Something that I find interesting as I expand my network of health and wellness practitioners, is that they fall very sharply divided into one of two categories: dogmatic and open. I have always tried to fall into the latter category and I like to work with practitioners who are open to opposing viewpoints as well. Health and nutrition in particular can become religion for many people. I need not look any further than my eating disorder to realize how attached one can become to the “my way is the right way” mentality. The really wonderful thing is that we are all so different; there is so much variety among us, that it simply can’t be the case that we would all thrive eating exactly the same thing. And I guess that the same argument can be made for nearly anything in life.
When I was 7 years old, my father asked me what religion I wanted to be. I ultimately chose a religion that was different from what he practiced. This event sticks out very distinctly in my mind because it was an introduction to the contrast I am referring to. We can all be completely different in how we eat, what we eat, our exercise level, how we live, whatever. The important thing will always be that it works for us. Period.
That is why I’m not a big fan of diets and “systems.” They very rarely take the individual into account. Anytime, I hear that someone is practicing a particular diet and it’s really working for them, I think, “Great! That person has found the answer to what they need to be healthy.” The problem is that many times that same well-meaning person wants to get everyone else on board to do what he or she is doing. I think the single most important thing that I took from my education at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, was that just because I have chosen to live my life a certain way does not mean that I should try to force that way onto my clients or anyone else, for that matter. And it’s a good thing too because my concept of what is healthy is constantly changing. My clients would be a pretty confused bunch, if I tried to get them to follow every new food or diet that I experimented with.
For instance, over the summer, I ate a lot of raw foods and very little meat. And it really agreed with me. It was summer; the days were hot and all my body wanted was simply prepared, cooling foods. Now? No way. Now, my body wants cooked foods and a lot more animal protein. So from my experience it even seems that foods change for the person depending on season, time of day, age, etc. That’s why developing your body’s intuition is so important. It allows you to no longer be at the mercy of diet books and gurus claiming that they hold the key to what will make you healthy. It’s all inside, and that is what I help my clients to discover.
Recently, I went to sit in for a day with the Ayurvedic doctor and she said two things about nutrition that I found quite troubling. First, many of the recipes that she recommended contained barley, which begged the question, “what do your gluten intolerant patients do?” She didn’t address the epidemic of gluten sensitivity at all during our meeting. She also repeatedly purported the health benefits of dairy. Why? Well think about it. Ayurveda has its roots in India. And dairy foods like yogurt and ghee play a big part in Indian diet and culture. However, when you consider that we are the only animal that consumes another animal’s milk, that 75% of us lose the ability to digest lactose after the age of five[1], and many of us have symptoms such as skin rashes, excess mucous, and migraines (I am one of those people) as a result of dairy consumption, one would have to concede that milk may not be the best food for everyone to consume. That being said, if you like dairy and it doesn’t bother you, go for it!
I wish I had had the opportunity to address my concerns with her, unfortunately we were with her patients for the rest of the time, and I didn’t think it appropriate to question her in front of them. I should relate that she did seem to be doing a lot of good with the patients I observed. One of them, an MS sufferer, was both medication and pain free and yet another, a young boy with autism, was developing far beyond his parent’s expectations as a result of his visits with this Ayurvedic doctor.
Most dietary theories have at least some validity. And many of them will work for someone, but none will work for everyone, and many of them require some modification to fit into a particular person’s life. I think the important thing to realize is that there is no one diet, no one-way of doing things, and no “magic bullet” that will work for everyone.
[1] Nestle, Marion. What to Eat. North Point Press. New York, NY. 2006. Print.
