The Feel Good Way

We all know the saying — though I can never remember if it’s “see the trees through the forest” or “the forest through the trees.” Either way, we get the point. Sometimes, you’re so deep in the details, you miss the bigger picture.

One thing that absolutely falls under this idea? Diets

For decades, we’ve been bombarded with conflicting dietary advice: eat all the carbs, or none at all; don’t mix this with that; count every calorie; avoid fat, then eat all the fat; prioritize protein, then question protein. It’s overwhelming. What’s hailed as healthy today is condemned tomorrow. Foods we’ve eaten all our lives suddenly become “dangerous.”

What about it?

As long as I remember I have been into healthy foods. Not that I always followed my own rules. I am human after all. I am a sweet tooth and I am addicted to chocolates, but my kids were only allowed soft drinks on special occasions, where mostly they got the choice between a coke or dessert (they mostly chose the last). Bread and biscuits were mostly home made, orange juice didn’t come out of bottle.

Over the years, I’ve followed health podcasts like Zoe: Science & Nutrition, read countless books, and kept up with the latest research. When I discovered from the Glucose Goddess that controlling glucose spikes could help reduce hot flashes, I gave it a try — and it worked.

Then came a major turning point.

I suffered from chronic inflammation, including tailbone pain so intense it tormented me day and night for a year. No doctor could help. There was also an autoimmune condition looming over me — my doctor said I was likely to develop it eventually, but not to worry because “there are pills for the pain.”

Instead of accepting that, I leaned further into food as medicine. I focused on an anti-inflammatory diet. Out of curiosity (and on the advice of experts like Jesse Inchauspé and Peter Attia), I tried using a continuous glucose monitor (CGM).

And then came the shock: I was prediabetic.

I couldn’t believe it. So I dove into the research, only to find the usual advice on reversing prediabetes:

• loose weight (I don’t need to lose weight, I am already skinny)
• stop drinking sodas ( I never drank sodas and avoided all added sugar)
• work out (I already work out extensively)
• manage stress (I do that)
• improve sleep (I sleep rather well)

The only thing left to examine more deeply was my diet.

Fast forward one year.

After wearing a CGM for months and radically transforming my eating habits — habits some people consider “extreme” — I’m no longer prediabetic. I feel better than I did 10 years ago. No inflammation. No pain. More energy. I now understand how my body responds to different foods, and I no longer need the CGM.

But here’s the strange thing: we’ve come to view unhealthy food as the norm, and healthy food as a “diet.”

So, what is my “extreme” diet?

• I eat whole unprocessed foods
• I eat no Ultra Processed Foods (UPF’s) : that is everything that has 1 or more ingredients that you either don’t know of don’t have in your kitchen. (I admit, that excludes about 80% of what you find in a super market)
• I steer clear of anything with labels like “low fat,” “added vitamins,” or “no sugar added.” (they are usually UPF’s)
• I avoid added sugars completely. At restaurants, when asked if I have any allergies, I say “sugar” — and surprisingly, that often rules out several dishes.
• I bake my own sourdough bread, make my own hummus, ferment my own foods, make my own plant based milks etc,
• I eat about 60 different ‘plants’ a week, double of what is recommended.

This transformation didn’t happen overnight. It’s been a four-year journey, one fueled by necessity. I refused to accept pills as a solution to something I believed could be addressed with lifestyle changes.

And yes, people roll their eyes. I get labeled “that health nut.” But I don’t mind.

But I don’t care. I am feeling great! And when I hear people around me complain about all ‘normal’ so called age related aches I think ‘let them‘. (this is a wink towards a next blog post ;-))