The New Fit Journal is a series exploring the New Fit Movement.

In our last cuisine installment of the NFJ we examined the last 100 years of American eating, monitored an increasing diet induced mortality rate, and a skyrocketing obesity rate starting in 1977 with the full induction of SAD (Standard American Diet).

Our easily observable conclusion was that as we moved away from real food, we got sicker and fatter. The irony is that we have been pushed away from real food. We have been told that we need to reduce saturated fat. That means replacing butter with lab created margarine. That means reducing or not eating eggs. That means drinking skim milk. That means basing a vast majority of your diet on those “healthy” whole grains. Now not to knock those “healthy” whole grains! It’s just that we are absolutely saturated (pun intended) with advertisements of FAKE foods touting that they are packed with whole grains. My favorite slogan is “heart healthy”. If you want to see some absolutely criminal advertising, take a stroll down the cereal isle. Cinnamon Toast Crunch …. oh yeah, it’s heart healthy and packed with whole grains! Honey Nut Cheerios, Golden Grahams, Trix, they are all packed with whole grains and are low fat. Just be sure to use skim milk! That way your insulin spiking, fat storing “meal” will be extra healthy.

Before I hop off this rant, a word about skim milk. It’s healthy right? It’s fortified with vitamin D right? BTW, fortified means the vitamins are synthetically added back to the “food” since the naturally occurring vitamins were stripped out during processing. But back to skim milk … why did nature put fat in milk? Could it be because vitamin D is fat soluble? Sure you are ingesting that synthetic vitamin D with your skim milk, but don’t count on it being used. Why else might there be fat in milk? Perhaps because a proportionate amount of fat would slow down absorption of the lactose (sugar) and blunt the insulin spike?

There are probably more reasons that i could count as to why nature put fat in milk. The point here is to trust nature. When we don’t, we get sick and fat. A bowl of whole grain cereal and skim milk will spike insulin and store fat. Want a heart attach? Stock up on that lab created margarine.

Ok, back on topic. So if our recommendation is to eat real food, what exactly is real food? We have been tricked into believing all sorts of things are food. How can we tell the real food from the fake food? The following is a simple guide.

The Great Great Grandmother Test

Imagine she is walking along with you in the grocery store. Every time you pick something up to put it in the cart you have to run it by her. Does she know what it is? Does it look familiar to her? Does she recognize all of the ingredients?

A no to any of these questions and you probably are not holding real food. Put it back on the shelf where it can last 1,000 years.

Foods Directly from Nature (or Tier I foods)

These exist in nature “as is”.

1. Animal Meat
2. Fish / Seafood
3. Eggs
4. Nuts
5. Seeds
6. Fruits and Vegetables
7. Milk (raw)
8. Rice
9. Beans
10. Potatoes
11. Corn

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but you get the picture. It was either alive yesterday, grew, or you stole it’s potential offspring.

Tier II Foods

These foods are combinations of the above or slightly processed versions of them.

1. Ground Beef
2. Milk (pasteurized)
3. Butter
4. Cheese
5. Cream
6. Bread (sprouted grain and no flour used like Ezekiel Bread)
7. Yogurt

Again, not an exhaustive list but you get the idea. They are not directly from nature. They come from slight processing of the Tier I foods.

Tier III Foods

These are highly processed versions of Tier I or Tier II foods.

1. Bread (flour based)
2. Pasta
3. Canned Foods
4. Oatmeal
5. Cereal
6. Anything flour based
7. Sugar
8. Icecream
9. Cheese Cake

Now some might argue that Sugar should be bumped up a notch. Real sugar cane is nothing like what we know as sugar and this processing is way beyond what nature might have intended. A good comparison is the coca plant. It is directly from nature and the leaves are chewed in some cultures. Process those leaves enough and get cocaine … a completely different substance.

Real Food Recommendations

As you go down the Tiers you get further and further from nature. Our own history has proven that as we do this we get sick and fat. I would like to end with a recommendation for anyone wanting to dig into this further. Micheal Pollan has done some groundbreaking work on this subject. I have read his book “In Defense of Food” and he has a new one out called “Food Rules”. Amanda just finished “Food Rules” and highly recommends this to anyone asking about food.