My Diet/Nutrition Book
People have often told me that I should write a book about nutrition. And I have considered it, and have even sat down to get it started a number of times. But I always run into the same problem. I have too much integrity. I am too conscientious to write a book about nutrition.
I don’t know how authors of diet books can live with themselves after publishing. The only way to remain focused and get out a cohesive book is to hone in on one, narrow-minded aspect of nutrition, and to focus in on one particular set of beliefs.
My problem is that the more research I do, the more I find compelling evidence to support many conflicting ideas. I’m not just talking about minute details but large, compelling and important issues like whether or not human beings thrive on eating meat, for example. I have seen extensive and compelling arguments for either side of that debate; and that’s just one example of a very large and important topic. Just one of scores of controversies on the topic of human nutrition.
My conscience gets triggered by realizing that people are going to be reading my book, and possibly making very important decisions based on it. These decisions will affect their lifelong health and vitality. What if the camp that I decided to join and support through my writing turns out not to be the right one? Then am I indirectly responsible for that person’s ill health?
I have read numerous books about nutrition, and they all have their own slant. Each time I embrace a new author’s philosophy, I find myself having to adjust my beliefs and change my habits. You’d think that eventually, there would be a common thread of truth that I could find among all of the different viewpoints, but such is not the case. This is an indication that something is very wrong.
The authors of each of these books had to ignore a significant body of evidence. Because no matter what their stance and beliefs are, there is evidence to the contrary. So whom do I ignore? How can I possibly write a book based on ignorance of research evaluation? I can’t. Not with the amount of integrity I have. If I write a book, I would want it to be correct.
Perhaps all the books are full of crap. Maybe there is no right answer. Maybe there is an answer out there, but as of yet undiscovered. I don’t know. So in that case, the only responsible thing to do is to remain silent.
Writing and selling diet and nutrition books, programs, cleanses, detoxes and all of the products and supplements is a huge, profit-making business. It is not a force I want to align with. It feels deceptive to me. Every time I sat down to write my nutrition book, my intention was to cover it all. But that is an unrealistically monumental task, and always ends up leading me back to the belief that it is different for everyone.
I’m both inspired and then stopped by my desire to only speak truth and to be helpful. If we’re all just supposed to figure it out on our own, then it is out of line for me to make suggestions, or even worse, to tout my information as if I had discovered the truth. My conclusion is that people must take the reigns into their own hands, do some research and some experimentation and stay open-minded to all possibilities.
What I suspect is that each individual has slightly different needs and will respond to food in slightly different ways. I believe that nature has supplied us with our food and it is meant to be eaten. This includes plants and animals. Yes, it includes grains, and yes it includes meat. And no, it doesn’t include pills and supplements.
One thing I will say with certainty is that most food that has been mass-produced is not healthy. Our nutrition needs to come from living matter. Living matter quickly degrades and rots. So in order to mass-produce and market food, (or even worse, to put it into pill form) it must be stripped of its life. Eating lifeless food is not going to nourish us, but it will instead make us sick and fat. In a nutshell, eating lifeless food will cause your body to retain fluids in order to remove what it sees as an invader. This inflammation is the cause of all modern diseases and obesity.
Unfortunately, people want a quick fix and they want it spelled out for them, step by step. If they have to investigate or think on their own, they are bombarded by controversy and gimmicks and can lose interest pretty quickly out of frustration. So, this sets the stage for another new diet book to come out month after month after month and to hit the Best Seller list because people are so confused and desperate. If I did write that book, I’m sure it would sell. But is that what I want?
I was talking to a friend yesterday about this and I said, “Any real book about proper nutrition would only have to be about a page long. It could be extremely simple, but no one would believe it.”
So here it is:
this is FOOD
I don’t know how authors of diet books can live with themselves after publishing. The only way to remain focused and get out a cohesive book is to hone in on one, narrow-minded aspect of nutrition, and to focus in on one particular set of beliefs.
My problem is that the more research I do, the more I find compelling evidence to support many conflicting ideas. I’m not just talking about minute details but large, compelling and important issues like whether or not human beings thrive on eating meat, for example. I have seen extensive and compelling arguments for either side of that debate; and that’s just one example of a very large and important topic. Just one of scores of controversies on the topic of human nutrition.
My conscience gets triggered by realizing that people are going to be reading my book, and possibly making very important decisions based on it. These decisions will affect their lifelong health and vitality. What if the camp that I decided to join and support through my writing turns out not to be the right one? Then am I indirectly responsible for that person’s ill health?
I have read numerous books about nutrition, and they all have their own slant. Each time I embrace a new author’s philosophy, I find myself having to adjust my beliefs and change my habits. You’d think that eventually, there would be a common thread of truth that I could find among all of the different viewpoints, but such is not the case. This is an indication that something is very wrong.
The authors of each of these books had to ignore a significant body of evidence. Because no matter what their stance and beliefs are, there is evidence to the contrary. So whom do I ignore? How can I possibly write a book based on ignorance of research evaluation? I can’t. Not with the amount of integrity I have. If I write a book, I would want it to be correct.
Perhaps all the books are full of crap. Maybe there is no right answer. Maybe there is an answer out there, but as of yet undiscovered. I don’t know. So in that case, the only responsible thing to do is to remain silent.
Writing and selling diet and nutrition books, programs, cleanses, detoxes and all of the products and supplements is a huge, profit-making business. It is not a force I want to align with. It feels deceptive to me. Every time I sat down to write my nutrition book, my intention was to cover it all. But that is an unrealistically monumental task, and always ends up leading me back to the belief that it is different for everyone.
I’m both inspired and then stopped by my desire to only speak truth and to be helpful. If we’re all just supposed to figure it out on our own, then it is out of line for me to make suggestions, or even worse, to tout my information as if I had discovered the truth. My conclusion is that people must take the reigns into their own hands, do some research and some experimentation and stay open-minded to all possibilities.
What I suspect is that each individual has slightly different needs and will respond to food in slightly different ways. I believe that nature has supplied us with our food and it is meant to be eaten. This includes plants and animals. Yes, it includes grains, and yes it includes meat. And no, it doesn’t include pills and supplements.
One thing I will say with certainty is that most food that has been mass-produced is not healthy. Our nutrition needs to come from living matter. Living matter quickly degrades and rots. So in order to mass-produce and market food, (or even worse, to put it into pill form) it must be stripped of its life. Eating lifeless food is not going to nourish us, but it will instead make us sick and fat. In a nutshell, eating lifeless food will cause your body to retain fluids in order to remove what it sees as an invader. This inflammation is the cause of all modern diseases and obesity.
Unfortunately, people want a quick fix and they want it spelled out for them, step by step. If they have to investigate or think on their own, they are bombarded by controversy and gimmicks and can lose interest pretty quickly out of frustration. So, this sets the stage for another new diet book to come out month after month after month and to hit the Best Seller list because people are so confused and desperate. If I did write that book, I’m sure it would sell. But is that what I want?
I was talking to a friend yesterday about this and I said, “Any real book about proper nutrition would only have to be about a page long. It could be extremely simple, but no one would believe it.”
So here it is:
this is FOOD
An actually helpful "nutrition" book would be one that showed the reader how to properly prepare and cook all of these things at home.
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