Nutritional Philosophy

Whole foods are those that have not been bleached, stripped, denatured, or processed in any way. When shopping for groceries, a good rule of thumb is to buy foods only from the perimeter of the store, since most processed foods are found in the aisles. Whole vegetables, fruits, seeds, meats, nuts and beans as well as whole grains are the basis of a sound nutritional foundation.

Food dictates what the body will use as raw material for new cells. It is tempting to believe that we stopped growing after puberty. The truth is that we continue to create new cells throughout our bodies every day of our lives. ​Did you know we shed our skin every 30 days, the mucosal lining of our GI tracts every 3-14 days, and our bones are completely destroyed and regenerated over the course of approximately 15 years? When new cells are created, there are certain components the body cannot synthesize, such as essential nutrients like certain amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals). If we eat a diet devoid of these essential nutrients, the new cells that are created are not healthy. Long-term consumption of unhealthy foods lead to chronic degenerative diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

The purpose of processing food is largely to lengthen the food’s shelf-life. ​Lengthening the shelf-life means preventing mold, decay or fermentation. These natural break-down mechanisms are all performed by living organisms-fungi, bacteria, and yeast. These organisms have nutritional needs that are similar to ours: they need certain amino acids, vitamins and minerals in order to survive. Processed food is devoid of these life-giving nutrients so that no organisms can “spoil” the product. If we too are organisms on this planet, and the food is designed to be insufficient to sustain life, than how can we derive all of our nutritional needs from processed foods?