You have all seen those crazy ads while browsing the internet haven’t you? You know the ones that say eat these 5 special foods if you want to melt away body fat. Or the ones that say the foods you absolutely must avoid if you want lose your belly. Well today I am going to explore the myth that foods are inherently saintly or inherently evil! You see every food has what I would call a polarity ; a good side and a dark shadow side…calling foods good or bad, fat burning or fat generating is part of the madness that pervades modern folkloric nutrition.

Let’s take a look at some foods that are demonised and some that are elevated to cult like status around the globe.

Kale; the demi God of vegetables.

You can’t open a newspaper or magazine these days without seeing some celebrity munching on her virtuous kale chips or drinking a freshly pressed kale juice. Kale is lauded for its alkalising properties high mineral content, super high fibre content and impressive array of vitamins. Is it the king of vegetables? Hold your horses not so fast. I would be the first to commend Kale on all of these virtues but would add a word of caution.

Kale is a cruciferous vegetable from the family known as brassicas. It is a potent suppressor of thyroid function due to compounds it contains called goitrogens. Many practitioners will be familiar with how epidemic low thyroid function is in today’s modern world especially in females the ones who have embraced kale with open arms.

Coffee.

Now we all know that people who are really saintly don’t do coffee, right? All of that pesky caffeine giving you the jitters and keeping you up all night. Oh and it’s very acidic too, yeah? Well compared to other elements foods have the least potential to alter your bodies Ph.( measure of acidity or alkalinity). Especially since that Ph. is different in all of the different regions of the body.

Coffee is actually the highest source of antioxidants in the diet of adult populations (at least in the USA). Coffee also regenerates beta cells of the pancreas giving you better blood sugar regulation – a god send if you might like a leaner waistline. Oh, and it boosts performance due to the caffeine content and it boosts your mood!

I was interviewing a client this morning and she was telling me that she had a rare genetic disorder called Segawa Syndrome and that the only thing that prevented episodes was coffee. She said “Oh I know I shouldn’t drink it!” On telling me she was on Parkinson’s Meds (a neurological disorder) I knew her body craved the coffee to produce dopamine (the exact same thing that the medication for Parkinson’s does). If she was listening to what her brain was telling her as opposed to what her body knew would be medicinal then she would have to take more medication instead of a natural food.

Green tea.

All of the really clever people don’t do coffee but instead they go for green tea. Rich in antioxidants, calming, lower in caffeine and reported to increase fat-burning! What’s not to like? Recent research from the University of Calcutta (Chandra et al 2013) has shown the quite potent thyroid suppressive effects of green tea. So if you already have a thyroid issue or suspect you have (vast majority of cases go undiagnosed) then maybe it’s time to go easy on this beverage.

Sugar

Could anything on this earth be as evil as sugar? Looking at the number of sugar detoxes and Evil- User- Whore blogs about sugar one would think it is the most satanic of all foods. It’s a “no-brainer” as my American compadres would say. But hold on a minute haven’t athletes being using sugars for decades to enhance performance, recover from hard training AND get leaner physiques!!!!   YES, YES and YES. You see if you know your biochemistry and physiology (and I hope whoever is guiding your training and nutrition does!) certain types of sugars can be manipulated to make you drop body fat and gain muscle!

In my last Blog: Anatomy of a transformation my client was having 60-70grams of pure sugar in his diet 3-4 days a week. As soon as I added the sugar he got even leaner….especially around the Abs!!! Am I saying to stuff your face with chocolate bars ( actually there is a study that shows that chocolate eaters have a lower body mass index ( JAMA, Association Between More Frequent Chocolate Consumption and Lower Body Mass Index , Beatrice A. Golomb, MD et al Mar 26, 2012).

No I am not. The point I am trying to make in this blog is that there are no inherently evil or inherently saintly foods. And whether the good turns to bad or the bad can become good depends on:

The individual in question

The unique hormonal profile of that person

Their unique genetic predispositions

The level of leanness of the individual

The placement of said food at a given time of the day (nutrient timing).

The level, type and intensity of the training.

How often the food in question is eaten.

Any other existing conditions the individual may have.

And more………

So before you demonise one food or eulogise  another remember…

“For everything that lives is Holy”

William Blake