To Have Good Health You Need To Have Good Nutrition

Without good health, you have nothing. You can have all the money in the world, but if your health is poor, you can’t enjoy it.

In order to have good health, you need to have good nutrition. Creating a habit of eating a nutritious diet from an early age stands you in good stead for your entire life. In modern society, it is not only adults that are battling chronic diseases of lifestyle caused by a poor diet. Our children’s health isn’t looking good either.

In a recent interview with Brent Bultitude, Dr Ron shared his thoughts on good nutrition.

Conflicting Nutrition Messages

One minute you should eat a low fat diet, and then you are advised to eat a high fat diet. Some people will tell you to eat a carbohydrate-rich diet and others will tell you to leave out the carbs. Everywhere you look someone is telling you a certain food is good for you, while someone else is offering contradictory advice. Why is it so complicated?

Something a lot of people don’t realise is that health and nutrition advice is often actually marketing. The role of industry in health marketing is very strong. No matter what message they are trying to get across, there is a study to support every point of view.

That is why it is important for everyone to have some basic health and nutrition knowledge. The world we live in is becoming more and more complicated, but the solutions to our problems are quite simple, and for the most part, cheap. The solutions for good health with good nutrition are accessible; they are successful; they are sustainable.

 “If we can convert information to knowledge, then we are really empowering people to rise above those confusing health messages.”
~ Dr Ron Ehrlich

Make Nutrient-Dense Food Your Guiding Health Principle

In Chapter 12 of Dr Ron’s book “A Life Less Stressed”, he states that “everything you place in or near your body has the potential to nourish.” The body requires nutrients from food. We would not survive if we did not eat. The food you choose to eat, though, has a big impact on your health and wellbeing. If you choose foods that are packed full of nutrients, you will feel well and have plenty of energy.

The nutrients that we get from food that are essential for the human body include:

• Minerals: The body needs small amounts of fifty to sixty of the one hundred and eighteen elements on the periodic table.
• Essential fatty acids: Most people have heard of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
• Amino acids: All protein is made up of twenty-two amino acids, nine of those cannot be produced in the body and must be provided by the diet.

For our food to be nutrient-dense, it needs to be grown in nutrient-rich soil. Farmers can make food look good simply by adding three or four chemicals to the soil. The plants grow well, but they don’t contain all of the elements our bodies need.

 “That’s why we all should be engaged in how our food is grown.”
~ Dr Ron Ehrlich

Healthy Fats: The Key To Combating Disease

The low-fat diet advice we have been following since the seventies and eighties is flawed. Throughout our evolutionary history fats have been a very important part of the human diet.

As soon as you go low-fat you will get very hungry. In response to the increased hunger, you will eat more of everything else. It is great for marketing and selling food, but it is not good for our health.

Fats are a critically important compound to health. Every cell, nerve, and hormone in our body uses fat as a structural component. Our brain is largely made from fat. So healthy fats are really important.

When we refer to healthy fats, we mean natural fats. That is not the array of vegetable oils you can buy from the supermarket. We are talking about olive oil, butter, and the fat from animals raised in ethically grown ways on healthy soils. Beef that is grass-fed for as long as possible. Grain-fed animals grow fatter quicker and while there may be benefits for farmers and chefs, the fatty acid profile in the fat from these animals is unhealthy.

The fat from grass-fed animals has a better balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-6 is slightly inflammatory, while omega-3 is slightly anti-inflammatory. Grain-fed animals produce a much higher ratio of pro-inflammatory omega-6 to anti-inflammatory omega-3. This is the reason some people will tell you that red meat is an inflammatory food.

Sugar: The Anti-Nutrient

The dental profession has been talking about sugar for the last sixty years and telling people not to eat it. The official dietary guidelines say that we can consume five or six teaspoons of sugar per day. (The weight of a teaspoon of sugar is 4g). In reality, sugar is completely unnecessary. It is estimated that the average Australian eats about twenty-seven kilograms of sugar every year!

 “Sugar is very addictive. It actually could be described as an anti-nutrient.”
~ Dr Ron Ehrlich

Sugar interferes with many functions in the body, and it is responsible for weight gain. It also results in insulin resistance which is the precursor to type 2 diabetes. 

At any given time we should have between four and eight grams of glucose in our blood. If your blood sugar goes higher than that, then the glucose is converted to glycogen in the liver and stored. Once that storage capacity is full, the excess glucose will be stored as fat. 

Sugar is hidden everywhere. It is not just the granulated sugar you add to your tea and coffee. A single sugar-laden cold drink can contain ten teaspoons of sugar. And don’t forget the sugar in biscuits, cakes, chocolates, and sweets. If you read food labels, you will be surprised where you find sugar.

Any carbohydrate foods that the body breaks down quickly also result in a spike in blood sugar. Foods such as potatoes, rice, and pasta should also be kept to a minimum in a healthy diet.

The Importance Of A Healthy Gut Microbiome

We share our digestive tract with trillions of microbes. You could argue that the human body is simply a vehicle for microbes. Some are harmful, but most of them that reside in your gut offer significant health benefits. 

Your diet determines how healthy the microorganisms in your gut are. Whenever you put something in your mouth you should be thinking: “Am I feeding friend or foe?” Maintaining the ideal balance between friendly bacteria and harmful bacteria is important. They help us break down parts of our food that we cannot digest ourselves.

 “With diversity comes resilience, and with resilience comes health. So our relationship with microbes is really important.”
~ Dr Ron Ehrlich

The best way to feed your gut microbiome is to eat healthy food.

Foods high in fibre such as fruit, vegetables and whole grains provide fuel for healthy bacteria. Refined carbohydrates and sugars feed the bad guys, causing an imbalance between the friendly bacteria and the harmful ones. The result is poor health.

When it comes to eating a healthy diet, go back to basics. Eat good food that your great-grandparents would recognise. Make sure it is grown in nutrient-rich soil so that it is nutrient-dense and provides your body with all the good nutrition it needs. Good health comes from good nutrition.

Thanks to Brent Bultitude for Hosting Dr Ron on 2HD Radio

Follow Brent at Radio Station 2HD for all his latest shows, including several with Dr Ron.

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