“Secondary Foods”

Yesterday I wrote about how bioindividuality is a foundation to my health counseling program. When working with my clients, I personalize my 6-month program to fit their specific needs. The other core components of my health philosophy are “primary foods” and “secondary foods,” more new terms for you to learn, but like bioindividuality, very simple concepts. I will focus on secondary foods today and leave you in suspense until next week to learn about primary foods ;)

“Secondary foods” are the foods that make up your diet-what you put in your mouth, chew, swallow and digest. Hippocrates established one of the oldest philosophies around food in ~300 BC. He said, “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.” Unfortunately, in the 2,000 some odd years since Hippocrates said that, we have moved light years away from that thought. So much of what we eat today would not even be recognized as food by our grandparents much less Hippocrates. In the past century, we have colored, “enhanced,” sprayed, injected, morphed, mutated, cloned, and modified our food items into things that are still edible, sometimes even very tasty, but unfortunately, not nutritious and oftentimes, not digestible. In turn, our country is now sicker than ever with allergies, obesity, cancer, and other diseases becoming a norm rather than the exception.

I have two ideals regarding secondary foods. First, returning to the concept of bioindividuality, they need to be personalized to your needs. Eat what feels right for you and makes you more energetic and healthier. My diet will not work for you and vice versa. Second, they should mostly be whole foods. That means foods that are as close to their natural state as possible-unprocessed and unrefined. Eating whole foods is something I am very passionate about. Whether your diet goals are weight loss, disease prevention or management, or allergy relief, shifting to a diet that integrates more whole foods will alleviate or solve them. This topic will definitely be drawn out a bit more in this blog. I will speak about what whole foods will alleviate or manage different health issues and easy ways to integrate whole foods into your diets. I’ll leave you with one of my personal favorite quotes around whole foods which is one of Michael Pollan’s Food Commandments, “Don't eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.”

What is your “secondary food” philosophy? How do you feel about your diet? Are you looking to integrate more whole foods into your diet?