What Foods Match My Genes?

Nutrition has become a very complex topic in recent years with the advent of so many weight loss/feel better/increase energy diet strategies. Scientific research on health, however, has remained relatively constant. “Built into our genes is a blueprint for optimal nutrition – a plan that spells out the foods that make us healthy, lean, and fit.” Loren Cordain Ph.D. 2002.

The Mayo Clinic (2004) stated that current and past hunter-gatherer populations were found to be “healthy, fit, and largely free of the degenerative cardiovascular diseases common in modern societies.”They went on to say that it is the MISMATCH between our modern diet & lifestyle with our Palaeolithic genes that is playing a substantial role in chronic illness.

Our genes have changed relatively little in the past 40,000 years (New England Journal of Medicine). “The appearance of agriculture and domestication of animals some 10,000 years ago and the industrial revolution some 200 years ago introduced new dietary pressures for which no adaptation has been possible in such a short time span.”(Asia Pacific J. of Clin. Nutr. 2004).

What this means is that the foods we started eating after we developed agriculture and industrial farming have been far too recent for our bodies to require them to be healthy.

The following diet and four required supplements satisfy all 10 of the characteristics that our ancestral diet provided, and still provides to this day:

Vine-ripened fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, free-range or wild meat/fish/eggs, and pure water. 4 supplements for environmental reasons: pure fish oil (3rd party tested for toxins), plant-based probiotics, a whole-food multi-vitamin or home-made vegetable-juice, and vitamin D. The sub-optimal (but still relatively healthy) foods include gluten/gliadin-free whole grains (e.g. rice, oats, etc.).

This diet provides your body with everything it needs to function properly, and keeps out toxins that force your body into adaptation. It has a low glycaemic load, a proper omega6:omega3 ratio, trace nutrient sufficiency, alkalinity, potassium > sodium, high water-soluble fibre content, water purity, probiotic sufficiency, and reduced chemical toxins. Wash your produce, buy local, and go organic if possible!

Start adding these foods. Don’t deprive yourself of other things until you stop craving them. Watch what happens! I can help.

E-mail me with questions using this link.
-Dr. Mark Hunter B.Sc., Dip. S.I.M., D.C., C.C.W.P.