Paradigm Shift

I've been studying up on nutrition quite a bit for the past couple of weeks. I've been interested in food and nutrition for a long time, but a few recent factors have gotten me to review some of my ideas with a more open mind.

First is the rising popularity of the Paleo diet. I've been seeing a lot of Paleo and gluten-free recipes on Pinterest for a while now. A few months back, I glanced through a couple of articles about the Paleo diet, gathered that it was a fad from the 70s, and dismissed it. Now, however, a couple of podcasters whose opinions I am gaining respect for are talking about how they switched to the Paleo diet and are feeling much healthier. It got me wondering about it again.

I was also under the impression that the gluten-free thing was mostly a fad. I know a couple of people who are allergic or have Celiac disease, but it's mostly a pop-culture trend, right? (Sorry, don't hate me for my ignorance.) I did a little more reading on that and learned that there has been a huge increase in diagnoses of wheat sensitivities in the past decade or so. Also, The National Institutes of Health concluded that Celiac disease is still "greatly underdiagnosed." There is a long, but very interesting and convincing (to me, anyway) article about wheat and why humans are developing problems with it here, if you would like to read more: 

The History of How Wheat Became Toxic

First time fermenting my own sauerkraut. So easy and so much tastier than the store bought pasteurized version! I'll take pics of the process next time I make it, but click the image for another site with good instructions.

Ok, that's nice and all, but I am too poor to eat grass-fed meat and cut out my cheap and filling grains and beans. So, the Paleo diet is out for now. (I'm still not 100% sold on it, anyway, but I am less skeptical than I was initially). And, thankfully for my budding aspirations to become a homebrewer, I do not believe that I have a medical problem with wheat or gluten. So, where am I going with this? Well, there are a couple more pieces to the puzzle.

First, I heard a story on my local NPR station in the last week or so about how people raised on farms have fewer food and seasonal allergies than people who were not brought up around animals. The story also said that maybe many of our  current problems with food and seasonal allergies are due to our food being TOO CLEAN. Our foods are so processed and sanitized that the only thing that most of us get any sort of healthy bacteria in anymore is yogurt. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a link to this story, but here are a couple of others I found about the benefits of healthy bacteria. If anyone else finds the one I'm talking about, please let me know so I can add a link.

NPR: Diverse Gut Microbes, A Trim Waistline, And Health Go Together

NPR: Staying Healthy May Mean Learning To Love Our Microbiomes

First time sprouting beans! I used dried garbanzos and lentils from the bulk bins at Winco. They added a nice crunch and lots of healthy enzymes to a salad and stir fry last week. Click the image for a great website to learn about sprouting.

And, lastly, I feel that I eat pretty healthfully. I prepare most of the food that we eat at home, and the vast majority of that is made from whole, minimally processed foods. We eat a variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, dairy, and lean meats.  However, my recent annual physical showed that I am low in some important minerals. Although I am willing to take vitamins when necessary, I feel very strongly that my diet should provide the nutrients that my body needs. This is the thing that really has me questioning what is healthy and nutritious.

Studying nutrition is very confusing.  I am a skeptical person by nature. I like to see things backed up by scientific studies, but so much of the information about nutrition seems to be contradictory. Also, it is difficult not to be suspicious when studies funded by a particular company get results that benefit that company. I guess I will have to learn to trust folklore and the experiences of individuals a little more. 

My latest attempt at a sourdough starter. It's looking promising this time! Click the image for a link to the instructions I used.

I want to start out by incorporating more healthy bacteria into my diet with fermented foods. It could be another health fad, but it makes sense to me that people used to eat more fermented foods, since it is a good way to preserve foods. Fermenting encourages the growth of healthy bacteria, like yeast and lactobacillus. Strong colonies of these healthy bacteria will kill off other sorts of bacteria which can make us sick. Also, I have read article upon article stating that sprouting grains and seeds, fermenting vegetables, and fermenting flour to make sourdough make them more easily digestible and make the nutrients more readily available. And, since I happen to like many of these foods, it shouldn't be too hard to try it out and see how I feel over the next few months.

What do you guys think? Am I kooky or am I just slow to catch on? Do you have any suggestions for foods I should make that incorporate healthy bacteria? What are your favorite nutrition powerhouses (oo, I feel so buzz-wordy)?