confessions of a brain-dead moron

I have always had an interest in nutrition, exercise, and natural health.  I suppose that’s what led me to Kansas State University’s dual degree program in Nutrition / Exercise Physiology back in the mid 1980’s.  Wow, did I ever think I had a handle on things back then.  I learned just about everything there is to know about vitamins (THE SYNTHETIC KIND), and was taught all sorts of great dietary truths; like eggs are bad for you because they cause HIGH CHOLESTEROL.  And butter is terrible for you, so everyone needs to eat “Heart Healthy” margarine.  Or that soy is the most wonderful thing going (HERE).  Or that dietary fat is what makes you fat (HERE).  In fact, when I look back on my undergraduate learning experience, I cannot think of very many things in the nutritional field that I learned which were either true or useful (ANOTHER EXAMPLE).

Like I mentioned, one of the laws of nutrition that I learned while at Kansas State was that that dietary fat was the “Great Satan”.   I sat under Ph.D professors who taught me day-in-and-day-out that dietary fat is what makes a person fat — so avoid it like the plague.  Although lip service was paid to the “Good Fats”, I was essentially taught that there is no such thing as a good fat.  I learned that we should all be eating a grain-based diet that is high in pasta, bread, and potatoes (THE FOOD PYRAMID — 8-11 servings of starchy carbs / day).  I was taught that “fortified” and “enriched” products were just as good as unprocessed foods.  Everyone who was in the nutritional “know” knew these great truths and tried to follow them.  Wow, was I ever a moron!

Almost 20 years ago, I noticed that I was fighting to maintain my weight and did not have the same degree of energy that I used to have.  The first thing I did was to cut all fat from my diet, take bunches of expensive synthetic vitamins, and ratchet up my exercise routine to full blast.  It almost killed me.  But I did not understand why.  About that time, the Atkins diet was gaining in popularity.  I read Atkins revolutionary book that actually came out in the early 70’s, and then followed it with a book by a husband and wife team of MD’s (the Eades) called Protein Power.  Although it made a lot of sense metabolically and biochemically, it was so foreign to the thought processes that were engrained into me, I figured I would die if I tried it.

Around that same time I attended my first Whole Food Nutritional Seminar by the brilliant Dr. Janet Lang of St. Louis.  It was there that I started learning about Standard Process (the oldest and most well-known Whole Food nutritional company in America — over 80 years and counting).  I learned about their brilliant founder ROYAL LEE, and the way he was persecuted by the FDA for selling nutritional supplements made from food, instead of selling the crystallized, chemically synthesized, fractionated synthetic substances that we erroneously call vitamins.  I shortened my exercise routine, began avoiding processed grains and sugar, continued loading up on vegetables, and began taking Whole Food Supplements starting with my breakfast drink of GREENS, SP COMPLETE, and ground Flax Seeds, CATALYN and DRENAMIN.  The difference was amazing and almost instantaneous. 

Immediately I had more energy.  And as I ate foods that I had avoided for years, while avoiding foods that had been my dietary staple for 7-8 years, the pounds melted off my midsection.  Don’t ever believe for even a single minute that all FOODS OR NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS are alike.