Intelligent Eating: What You Didn't Know About Your Food

"Let food become your medicine, otherwise medicine will become your food," said Hippocrates onсe. Or at least people generously give him credit for this idea. No matter who said this and when, there is nothing but truth in these words. We take special pride in how we evolved over centuries and how diverse our food has become. We currently have dozens of cuisines worldwide, not counting regional and ethnic ones. Moreover, we have an opportunity (well, will have again soon 😉) to freely travel around and explore them all exposing ourselves to eating styles and eating habits of other cultures in which people have been refining their skills of growing and processing food for decades. Another truth coming from this is - we have significantly changed food over time, and now it's paying us back. Learning about what food originally looked like will give you a better understanding how far we’ve gone and which food it is really better to avoid.

           Major modifications that the food has undergone over the years were related to people’s goal to grow or produce larger amounts of it and feed more people at a lower cost. They include cultivation, which led to the increase of size and amount (e.g. for grains, fruit and vegetable) and processing, which involves mixing different types of food and adding complicated words to the ingredients labels so that we didn’t know what exactly is inside.      

 Cultivation

Cultivation is raising plants and grains, as well as applying different methods to make them grow better, faster, and be more productive. Our food industry is drowning in different varieties of grains, but new research shows that they are less healthy than we all used to think. As a counterargument to “but our grandparents and their parents lived their lives eating grains and bread”, just take a look at the evolution of a wheat grain over the decades. We’ve perfected it and made it grow from a pumpkin into a lovely carriage with, of course, much more than “bibidi babidi boo”. The picture below shows the evolution of a domesticated wheat grain from ancestral wheat species (bottom) to modern elite varieties (top).

It’s worth noting that with each time of getting prettier, a wheat grain started containing more and more gluten, which has long been linked to digestion problems as well as disrupting gut permeability, affecting microbiota and, thus, immune function, let alone emotional health, especially in people sensitive to it. If you sighed with relief right now convinced you don’t have this kind of sensitivity – well, 99% of people who have it are completely unaware about it, mostly because they ignore the symptoms they have or associate them with overeating and other conditions. Believe it or not, people who’ve eliminated gluten from their diet (including myself) report fewer headaches and foggy brain states, higher energy levels, and decrease of fatigue, especially in the afternoon.

Grain processing is of no less importance. Yes, wheat was domesticated long 12,000 years ago. However, back then and for quite a long period of time, people used nothing but a pair of stones to grind it, the result of which was very rough and rich in fiber flour a huge part of which, when consumed, would go through human body and meet the world again where it originated from. These days wheat kernels go through a thorough process of cleaning, separation, tempering, then grinding at five-roller mills, and sifting to ensure that your breakfast sandwich is pretty, white, flavorful and soft.

Let's take a quick look at how some fruit, berried, and vegetables evolved over the years. We won't touch upon farming sustainability, pesticides, and chemicals used to preserve them all fresh for a longer time, because then we're going to end up with a book 😊

 Of course, due to domestication, sugar content in modern fruit is many times as much as the Mother Nature intended them to have. Yes, yes, we can argue about refined sugar, fructose and glucose, but the truth is – fruit have a considerable effect on blood sugar levels, especially when we blend them or make juice out of them.

           Food Processing

The abundance of food led to the increase of processing methods. If more food is produced, more food needs to be stored, preferably longer considering the time it takes for a product to go all the way from the manufacturer to the supermarket where it will be stored, displayed, and only then purchased by a consumer who will then store it in the fridge or the cupboard. Most of yogurt on the dairy shelves is a mixture of milk powder, sugar, starch, traces of fruit, and stuff that makes you believe it smells like strawberry/mango/pineapple, whatever. I know there are 'organic' and more expensive varieties in pretty glass jars with lovely labels stuck on them, and they are surely a better option, but no matter how hard you try, dairy mixed with fresh fruits and sugar (and it will need to have sugar for you to like it) will go sour and separate into layers in less than 24 hours even if it's kept in the fanciest fridge.

Ideally, a food item should not have more than five components (if we go for packed food), let alone unpronounceable ingredients, except for, probably, acidity regulators like citric acid, and some approved stabilizers (although, this is still quite disputable). If you start paying attention to food labels, you’ll realize how much of what is not food you’re consuming with your favorite products.

Bottom Line

Getting a better understanding of food that you eat is the first step towards your improved health. Under current circumstances, taking care of what you eat is crucial. Use this time to introduce changes into your diet, reduce food that harms your immune system, and get into a good habit of reading labels when doing your grocery shopping. Choose fresh whole food and stay away from processed meat, food that stores long although it’s not supposed to (like some types of bread, juices, meat, and dairy), be mindful when mashing and blending fruit and vegetables because it affects the way they are digested, as well as sugar and carbs content in your final meal. Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay tuned for more information!

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