Evolution of Wellness Part 4

Evolution of Wellness Part 4

We also applied this microscopic view on our nutrition.  We moved from eating foods for their whole value to simply focusing on the smaller parts of the foods.  Scientists corrupted the food industry by pledging allegiance to specific nutrients and condemning others.  Foods are what are good for us not nutrients.  Nutrients may play a significant role, but there is limited evidence that suggests removing nutrients from a whole food and ingesting them individually actually plays a role in good health.  Many foods carry their nutrients on the fiber or skeleton structure of the food and are digested differently when removed from the fiber.  Some other nutrients do not work when removed from other nutrients in the whole foods form.  Food is not to blame but the economic competition of people which has destroyed the diet.  

During the 1950’s common people did not eat outside of the home regularly nor did they workout at gyms.  Technology and competition has driven the market to change significantly.  On one hand there is an abundance of food which is unhealthy.  On the other hand, gyms are sprouting everywhere because people want to look better and maintain some level of physical fitness to combat the terrible food they eat and the increasingly more sedentary lifestyles they are creating.

Our bodies were developed over millennia to consume certain food types and get plenty of physical activity.  Our physical and mental health is heavily influenced by our homeostatic balance and hormone regulation which is directly related to our diet and levels of physical activity.  Throughout most of history, the only carbohydrate foods that were available were the wild roots, tubers, fruits, vegetables, and nuts that our ancestors gathered. These foods were loaded with fiber and nutrients.  They were slowly digested and absorbed to provide a slow-release, sustained form of energy. 

With the advent of agriculture about 10,000 years ago, humans began to cultivate grains such as wheat, rice, corn, oats, and barley. These foods quickly became a foundation in the human diet.   These foods were also consumed in their natural unprocessed forms. Whole, cracked, or coarsely ground grains were made into porridges or baked into hearty whole-grain breads.  They were very different from the carbohydrate sources the average person consumes today.  These foods were also not easy to come by and people had to work hard to farm or gather foods from their environment which exponentially burned calories by the second. 

While the introduction of cereal grains substantially changed the human diet, the past 200 years have had an even greater impact on the types of carbohydrates available in the food supply, starting with the invention of high speed grain mills in the early 1800s. Using this technology, producers remove the fibrous bran and nutritious germ from grains to make finely ground flour from just the starchy endosperm portion of the grain. People eagerly adopted this new flour, which had a very long storage life and made softer and lighter breads, cakes, and pastries. Unfortunately, this new white flour was also virtually devoid of the vitamins, minerals, and fiber found in whole grain products.  Its superfine texture makes it quickly digested and absorbed in the body, causing a rapid release of glucose and subsequently insulin into the blood. The past fifty years have brought the most dramatic changes of all to our food supply. Products made from quickly digested white flours, such as breads, bagels, crackers, pretzels, and baking mixes, have become a staple in most people's diets.

Cultural changes usually take place over millennia.  The long duration typically allows the culture of the people to adapt to better ensure their survival in a new climate or while using a new technology.  As mankind entered the age of abundance, we have achieved a plethora of options and luxuries much too quickly. We were not prepared to handle the responsibility.  Man has acquired the ability to instantly gratify with just about everything and has also been enabled to be complacent. 

We have had a movement in western civilization in the past 100 years in which abundance has quickly replaced the lifestyle of scarcity.  From the ancient Greeks to the industrial revolution, the average human had very limited resources and had to keep a preventative mind set in regards to health and life.  After WWII, the baby boomers emerged on the scene and the U.S. experienced an economic boom of unparalleled proportions.  Since that time, technology and quality of life have soared and the ability to have the American dream has been realized.  We have more gadgets and more luxuries than could ever have been imagined by our ancestors.  It is now all made very affordable and achievable to us as well.  Everyone can have a home, blackberry, super efficient computers, big screen TV’s, IPods and luxury automobiles.  The efficiency and longevity of a car from my childhood cannot even be compared compared to an economical car like the Honda Civic or the Hyundai Sonata of today.  These cars are loaded, have sun roofs, and they never break down.  

Everything has seemed to progress towards improved quality of life.  Everything except for our health.