But I've eaten all sorts of ways and never noticed much if any difference in how I feel.
Millions of people have experienced profound healing effects from changing their diet – aches and pains clear up, no more gas and bloating, sleep better, more energy, less headaches, fewer allergies, the list is endless, the day to day experience completely different.
Further, how I feel doesn't tell me all that much about the state of my health, only about my quality of life.
If you are sad, depressed, anxious etc it’s likely that your body is taking strain too. When you feel fully alive and vibrant your systems are likely trending towards peak performance. Of course one still needs a checkup / test for specific datapoints and anyone can be hit by stuff from out of the blue no matter what you do.
Food is information for your body. It knows what to do with the good stuff and goes haywire when confronted by the bad. Test results are information for your head. A fair bunch of people test well, dare I say even feel good, and die shortly thereafter.
I eat to keep my weight down
I’m not sure I understand. You eat to keep your weight down because it makes you feel better, but feeling better tells you little about your health, yet it is the one positive outcome you can identify. You’re ultimately trying make hay out of a conceptual paradox - health and quality of life aren’t either or, unless you’re simply defining conceptual silos to suit your perception.
We are coming from different places. You are looking to attenuate a condition, I’m looking to optimize function. “Health” is much more than an absence of “disease” to me, (in your case say case excess weight). Good health to me means going beyond "not being sick", "not being fat" etc but is rather an active, vital, robust, resillient state that involves your entire being - physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, spiritually etc.
And my weight has nothing to do with how many veggies I eat or don't eat.
To be expected, it’s much more affected by other things.
Given that there's no good evidence of long-term improvement in outcomes
What are you looking for, one magic bullet study that says vegetables – Yes or No.
Maybe take some vitamins, just in case. <g>
The sad truth is that even if we follow a healthy diet we can still be deficient in nutrients – nutrients in food these days are in many cases much lower than they were in the past. Busy careers, 24/7 on the go lives, late nights, not enough sleep, compromised physical environments etc etc place an enormous stress on the immune system and the body’s ability to function properly. Look what we now know about Vit D3, you can't get enough in your diet for optimal health, or to do so is not practical, you have to supplement.
I would be surprised if anyone reading this wasn't deficient in one way or another, myself included. Fresh whole food a la Terry Wahls is your first line of defense, combined with supplementation, where appropriate. For ex. you may not be sick if you don't take a probiotic, but if you do, your gut is far more likely to be in better health. And a healthy gut is one of the keys to living a healthier life. |
