How your food is grown is more important than what you eat
“In less than a single century we have devastated our global soil systems, for which we are now witnessing the collapse of human biology”.
My summary of Module Three: ‘Fuel’ from The Journey of Intrinsic Health
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Before we talk about food and nutrition, it’s important to better understand the broader context of the system in which our food is grown.
This is something I’ve been deeply interested in, and learning about, for a few years now.
Through my research, it’s become increasingly - and alarmingly - clear that our current industrial food system is making us sick. Very sick.
In most western countries, rates of almost every chronic disease (which includes diabetes, cancer, heart disease, autoimmune, alzheimers and so on) are accelerating, fast.
The US alone now spends over $3.8 trillion a year on ‘healthcare’, which is more public friendly way of saying ‘managing illness and disease’. That figure is also rapidly increasing.
From an economic perspective, this illness and disease management is the most lucrative industry that has ever existed on this planet.
Food isn’t the only cause of our sickness epidemic, but it’s certainly a major contributor, and perhaps the primary one.
While technological progress in agriculture over the last century was supposed to bring about the end of global hunger, provide food security, and engineer the best possible nutrient availability, the reality is, in many instances, it has done the opposite…
Today, 97% of our global soils are now classed as depleted or severely depleted.
Estimates suggest we have less than 60 harvests remaining. Ever.
The US is losing over 10,000 farms a year.
Farm debt is at an all time high, with more than half of farms in the US unprofitable.
Farmers have the highest rates of suicides across any profession.
Around 40% of the US $88 billion in farm income expected this year will come in the form of federal aid and insurance.
345 million people globally are food insecure. Almost a million are experiencing famine right now. These numbers are up 10x from 5 years ago.
Most of our produce is between 2 and 10 times less nutrient dense than it was 20 years ago.
Droughts, floods and extreme weather events in agricultural centres are increasingly frequent (often as a result of our agricultural practices).
in 1945, 45% of Americans grew food in their own backyard, today that figure is less than 0.01%.
Australia has approved more toxic pesticides than any other country on the planet (4x more than the US). In fact, more than 144 agricultural chemicals banned in the EU and the USA, are currently in use in Australia.
It is estimated that globally we spray more than two trillion kilograms of Glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) into the soils, plants and water systems of our planet. (Interestingly, Bayer - the parent company of Glyphosate - has faced over 125,000 lawsuits in the past few years and paid out over US $11 billion in damages…)
To me, none of that sounds like an agricultural system that is conducive to the good health of the people that it feeds.
In less than a single century we have devastated the microbiome of our global soil systems, for which we are now witnessing the collapse of human biology.
So how did we get here?
Well, starting in the 90’s, we incorporated toxic chemicals, pesticides and herbicides like Glyphosate into our industrial farming practices - and did so at serious scale.
This widespread use of pesticides and herbicides has not only destroyed the health and biodiversity of our soils and landscapes, it is now destroying our internal microbiomes - the very foundation of our immune system function.
Coupled (and almost certainly correlated) with this exponential growth in the use of agricultural herbicides and pesticides, the US has now the highest rates of antibiotic usage on the planet.
Almost 8 million pounds (around 3.5 million kilograms) of antibiotics are prescribed each year. This works out to be 830 prescriptions for every 1000 people. That means almost 85% of the US population is taking one course of antibiotics each year.
As we’ve now come to understand the importance of our microbiome (and what antibiotics do to our microbiomes) the pause for concern here cannot be overstated.
To make matters worse, over 30 million pounds of antibiotics are ‘fed’ into animals in the food system (most of which ends up in us and/or in our water systems).
Interestingly, yet unsurprisingly, the map for antibiotic prescriptions in the US almost perfectly matches the map for cancer rates, which also matches the map for glyphosate usage and concentration.
Glyphosate (which itself is an antibiotic) destroys our microbiomes, blocks the absorption of minerals and nutrients and shuts off the development of essential amino acids. All of this makes us weaker and more prone to illness and infections, not to mention the myriad of chronic diseases.
To deal with this we usually prescribe more antibiotics, and so the viscous cycle continues…
Turns out our efforts to avoid viruses and bacteria are killing us.
