But What Should I Eat?

This is something our patients lament all the time. Should I be gluten-free, sugar-free, salt-free? Paleo, no GMO? Low-carb or low-fat?  What about organic vs non-organic? Shouldn’t we just eat local? What about the new superfood from Peru that cures everything from rickets to cancer?

Nutrition can be a crazy and confusing world.

We hear mixed messages every day about almost every food we put into our bodies and it feels like no matter how hard we try it is impossible to get it right.  Part of our job at StoneTree is to make it easy for you. Here are some simple tips.

Eat Real Food
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Eat food that nature makes. If nature grew it, eat it. If Kraft or Nestle put it together in one of their food product manufacturing facilities, then don’t. This is the one essential rule you need to eat well. Everything that follows builds on that.

Choosing Organic vs Non-Organic
Here’s how we triage when it comes to choosing organics: If it’s local and organic, it’s a winner. Organic means no chemicals and local means very little carbon foot print to deliver it to you. Not to mention the food is picked riper and has more nutrition, not losing any vitamins on it’s long trip from California, Mexico or Florida.

But what about if it’s local and not organic? If it’s not on the dirty dozen list eat local when possible. That supports local farmers and decreases the carbon footprint. And don’t forget to ask your local farmers when they will have an organic option—they need to know it’s important.

The bottom line? If it’s on the dirty dozen list, or it’s dairy, go organic if you possibly can.

Avoid GMO
GMO stands for genetically modified organism–an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering, and used to create genetically modified foods. Those foods are the subject of a lot of controversy.

Why avoid them? To make a food genetically modified, food scientists use a virus to put a desirable gene from another species into the one they are modifying. Don’t want cabbage to freeze? Insert a gene from arctic fish so you don’t have to worry about early low temperatures. Unfortunately, we know very little about what that does to that food, and more importantly what it does to us when we eat it. It’s a big experiment…with viruses. With that in mind, our advice is that avoiding those foods is a wise choice.

Sadly, in Canada GMO is not labeled. However, if a product is certified organic, then one of the criteria for certification is it cannot be GMO. So organic is always the way to go to avoid these foods. The biggest GMO foods are soy, corn and canola.

Finding Local Food
Fortunately, with summer arriving, our local farmers’ markets are open and ready for business. Visit Collingwood and Creemore markets on Saturday mornings, and Stayner on Thursday evening.  Wasaga Beach farmers’ market will start July 2 and will be on Tuesdsay evenings, and Meaford Farmers’ market is Friday evenings. And don’t forget all our wonderful local farm stands!