The cavemen (and I use that term loosely, referring to prior ancestors in any time period) didn't need to plan time for exercise. Exercise was part of survival back then. If you didn't hunt for your food, grow and tend to your crops, etc. you simply would not survive.
I believe in the past people were generally healthier because the foods they ate were fresh, unprocessed, and natural. Let's compare, shall we? Cavemen had fresh meat. Today, we have hormone injected, antibody fed meat. If you went to the store and saw a bottle of "growth hormones" sitting on the shelf, what would you think? It would definitely be something that I passed up. However, the truth is, each of us is putting this in our grocery cart each week when you select your meat and animal products. I'm never sure what "organic" means, but it means no added hormones or antibiotics. It's even better if you can find free range/cage free varieties. Of course, it's more expensive. Pass on the cupcakes and cookies, and you'll well make up the price difference.
The old saying, "You are what you eat, " is true. You are only as healthy as the food you eat. --Meaning, if the animal you're consuming was hormone injected and antibody carrying, so are you. Animals that are allowed to consume their natural diet are much healthier, and thus, much healthier to consume.
Now, let's look at eggs. Popular belief is that the egg yolk is bad for you because of the cholesterol. I venture to say that's not the case at all! The yolk and whites are bad for you because the chickens were given all sort of hormones. The organic, free range eggs are much healthier for you. Eggs have been around for a long, long time. The truth in the matter is that the yolk is the most vitamin rich part of the egg. After all, this is what fuels the life of a baby chick. Removing the yolk. removes more than 3/4 of the nutritional value of the egg. Check out this link:
THE CAVEMEN DIDN'T HAVE CUPCAKES OR COOKIES
Now, let's move on to processed foods. Most people enjoy sweets from cookies, cakes, cinnamon rolls, to the mouth watering chocolate. Flour is a common in any bakery. Some might think it's only the white grains that are bad for you. Cavemen didn't have the utilities or sense to know how to bake bread. I wonder though, if even whole wheat isn't necessarily meant for human consumption. Sure, it provides fiber, but is our body meant for the carb rich bread? I'm not against carbs, by any means, but I think the simple carbs -- that only require the one ingredient are better for our bodies. I mean brown rice, and other single grains, fruits, and veggies. Pastas are another example of a man-made product.
My philosophy is if it comes in a can or has more than 2 ingredients, it's not meant for my body. Prepackaged food in the stores has so many chemicals added to them, it's not even funny. Some for color, some for shelf life, some for flavor!!
Our bodies are working overtime to try to cleanse out all of these toxins. It's like the caveman starring at a plant he knows is poisonous but eating it anyway because it's "right there". Where as, converting my own kitchen to organic hasn't happened yet, I'm surely trying to take steps in that direction. I think this will help me become healthier and have a greater immunity to diseases. Eliminating all processed food, toxins, and sweeteners is my long term goal. For now, small steps to get me in the direction. Does this mean that I won't have a slice of cake at my son's birthday party? No. However, my goal is to aim for an average day to not have any preprocessed food/toxins enter my body. My next goal is learning how to achieve that while still managing my family, full time job, and not letting it consume my life.
Prepackaged is definitely "easier" for today's world when we hardly have time to catch our breath. I don't know if I'll ever be able to live without my morning granola or bread, but I'll definitely watch my quantities of these products a lot more closely. I need to get used to the idea that carbs can come from beans, fruits, and veggies. Carbs do not need to come from tortillas, bread, cereal, granola, or pasta.
I learned an awful truth about light yogurt today. It's full of artificial sweetener, chemicals, and toxins my body doesn't need. I'm scared to try organic yogurt in fear of a horrible taste. I need to spend some time researching inside of the grocery store.
Just the words "artificial sweetener" make me cringe. Same with "artificial color" and "artificial flavor". It makes me wonder what's wrong with the natural -- non-artificial version. I tend to be very picky about my foods. I don't often try new things. This is going to be a challenge. The cavemen didn't have yogurt, but yogurt is supposed to provide us with good bacteria. However, I wonder how much of it is destroyed during pasteurization? Not that I'm advocating for unpasteurized, but is there a "good" yogurt out there that's pasteurized? More in-store research is needed for me to make a decision.
Diet sodas and regular sodas were long ago cut from my consumption list. I do sometimes have a soda every-now-and-then. However, it's not a routine thing for me now. I enjoy water most often.
Even though our advances in medicine and food processing has become very advanced, our general health appears to be doomed by these things.
If you want to find a local Farmer's Market, check out this site:
