The big picture. My primary objective and purpose in life is to educate, encourage and empower our communities on the truth about wholistic health and wellness. The key word being “truth.” I do this through speaking, teaching and writing.
While my most extensive formal training has been as a chiropractor, an extension of that training was through a 2-year, 300-hour, board certified post-doctorate program in internal disorders. Although, I speak, teach and write on the broader picture of what wholistic health is: Mental, Emotional, Physical and Spiritual. Of course, the physical aspect is my primary area of expertise. In the physical arena I always state that there are 5 foundational pieces to the physical part of our health: Rest, Water, Exercise, Good Nutrition and Good Nerve Supply (the chiropractic part). Over the years I have come to realize that the part I am most passionate about speaking truth on, and revealing the deception of (after all, the dark needs to be exposed in order for the light to be appreciated), is the Good Nutrition part.
I am all about getting to the root cause of our chronic degenerative diseases, and I have come to the conclusion, that the root cause can usually be traced back to our poor diet almost every time.Of course, my chiropractic colleagues would say the root cause is nerve interference, and I would agree with that as well. However, it’s our poor dietary choices that I feel are most controlled by self. In addition, I feel that there are major sources that are gaining financially as well as power at the expense of our health. It’s these observations, insights, training and experience that I will be addressing over the next however many weeks to shed light for you, so that you might rise up and take control of your health and overcome the forces that have been controlling our population for far too long.
Let’s Start with Some Disclaimers
The information and solutions I will be sharing with you is, or should be available to all people:
- Rich and poor
- Men and women
- Black, white, brown, red, yellow, and a blend of all of these
- Rural and inner-city
- Educated and intellectually disabled
- Young, old, and yet to be born
- Healthy and unhealthy
- Believers in Jesus and believers in self
- First world countries and third world countries
This is not a bash against conventional medicine nor those who work in the field.
This is not pointing blame on those who are employed in the food industry – whether manufacturing the food, selling it in grocery stores, or owning franchises that sell it.
This is not to make anyone feel guilty or to judge anyone – we all have room for improvement, but we have a responsibility to take charge of our health.
What this is, however, is to shed light on entities that have been profiting at ours and our children’s health expense: big pharma, big food corporations, medical universities and the heads of corporate hospitals tied to them, and of course our government.
Introduction
Over the next 10 weeks or so, my hope is to break down the many areas of deception and misunderstandings about our food and food-like substances and the impact they have on our health. I hope to lay this out in an easy-to-understand message.
Topics for Discussion
- We will start with the basics like the true definition of food
- The history of processed foods – how did we get here and why?
- Who is gaining? The role the pharmaceutical industry, the food manufacturing industry, and medical universities play in controlling the quality of our food
- The importance of food label reading
- The 3 Big Offenders: Salt, Sugar, Fat
- We Are What We Eat – how food affects our bodies – for good or for bad
- What are some basic toxic ingredients to avoid
- Addiction to Food and how it leads to other addictions – the addictive pathway in the brain
- The connection between chronic degenerative disease and processed foods
- Wholistic approach to gut health
- Wholistic approach to auto-immune
- Wholistic approach to weight loss
- Wholistic approach to reproductive health
- Wholistic approach to children’s chronic health problems
- It’s not about the calories!
- Why we need to eat: We need to first eat to be nourished, not to be full
- Inflammation – the common denominator of all chronic and degenerative diseases
The Definition of Food
So that we are all on the same page, let’s start with the very basics and define what we will be talking about over the coming weeks – food. Here are two definitions from sources that have been around a long time – Britannica and Merriam Webster:
Food: substance consisting essentially of protein, carbohydrate, fat, and other nutrients used in the body of an organism to sustain growth and vital processes and to furnish energy. The absorption and utilization of food by the body is fundamental to nutrition and is facilitated by digestion. (Britannica)
Food: material consisting essentially of protein, carbohydrate, and fat used in the body of an organism to sustain growth, repair, and vital processes and to furnish energy (Merriam Webster).