Our disease is a result of dysfunction, not viruses
In nature, viruses are what carry, pass and swap information at the genetic level, allowing nature itself to adapt and evolve.
There are 10 to the 31 viruses on earth (that’s 10 with 31 zeros after it…). There are 10 to the 15 in the human bloodstream alone, and a similar amount in each breath of air.
These viruses and bacteria do 90% of the immune work in the human body. They are the foundation of your health, vitality and adaptive capacity - not something to be killed and avoided.
The secret to a healthy life is to be resilient to change, and you become resilient and adaptive through the micro-biodiversity of your body.
It’s worth reading my summary of Module 1: Be (if you haven’t already) for more information and context on the extraordinary communication and capability of these trillions of viruses, bacteria and organisms in our bodies, and how damaging Glyphosate is to them.
Now that I’m aware of this, what can I do?
In this module, there was a lot of science around the microbiome, mitochondria, enzymes, nutrients and how food converts to energy in the human body, but for most people (myself included) this is quite complex, and I don’t want to add to the confusion.
To me, the simplest way of thinking about nutrition is to consider, who are you feeding, and what are you feeding them with.
The human cells in your body aren’t capable of eating any of your food. Your microbiome inside your guy and inside your cells are what ‘eat’ your food.
In other words, you are incapable of liberating energy from the food you eat without your microbiome.
The best advice when it comes to what to eat is this: eat a broad diversity of in-season, locally grown, chemical free, whole foods.
That’s it.
Sure, there are nuances as to what foods each individual can tolerate, as no two people (or microbiomes) are the same, so it’s worth experimenting with and exploring what your specific body needs (and also recognise that this changes and evolves over time). But generally speaking, it’s very hard to go wrong with this advice.
It’s also important to acknowledge that you’ll never get it right all of the time. In fact, that’s not even the goal. Just aim to do it as much as possible (for me I’d say 80% is a great benchmark).
Practical tips
In addition to your best efforts to eating a ‘broad diversity of in-season, locally grown, chemical free whole foods’, it’s important to:
Get to know where your food came from - start shopping at your local farmer’s market and get to know your farmers. Avoid buying produce from big supermarkets as much as possible.
Start growing some food in your own garden if possible (even just a kitchen herb garden is a big step in the right direction for your microbiome).
When it comes to chemicals, pesticides and fertilisers, become aware of the dirty dozen and clean fifteen and shop accordingly.
Try to eat as diverse range of colours as possible (greens, yellows, reds, purples, oranges etc).
Incorporate fermented foods as they increase microbiome diversity and nutrient bioavailability. This is how we used to store much of our foods prior to refrigeration.
Chew your food thoroughly and eat with intention (ideally not in front of screens)
Breathe as many diverse ecosystems (beaches, forests, mountains, trails etc) as possible as this will help rebuild your microbial ecosystem.
Eat your meals with as many as people as possible and try to recreate a sense of community - community is what creates resilience and adaptability.
The best part about this is that regeneratively sourced food also tastes far better (seriously!), but that’s a whole other topic.
Supplements can play a role and can certainly help bring you back into balance. But ideally we don’t want to be relying on them (after all, they ultimately only exist because of our disconnection from, and destruction of, natural food systems).
It’s also worth noting that while organic is a big step in the right direction, the organic label says nothing about the soil quality. In fact some organic farms have worse soil health than conventional farms. So where possible, seek our regeneratively grown produce.
Your body is fully capable of regenerating
If a lot of this information is new to you, then this probably wasn’t the most uplifting and inspiring article you’ve read recently, but the good news is that when we start to apply these principles to the food we buy, not only will we start to repair and regenerate our own health, but also the health of the environment.
After all, we are part of nature, and our health is quite literally a reflection of it.
Building relationships with farmers and getting to know where your food came from (and how it was grown) is not only the most important thing you can do for your health, it is a genuinely more fun way to shop, and in my experience, incredibly nourishing for the soul.
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References (I’m happy to share lots more if you are interested in going deeper):
https://time.com/5736789/small-american-farmers-debt-crisis-extinction/
https://farmersfootprint.us/glyphosate-context-and-convergence/
https://www.nrad.org.au/_files/ugd/e0a537_dde0cd1aa3c24363802dc949b7b08f9e.pdf
https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary.php