Are you genetically prepared for dinner?

I was standing in the kitchen of a client after a marathon day of preparing 12 different vacuum sealed meals with exactly 30 grams of protein, 40 grams of complex carbohydrates and untold assorted vegetables. My client had newly hired a nutrition consultant to track her every calorie and at the end of each week the nutritionist would provide dietary modifications and get paid.

The end goal was to lose weight, but along the journey, my client had found that she suffered from digestion issues and was struggling to control her calories while avoiding stomach distress. I spent far more time creating, preparing and carefully measuring out her meals, I felt like I was helping mend a broken bird. And one day, I just blurted out “what do you eat when you feel best?” she smiled and exclaimed, “pasta! I love pasta, but I eat chicken at almost every meal”. Our conversation ended there, and for a few more weeks I provided her protein-rich meals. But I started my own research on digestion, food consumption, and evolution.

Dietitians may have you believe that they hold the magical key to perfect health, but I remain unconvinced that there is a secret to be unlocked. Simply stated, humans evolved in different regions on the globe where different types of food were available, thus, a general understanding of your lineage plus avoiding food that isn’t food (e.g., something that had to be processed in an industrial factory to be ready to eat) results in happy, energized, effective humans!

I’ve heard it said that we should start eating like our grandmothers. My grandmother started every meal with a brothy vegetable soup, the main dish was usually assorted vegetables, and about 5 oz of whatever meat her butcher had on special. Dessert was tea and cookies. But here’s the rub, she ran a restaurant where she served plates dominated by meat smothered in gravy with a mountain of mashed potato, pasta covered in greasy rich red tomato sauce with giant meatballs, and mile high sandwiches with Kerr’s potato chips. Sure it was great bar food, but it was not what she ate at home. She was meeting the demands of her customers which set the stage for what people became accustomed to being served at restaurants.

More than 4 decades later, my grandmother is not all that thrilled for me to be cooking as a job. I see it differently. For me, cooking is an honor, it means that in the most fundamental way, I’m contributing to how a person feels and lives. I want to encourage people to understand their body and honor their heritage by eating foods that are easily transferred to high energy and optimum lifestyle. And if you don’t think that food fuels your mood as well as your body, think about how you feel after eating a heavy fast food meal compared to after eating a brothy vegetable soup and perfectly roasted chicken with sauteed garden vegetables.

Fueling your body is a way to honor yourself and your lineage, plus it’s fun to think about!