Friday, March 11, 2011

Rotations of foods, continued.

In response to my last post, another person asked this question:
I read your latest post and was interested in reading your answer and was wondering what the source was for your answer. This is a topic I have found very interesting because the holistic practitioner I see does tests on a machine called an Asyra and often finds foods that we are not allergic to, but just have to rotate. These foods change a lot and she has told me just to be careful to rotate through foods and not eat too much of the same thing in a given week. Outwardly we had no signs that we were not tolerating these foods, they just showed up when tested. It's interesting, because I didn't tell her what I was eating and in thinking back, I realized that I had eaten a lot of the food that showed up.
I have also heard that eating the same foods consistently can sometimes create allergies.
Have you heard any of this before?
Thanks for letting me pick your brain! Crossing over into the holistic world has been interesting and since some of it seems to work, but has no scientific backing, I'm trying to filter through things, but a lot of times, it's just hard to come up with solid evidence.
I guess I need to expound on my initial comments on the idea of intolerance to certain foods due to overuse!

I strongly agree with the principle of rotation. Most people typically buy the same 20 items and eat those very consistently, and this isn't optimal nutrition. Good nutrition principles include rotation, variety and moderation. This is the practical application of eating seasonally as much as possible.

I typically ascribe to a philosophy on nutrition summarized this way:
Moderation not elimination without excess.
This means that you should use a moderate, not extreme approach to nutrition. I believe this is biblical. There is no biblical basis for an "optimal" diet. In fact, Paul specifically warns people against using their dietary restrictions as a basis for superiority. I believe in wise nutrition and avoiding eating things that are harmful to your body. The parameters for using wisdom are very individual-- generally, most people benefit from eating a diet high in nutrient-rich foods and less in volume overall.

I also am a very firm believer that good nutrition means nothing if you are not physically active. Putting supreme gas in a high end sport car does nothing if you don't drive.

Most of all, I must reiterate/agree with you that holistic and traditional medicine are still both PRACTICES, not sciences. Most time people go astray in nutrition because, in my opinion, they are caught up in the "proof", when we have to remember all medicine is practiced based on best known practices, not absolutes.

There are very few things that are absolute in nutrition. Every year we learn additional, new evidence about certain chemical properties in food that are helpful or harmful to our body. It can seem at times like science contradicts itself. All we can choose to do is obey Him, eating with a faith-filled, wise approach.Sifting through all the information out there can be daunting. I believe we can choose to live in the good of what we do know is true and live in wonder, knowing that God knows all the million microscopic reasons for his edible creation.
 

2 comments:

Kathy Lambros said...

Thanks Nora very helpful and well round I too think most people put way too much trust in doctor who practice medicine they can be helpful but our trust is ultimately in God.

Kathy Lambros said...

Thanks for your wisdom Nora. I too believe people put way too much trust in doctors who are trained to practice medicine they are helpful at times but our trust is to be in our God not doctors.