I eat, therefore I am…what?

I’m of the mind that, when I start seeing a lot of something, I should pay attention. Sure, it’s kind of superstitious, but it never hurts to mull things over, whether you’re getting a lot of that “vibe” or not.

So, this past Monday was my birthday. And Koo (the woman with whom I work and whom I have known for quite a bit over a decade by now) took me to lunch. And it was my birthday, so I ate whatever I wanted. In other words, I stuffed myself with “junk.” A pretty good cheeseburger, sweet potato fries, ice cream for dessert.

And that was kind of my last hurrah, because I knew that I was going to have to break out of my eating slump and get back into biking shape for the season. Last year’s detox, improved diet, and weight loss taught me some valuable lessons about feeling physically better than I have in a long time. It became especially apparent when, after being on actual “good for me” food for an extended period of time, I would grab something “not so good” in a rush and very clearly feel the effects on my energy and digestion shortly after.

So, I’ve been thinking about that this week, and I’ve been good on the smoothies and the eating of fruit and salads for dinner every night (about to go make some right now actually), and at the same time I’m reminded by the eating habits of others around me that it’s about the easiest thing in our rather affluent lives (relative to so many others in the world) to eat poorly. And, sadly, it’s usually too late that we really understand that we can enjoy life to our great benefit through the foods we eat.

I’m not talking about the joys of a good bottle of wine and a thick, juicy steak. Or even beer and hot dogs (I love beer and hot dogs!). I’m saying that by eating well – that is, eating the foods that balance with your body’s needs without loading up on unnecessary carbs and sugars and fats and whatever other processed garbage they can dump on us – undeniably leads to a much better life than most of us have ever experienced.

The tragedy is that when you’re 29, or 34, or even 42, you don’t really notice the sluggishness that comes out of eating so poorly. Your metabolism is up. You’re (generally) more active. You’re out there with friends doing stuff. Even if you’re overweight, you can still get around well enough. But it creeps up on you. You’re 50. You’re 55. You’re 60. And now, pounding a couple of Big Macs and a bowl of ice cream really comes back to haunt you. And not “the next time you step on a scale” haunts you. No. It haunts you that night. You feel like crap. You don’t sleep well. Your body just doesn’t move like it used to. It’s a bad cycle – you’re in that hole because you’re fueling your body with low-grade garbage, and your buddies aren’t there to save you like they did when you were in your 20s. Because what 60 year-old wants to hustle up and down a field playing ultimate frisbee with you now?

So, here I am getting back into a healthy diet after a (far too) long winter layoff, and along comes my dear friend Marty, who, out of the blue, sends me the book, The China Study, which bills itself as “The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted,” and I’m thinking, “I’m seeing a lot of this lately. I’d better pay attention.”

And the guy who wrote the Forward is nailing it already and I haven’t even gotten into the book yet. We live in a “toxic food environment,” where “certain people are making an awful lot of money selling foods that are unhealthy,” he says. “They want you to keep eating the foods they sell, even though doing so makes you fat, depletes your vitality, and shortens and degrades your life.” This isn’t the stuff of conspiracy theories. Just look at the nutritional value of your typical McDonald’s menu item and you’ll see it as clearly as ever – they want you to eat their crap. A lot of it.

Listen. It’s bad for you. It’s pretty much guaranteed to shorten your life. And yet the fast-food industry spends hundreds of millions every year to get you to stuff it in your faces. The more, the better. And the diet and supplement and vitamin industries tag along because they’re making their money trying to get you out of that hole.

And what’s the answer, really? Quite simply, better foods. Fresh, unprocessed foods, moderately portioned and prepared with naturally flavorful seasonings. It’s about breaking the bad habits built by years of getting away with it. And it’s hard. Massively hard. But the payoff is tremendous.

This book, The China Study, is a book I’m going to read. And it’ll take some time. But I get the feeling it’s not going to be telling me something I don’t already know.