. We're relaxed, we consume at a healthier pace, the body assimilates it better, and I believe we probably derive more nutritional value from the food.
- We notice and can respond to the subtle (or not-so-subtle) messages our body is giving us, such as, “I’m not hungry anymore” or “This food is not compatible with me” or “Slow down.” You can learn virtually everything you need to know about how to best feed yourself – both the specific foods and the ideal time and manner to eat them – just by giving all of your attention to the act of eating.
- We have an amazing opportunity. Truly. I believe that most people may never experience just how profound the act of eating is. This profundity is only available when we give it our full attention. Then we start to get an inkling of it . . .
. . . the complexity of colors, textures, flavors, and nutrients in the food
. . . the incredible sophistication and intelligence of the human body; its ability to extract what it needs from the food and turn it into energy, blood, muscle, bone, and the capacity to remain conscious and sharp
. . . the whole ecology we’re part of – the sun and the almost magical ability of plant cells to turn its light into biological energy; the constructive roles of soil and water; the human labor and the care that was taken to cultivate this food; and the lineage of thousands of generations of plants and animals that were intentionally chosen for the purpose of nourishing us.
When we have an experience of just how special this is, eating is no longer just about making the hungry feeling go away or getting a good taste in your mouth. It can be calming and centering. It can be a beautiful spiritual practice. It unites us with our environment.
If you’re ready for a new way of relating to food and how you feed yourself, check out my course, How to Eat. It’s on sale for 60% off right now.
Be well,
Peter
1. https://www.myplate.gov/eat-healthy/dairy
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_milk_consumption_per_capita
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy
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