I often hear people use the saying "moderation in all things" to justify almost anything they do that they know is not really good for them, particularly in relation to food.  I don't think anyone really stops to think about what they're saying (which is usually the case anytime we try to justify something), but I would like to really delve into this concept further.

What, exactly, does "everything in moderation" mean?  That literally everything we do is okay as long as it's in moderation?  Hmmm, so, say, Russian Roulette is okay, as long as you play it in moderation?  Or is Russian Roulette actually a version of trying to kill yourself in moderation, since there's only one chance in what, six, that you will?  I realize that's a really extreme example, but you see where I'm going with this.

Let's relate that to things we put into our mouths.  Poison in moderation?  Petroleum in moderation?  Excitotoxins that kill brain cells in moderation?  Drugs in moderation?  Pesticides in moderation?  Anti-freeze in moderation?  Think I'm getting carried away again here??  Well, you can find every single one of these things in processed foods on the grocery store shelf.  Yep, you read that right.  Artificial food dyes are petroleum products.  There are pesticides in virtually everything and hormones and drugs in the animal products, like meat and milk.  Monosodium glutamate is an excitotoxin (yes, toxin) that kills brain cells.  It's put into your food not to enhance the actual product but to drug your tongue so that it tastes the food more acutely.  It's basically hallucinogenic speed for your tongue (so that those nacho cheese Doritos taste like a lot more than they really are.  Why else would you eat them??).  Oh, yes, and propylene glycol in the ingredients list?  Yep, that's antifreeze.

Now don't get me wrong -- I actually believe in the sentiment, but I'm very clear on what it means to me and it's not a convenient excuse to treat my body poorly.  I believe that moderation in all GOOD things is a good idea.  I don't think it's a good idea to eat the very same thing every day, day after day.  Variety is good, too.   But we all know that it's not good to eat too much sugar or too much fat or too much protein -- too much of anything, really, is not all that healthy for us.   THAT is where the moderation should come in.  I can eat all good things with moderation and be healthy.  I don't have to eat salads every day all day to have a healthy body.  And since I don't love salads, how happy am I going to be in my healthy body if that's all I eat?

I think moderation is really about balance.  And I don't think you can be in balance when you're eating garbage.  Garbage in = garbage out.  You wouldn't scoop some garbage out of the compost pile and drop it into the soup pot, would you?  Of course, not; the whole thing's garbage now.  Well, it's the same principle.  Garbage is garbage no matter what name you give it.  And by the way, that compost is much healthier for your body than chemicals, drugs, and poisons.  Think about it.

Do I eat sugar?  Yes, I do.  I eat it in small amounts, from high quality sources that are minimally processed, in combination with healthy proteins and fats.  I don't eat it by itself and I don't eat it mindlessly until I'm stuffed.  I enjoy every bite.  Same thing goes for fats and proteins.  I don't eat any of them by themselves and I eat them all in balance, in just the amounts my body needs.  That's the important thing, not to avoid any actual food group.  We need proteins, we need carbs, and we need fats, and we need them in the right balance with each other.

But I eat only real stuff;  as "clean" as possible, meaning without chemicals and as little processing as possible.  I eat organic as much as possible and especially for the things that matter most.  I don't eat anything that's been altered in a lab, like hydrogenated fats or high-fructose corn syrup.  If I have to eat out, I try to eat somewhere that uses real food, like Chipotle or the Whole Foods deli.  And because I eat so clean, once in a while I enjoy a meal out at a regular restaurant (NOT fast food), but not very often, because I don't like the way I feel afterward.  That's real balance, because it's not worth it to me to spend any more days feeling yucky, now that my body feels pretty darn good.  Once you clear out the gunk, that junky food really doesn't have as much appeal any more.  Maybe that's how you know you really ARE in balance.

So, you might be asking, "Well, doesn't natural health mean we shouldn't have to do all this stuff to be healthy?"  Okay, well, maybe if we were still living in Eden.  But we're not.

Our soil is depleted of nutrients required to grow healthy plants for food and then our produce is sprayed with chemicals and poisons (to kill weeds and bugs), picked before it's ripe, shipped thousands of miles to the consumer, warehoused and sprayed with waxes to make it look pretty.  Livestock raised for food eat this same depleted food, usually not the type they were born to eat, and raised in conditions that are not only not natural, but create unhealthy animals which are then given drugs to ward off or treat disease.  There's also all the stuff that's sold as food, but can only be most kindly referred to as food- like substances because it's made up of chemicals and some things that started out as food but have been chemically altered to make them act differently (and therefore act differently in our bodies).  Have you checked the ingredients in a nacho cheese Dorito, lately?  There's nothing "real" in it; even the corn is genetically modified and the oil chemically altered through hydrogenation.  And then we eat this stuff and expect to be healhy?  Our food is not natural anymore.

Our air and water are polluted, and chemicals are everywhere: in our clothes, our homes, our cookware, the packaging our food comes in, the products we clean our homes and clothes and bodies with.  And don't even get me started on the hair and make-up products we use.  Oh, and then there's the radiation and electromagnetic fields we're constantly exposed to, the artificial lights at hours that interfere with our natural sleep cycles, and on and on.

Our bodies are trying to cope with more and more environmental stressors while being fed with nutritionally-deficient food.  How could that equation possibly work to our advantage?!

I really can't keep from snickering every time someone is discussing a possible nutritional deficiency they have and then says, "Well, what foods contain that vitamin/mineral?  I prefer to get my nutrients from foods rather than supplements."  And this is usually from someone who totally lives on processed foods and fast-food restaurant fare.  Oh, sure, they might cook most nights, but the ingredients primarily come out of a can or a box.  You can't eat enough of those foods to correct a nutritional deficiency and if you try, you'll be as big as a house and still under-nourished.

And let's please be realistic about those "Nutritional Facts" on the side of the box.  Yes, enriched white flour boasts significant amounts of certain nutrients -- because they stripped out everything of value and then added back in some cheap forms of vitamins and nutrients.  There's no way our bodies absorb and metabolize those "nutrients" in the same way they do when it comes in its whole food form.  There are lots of forms of every vitamin and mineral out there and they are NOT all equal.

So, unless you can find a plot of land free of all that pollution and organically grow your own food and shun all the modern conveniences you've been raised to appreciate, YES, actually, you DO have to do some stuff to help your body cope and still be healthy despite the unhealthy environment  you live in.

Of course, the more things you do to give your body real foods and limit your exposure to all the yucky stuff, the less extra things you'll have to do to feel great.  But if you're not feeling totally healthy and energetic, chances are you didn't get this way overnight and it's not going to be fixed overnight.  Obviously, the more healthy changes you make, the healthier you'll be.

So, where do you start and what should you do first?  Well, keep reading.  You're in the right place!