I don’t think these two definitions can be any more clear as to not only the vitalness of food, but its basic function as well: to sustain growth, repair and vital processes and to furnish energy.
I would like to keep these basic definitions, and especially as they define the function of food, as our “north star” and to measure everything we address in the coming weeks against this basic, foundational principal of how food is defined. Let me state it again:
…to sustain growth, repair and vital processes and to furnish energy.
To book Dr. Jackie for speaking engagements go to:
https://jackiemckool.com/schedule-jackie/
The Basic Science of Food
To break it down a little further there are plant foods and animal foods; foods that come from plants including nuts and seeds, the leaves, roots and fruits from plants. And foods that come from animals and fish, including the meat, milk and eggs.
Macronutrients
There are 3 basic components of food called macronutrients:
- Carbohydrates
- Proteins
- Fats
Our carbohydrate sources primarily come from plants, and our proteins typically come from animals. Our primary fat sources can come from plants – especially the nuts and seeds; and from animal and fish meats/flesh. But all living organisms are made up of all three – carbohydrate, protein and fat.
Micronutrients
Micronutrients consist of the vitamins and minerals we hear so much about. Our bodies don’t make these vital nutrients, we have to give it to our bodies, and the best way to do that is from real food. A well-balanced diet, consisting of a wide variety of real foods is the best way to acquire what our bodies need on a daily basis. However, sometimes, in fact most of the time, this may not be sufficient. When it’s not, then we could “supplement” with a quality vitamin and or mineral supplement. Key words here being supplement and quality. We should never rely on the magic natural pill to give us what our bodies need in lieu of first acquiring what we can from our food. And there is a huge difference between the supplements you would buy at your big box stores, grocery store or drug store. I go into great detail about the difference of quality supplements versus mass produced pills in my book “Are You Being Deceived About True Wellness” if you’d like to learn more.
Water
While water is not food, it is vital to life. And once again, the only way our bodies can receive the water it needs to live is if we provide it to our bodies. I do include this, because as we dive a little deeper into the things we put into our bodies, and the role the food industry plays to either enhance or go against this life-giving resource, you will see the importance of it. In the meantime, you can see one of my blogs from last week on water to appreciate the necessity of this life giving force of nature!
One Final Word
In this blog we have talked about the importance of real food and water – to sustain our health and the one and only body God has given us. But what we will be talking about in future blogs is how our bodies get robbed of these vital nutrients when we are replacing them with food-like substances. That’s the other half of the equation. We not only have to put the good in, we have to eliminate the bad.
In Summary
We have now laid out the basic foundation of one of the vital necessities of life, and what we need to sustain our health, our bodies and our life: food. In the weeks ahead I will elaborate and dive deeper into the myths and deceptions and down right poisons we have been subjected to, and how to overcome them.
There are a multitude of things coming against our bodies everyday trying to sabotage our health, let’s not allow the toxic substances we have been putting into our mouths and our bodies for far too long, knowingly, or unknowingly, be one of them. Your health is in your control – start taking charge of it today.
Here are the links to the most recent blog series on cardiovascular disease. they are chock full of information that can benefit all of us!
1). “A Holistic Approach to Heart Disease”
2) “Cardiovascular Disease – Our Reliance on Packaged and Processed Foods”
3) “A Holistic Approach to Exercise and Cardiovascular Disease”
4) “A Holistic Connection Between Obesity, Lack of Sleep and Cardiovascular Disease”
5) “Impacts of our Standard of Living, and a Hectic Work Life on our Cardiovascular Health”
6) “Diabetes – the Holistic Connection to Cardiovascular Disease”
7) “High Blood Pressure – a Primary Driver for Cardiovascular Disease”
8) “The Holistic Perspective of Cholesterol and Cardiovascular Disease”
9) “A Holistic Approach to Reversing Cardiovascular Disease”
Have you been meaning to pick up a copy of this book? Now is the time! “Are You Being Deceived About Truth Wellness?”
