With all of the conflicting information out there regarding what we "should" eat, it can leave us feeling a bit overwhelmed.  You may ask yourself, "Whom should I listen to"?  Well, I can't tell you what to do, or expose all of the bogus advice.  What I can do, is provide some clarity and reasoning to help you decide what to do.  There are a few basic principles to consider when selecting a diet.  

1.    The word diet should be considered as it was originally derived.  The Latin word diaeta, and Greek word diaita literally translate to manner of living.  In addition, the primary and secondary definitions are as follows:  "a: food and drink regularly provided or consumed" and "b: habitual nourishment."¹  The third entry refers to the commonly advertised definition, "c: the kind and amount of food prescribed to a person or animal for a special reason."  
   

2.   Nature nourishes life.  All of the essential (those our body can't make) vitamins and minerals are readily available in natural food sources.  Our digestive system favors these foods because the nutrients are easily absorbed.  The more a food source is processed, the less likely you are to receive all of the nutritional benefits of the food in its natural form.  The closer to being alive a food source is, the more readily digestible.
   

3.   Where there is water, there is life.  The importance of keeping our bodies properly hydrated is under-rated.  Water is essential for our most basic energy production pathways to function properly.  Water also is responsible for keeping our lungs from collapsing, our joints lubricated, and enabling our body to flush cellular waste out of our bodies.
   

4.   It comes down to time and money.  It takes more time and a little more money to eat healthy.  It is common in our fast paced society to take the quick and cheap way to fill our stomach.  Eating is often seen as a chore rather than a delight, it is just one more task on our job list for the day.  Make time to sit and enjoy your food, more importantly realize that digestion occurs when the body is at rest.  If you eat on the run your body's first concern is providing energy to your muscles and not to your digestive system.

5. If you focus on your health, your body will normalize dysfunction.  If you want to lose weight, improving your health is the most successful strategy.  I have patients come into my office and tell me how much they exercise and how little they eat...but, they can't seem to lose anymore weight.  This common problem has a very easy solution.  You must focus on your health!  That  weight that "won't" come off is typically inflammation, and when you focus on restoring your health, the inflammation goes down.  You feel better and the side effect is weight loss.  

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References:

1. Diet, as defined by Webster's Dictionary