I’ve been running into people here in NZ and having conversations with many about food (it’s sort of what I do, even if I try to avoid it... it sneaks into the conversation). It’s become apparent to me that on the whole many relate to their food as calories first, macro nutrients second and then maybe micro nutrients. This explains the "fat free craze" as well as the "low carb" craze.
| I assure you that food is much more than the sum of calories (or energy it gives you) it is also much more than the combination of fat, carbohydrates and proteins |
I’ve always been passionate about food and health. When I started Vibrant farms back in 2009 I approached it with the idea that one day we could devise a way to actually PROVE the health benefit of raising animals in a certain way. I realize this is not a new concept. It’s being done in laboratories everywhere in fact. We have the ability to know how much vitamin C is in our food, and what types of amino acids etc. I wanted to be able to give each customer who purchased grass fed organic beef the ability to see first hand that the chunk of meat they were holding in their hand was not just a combination of “industry standards” that some lab tested for 10 years ago. I wanted to be able to say, look, see here... this is your steak. It has this many omega 3’s and this many omega 6’s. I wanted to show the increase in vitamins and the lack of toxicity as well.
Celery has a net negative caloric intake. People who are trying to achieve health don’t just STOP eating celery because it has no energy or calories. Just because it doesn’t have calories doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat it. Just because it’s known to have micronutrients and other health benefits also shouldn’t mean you can just eat a heap of celery and disregard that it has a heap of potential. My flatmate looked at my dinner the other day which was a bunch of veggies stir fried up just to the point of being cooked, with a bunch of herbs and spices all thrown over top of lettuce. I agree it was a pretty decent sized bowl. He made the comment “woah you eat a lot!” I thought to myself.. yeah I guess it looks like a big quantity. Then I started calculating the calories for him, and then started talking about how his dinner of bacon, aoili and wraps and chickpeas would have had possibly more calories but less nutrition and may have taken up less space, but will take heaps longer to digest and would have done nothing to further his health and repair his body from training other than to restore macro nutrients (maybe... that’s assuming his digestive tract is healthy enough to break down everything, in all fairness we’re also assuming my digestive tract is healthy enough to break down my food, otherwise I just ate a heap of water!)
The point is, while the vast understanding of “nutrition” has been for many years... calories first, then macro nutrients then micro nutrients. What if we turned that on it’s head? I have a theory that if we focused on micro nutrients the macro nutrients would take care of themselves, we’d be healthier and we’d have less obesity.
Can you envision a world where you can walk into a supermarket with your smartphone and you can stick a fork (that is attached to your smart phone) into a carrot and you can test all of the carrots on the shelf, for the least pesticide residue, the most vitamins and minerals. You can get the best bang for your buck and forget all the labels and marketing, no more confusion, no more questions.
Celery has a net negative caloric intake. People who are trying to achieve health don’t just STOP eating celery because it has no energy or calories. Just because it doesn’t have calories doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat it. Just because it’s known to have micronutrients and other health benefits also shouldn’t mean you can just eat a heap of celery and disregard that it has a heap of potential. My flatmate looked at my dinner the other day which was a bunch of veggies stir fried up just to the point of being cooked, with a bunch of herbs and spices all thrown over top of lettuce. I agree it was a pretty decent sized bowl. He made the comment “woah you eat a lot!” I thought to myself.. yeah I guess it looks like a big quantity. Then I started calculating the calories for him, and then started talking about how his dinner of bacon, aoili and wraps and chickpeas would have had possibly more calories but less nutrition and may have taken up less space, but will take heaps longer to digest and would have done nothing to further his health and repair his body from training other than to restore macro nutrients (maybe... that’s assuming his digestive tract is healthy enough to break down everything, in all fairness we’re also assuming my digestive tract is healthy enough to break down my food, otherwise I just ate a heap of water!)
The point is, while the vast understanding of “nutrition” has been for many years... calories first, then macro nutrients then micro nutrients. What if we turned that on it’s head? I have a theory that if we focused on micro nutrients the macro nutrients would take care of themselves, we’d be healthier and we’d have less obesity.
Can you envision a world where you can walk into a supermarket with your smartphone and you can stick a fork (that is attached to your smart phone) into a carrot and you can test all of the carrots on the shelf, for the least pesticide residue, the most vitamins and minerals. You can get the best bang for your buck and forget all the labels and marketing, no more confusion, no more questions.
#labelconfusion #micronutrientsfirst
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