Simple diet - eat only real food
What does diet have to do with creativity? Well, we are what we eat. If you feel better, you can be more productive. For the last 3 years I have struggled with asthma. Slowly I’ve learned my triggers. Cigarette smoke and salt are two of them. I never smoked, so that trigger just means I miss out on the enjoyment of live music here in Michigan until they catch up with Ontario Canada, California, and other areas where no smoking laws allow me the freedom that others have. But salt, arg, I love salt. But I like breathing better.
So I started reading labels. I was unable to find food without salt added. Bread, canned beans, crackers, vegetarian hot dogs, the list goes on and on. So finally I got an idea. Quite simple really.
Just eat real food. No prepared stuff, just food. No preservatives. No MSG.
Not canned beans, beans. Actually put real beans in a bag and buy them by the pound. No added salt.
Instead of bread - rice. Just rice. No added salt, no added preservatives.
Vegetables and fruit.
One desert I really like is strawberry short cake. I discovered a substitute that is very enjoyable. Plain yogurt and strawberries. NOT yogurt with “fruit on the bottom” which has added sugar. Just yogurt and strawberries.
This forces an increase in the ratio of nutritious to junk food, but allows a wide variety of choices in your diet. Rather than a diet to lose weight, gain weight, or bias your health in some other way, I think of it as balanced. Just eat healthier.
It suddenly becomes apparent what food companies do to food in the name of marketing and profit. Want peanut butter to taste more like fresh peanuts? Add more sugar than the other peanut butters. (why add sugar in the first place? I like the taste of peanuts. But kids likely choose the brand of peanut butter in the house.) Secret recipe? MSG (perhaps that’s why they want to keep it secret). Reduce portion size until the trans fat level is below the threshold to list on the label, then the label can read “0 trans fat”, yet the ingredients contain hydrogenated oils (which contain trans fats).
So just eat real food for a month and see how you feel. For a week or two, there may be withdrawal from some foods, and detox. But at the end of a month it is likely your body will be happier without unnecessary chemicals and food processing. Just go to the market area of your grocery store, and if it is actual food - buy it, cook it (if needed) and eat it.
- the Muse