Why what we eat is so important

By Katherine Erlich, M.D.

Everyone hears the news and knows that there is an obesity epidemic and a crisis in health care.  We oversize, we overeat, we eat too much fast food, too much fat, too much sugar, blah, blah, blah.  At a certain point, people stop hearing it, becoming numb, unsure of how to change, feeling helpless.  But we are not helpless, especially with regards to ourselves and our children.  The consequences of what we eat and how we live surround us.  Obesity is merely one symptom of the underlying chronic disease state that our nation is in.

Looking at our children, who act as our canaries in the mine, we can see that we are in state of epidemic chronic illness:

• The U.S. has the third worst health profile in the world, while outspending every other country on health care.
• Almost 30% of US children are obese.
• The number of children with peanut allergies has doubled in the past 5 years.
• The rate of autism is increasing!  The rate of autism in 2006  was documented by the AAP and CDC to be 1:110 children.  In a later study done in 2007, this rate increased to 1:91 children. Since boys are 4x more likely to have the diagnosis of autism, even using the 2006 data, this translates to 1 in every 28 boys.

• In Michigan, we have seen almost a five-fold increase in autism in the last 10 years (www.fightingautism.org)
• Up to 1 in 10 children have learning disabilities.
• 12% of children have allergies.
• 10 to 15% of children have asthma.
• It is suspected that 1 in 100 people have celiac disease, with most cases starting in childhood, yet the majority of cases go undiagnosed.
• Type II diabetes and heart disease, formerly rare in childhood, are now being seen in children at surprising rates.

These problems cannot be attributed to genetics.  Genetics does not cause epidemics.

Our children are malnourished, as are most US adults.  Yes, you can be obese and still be malnourished.  In fact, most obese people have vitamin and mineral deficiencies, which is partly why they become obese in the first place and find it virtually impossible to loose weight.

How can people be malnourished when they are consuming so much food?

Sadly, the foods that we are eating are devoid of minerals and vitamins.  The chemically fertilized ground in which conventionally grown fruits and vegetables are grown are far less nutrient dense than they were when farmers rotated the crops.  The animals are fed grain rather than grass and consequently the meat becomes less nutritious, high in toxic pesticides, and high in poor quality Omega 6 fatty acids. The foods we eat, such as refined sugar and refined salt, actually make it harder to absorb the nutrients even if they are there. Malnourishment, antibiotics, medication, infections, and imbalances make our guts ”leaky.”

Furthermore, with a high sugar diet, yeast can overgrow in our intestines, making our guts less healthy and even more “leaky.”  A leaky gut allows inadequately broken down foods exposure to the bloodstream.  Here, the immune system sees the food as foreign and attacks it, thus spurring the development of food allergies and food intolerances, increasing the potential for autoimmune disorders.  Seeing these same foods again and again, keeps the body in attack mode, increasing overall inflammation and setting the body up to develop chronic illness.

Lastly, since processed foods are so devoid of nutrients, they bring in nothing to help our bodies process them.  Thus, they effectively leach enzymes, minerals and vitamins from our body, leaving us far worse off after eating them than before.  It’s like drinking sea water when you are thirsty – it will only kill you.

“Kid friendly” food isn’t friendly to our kids’ bodies

Look at any kids’ menu or even the school lunch menu and you’ll see a classic example of the problem.  Start with chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, pizza, grilled cheese sandwich, hot dog, cheeseburger.  Add fries, juice or a pop, and often a dessert.  Clearly, the classic diet of children is full of sugar from candy, drinks, desserts, and white flour.  It is high in sodium (obtained from refined salt which lacks minerals).  It is virtually devoid of fresh vegetables and fruits, and imbalanced with regards to fatty acids.  Kids eat the same limited repertoire of foods multiple times a day, recurrently exposing their guts to dairy and wheat. The processed foods that our children are eating are full of fillers such as soy and corn, which are almost universally genetically modified and coated in chemical toxins.  Yes, they are “fortified,” but fortified with what -with synthetic vitamins that are very difficult for the body to utilize. Also, many of these foods are overcooked or microwaved destroying the limited nutrients and enzymes present in the food.  In the end, our kids are left with unhealthy guts, challenged to heal without the appropriate tools, and open to further exposures; their bodies kept “under attack” and in a state of chronic inflammation.  Chronic inflammation leads to chronic illness, including environmental and food allergies, asthma, autoimmune disorders, abdominal pain, headaches, obesity, attention problems like ADD, autism, depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue, inflammatory bowel, and most other acquired chronic illnesses like heart disease, atherosclerosis, osteoporosis, and arthritis.

Food as medicine

It is up to parents to get past all their own baggage regarding food and, instead begin to view food as a means to provide the necessary building blocks for our bodies to grow and to heal.  Food really is medicine. You are partly what you eat, but really you are truly only what your body can absorb.  Help your kids to heal and give them the gift of maximum potential and longevity.

As my grandmother would say, “Use it in the best of health!”

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