The Best Diet for You
photo credit: jspatchwork
There are thousands upon thousands of books on the subject of diet. Browse through the internet and there is a staggering array of conflicting advice. This plethora of information has lead to confusion and frustration for those seeking the path to physical health and wellbeing. To make matters worse it has been shown that those who diet and fail regain more weight then they actually lost. The effect on health of a wildly fluctuating body weight and dietary intake is not good to say the least. Can there possibly be a solution to this problem that is plaguing so many?
Please be assured that there is and in the end you will see that the solution is both logically obvious, simple and will be easy for you to follow. You will see that the diet that is best for you is just like the form of exercise that is best for you. Which is one you will do regularly. But first I’d like to lay a little groundwork.
I’d like you to think about the different places people live in the world. Some, such as in many parts of Europe have long cold winters during which in prehistoric times food from plants was very scarce. In other parts of the worlds such as those close to the equator the weather, in terms of temperature, remains relatively stable year round. As a result foods such as fruit and vegetables are constantly available.
Now I would like you to consider your family heritage. Where was it in the world that your great great grandparents came from? For me my recent ancestors came from Ireland on what is known as the First Fleet. They were convicts shipped out to Australia for the term of their natural life.
Some time ago I decided to investigate the native diet of the ancient Irish. You see my body is a product of genetic material that is conditioned to living in the environment of Ireland. In prehistoric times there was no cold storage like we have today. There was no global shipping of foodstuffs from all over the world to every other part of the world. As a result people only ate foods that were in season and available in the particular location where they lived.
So what was the ancient Irish diet like? Well it turns out that cereals such as wheat do not grow very well in Ireland. The climate is so different to the arid climate of the Middle East where cereals originated. Of course tropical fruit such as banana and pineapple was unheard of. The conclusion I reached from my research was that the ancient Irish diet was based on meat and dairy products supplemented with seafood and vegetables as a side issue by not a major component. The only fruit that was around were apples and wild berries. Oat, not wheat, bread was widely used. Beef was eaten especially in winter when many plant foods were not available.
All this came as no real surprise to me as I am gluten intolerant. In fact the highest rate of gluten intolerance is in Ireland. What is more when we think of the Irish and food we think of potato. However the potato does not come from Ireland and in fact has only been there for the past 300 years. A very small drop in a very large bucket when the evolution and adaptation of my digestive system is concerned. The potato comes from South America and was brought back to Europe only after Europeans landed on the American continent.
So, what is the best diet for you? The answer is the diet that is correct for your metabolic type. A single diet will never suit everyone in the world. Which is why I like metabolic typing. Metabolic typing recognizes that we are all as different on the inside as we are on the outside. Some people have an ancestry that reaches back to tropical locations. If they were to eat a diet high in protein like I do then they would have the same sort of trouble I would have if I ate a diet high in fruit and low in protein. Now I eat according to how my ancient Irish ancestors ate. Which means I’m eating what my body is genetically adapted to eat and I’m doing better then ever.
So do your research and find out what your body has been designed to eat. I guarantee you will find a diet designed in this way easy and natural to maintain. Your health and wellbeing will be better then ever.
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September 12th, 2008 at 3:39 am
Hey, one question.
I have mixed background. My dad is White, with 1/2 irish and 1/4 German and French. My mother is Pakistani, and probably lived there since their ancestors thousands of years ago moved there. Though I’m sure there is some Persian blood in her as the area she’s from tended to get invaded by nations. A lot.
What do we do if this is confusing? Haha.
September 13th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Fullcrum,
Good question. I’m sure there are a lot of people in your position. What it means is you have more research to do. You will probably find that the ancient diets of German and French were similar in terms of ratio of protein, fat and carbs due to the closeness.
This website will cover the Irish part for you – http://www.ravensgard.org/prdunham/irishfood.html
Looking up Pakistani is up to you. Just remember you need to go as far back as to when the people there were living off the land. So pre organized farming. Pakistan is close to Iran so you may do ok eating wheat however I wouldn’t eat anything made with unsprouted wheat nor anything that isn’t organically grown – vegetables, meat, eggs, milk and so on. You can read my article on how to make one change and lose weight to find out why unsprouted grains are a bad idea. You also have some Irish and that is a problem because the Irish have the highest rate of gluten intolerance in the world.
Once you’ve done your research then it is time to experiment. Test, listen to your body. Then make just one or two changes (so you can trace affects back to the proper source) give it some time and listen to your body again. And so on.
You can read my reply to a previous comment on my article “A Healthy Diet is Eating What Your Body is Adapted To” to find out what you should be looking for to know what you’re doing is working and good for your health.
September 25th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
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