Winning The War On Good Food – Part 4
See also: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and The War on Good Food
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11. See yourself as involved in and an integral part of a dynamic movement that is larger than you
Many great movements (good or bad) throughout the ages had leaders who were a little bit messianic in their approach, by which I mean they thought their (initially) little movement, even in the earliest days, possibly could change the world or effect it in some profoundly significant way. It is this kind of thinking and deep sense of purpose that attracts people to what you do and believe. It is this kind of thinking that can help give you a sure sense of stability and a laser beam focus in the war on good food. It is this kind of thinking that can help you get through those deep dark moments when you know you are right but you want to quit anyway (in terms of relating to those who are around you or even in your own personal nutritional lifestyle).
In the end, coals burn brightest when they are closely united with others in the same pile. Left alone they ultimately die out with much of their potential still available. This invokes principles 1 and 6 as well. However while principles 1 and 6 renew and maintain enthusiasm, this principle is more rational in its flavor.
You may never fully grasp the length, width, and depth of what is happening overall except for little hints here and there. I am old enough to remember when mainstream folks thought diet had little to do with diseases like cancer, diabetes, etc. Today they still get it wrong as to what kind of diet, but at least they acknowledge diet plays some role in the process. You should read, study, learn, and socialize while always keeping the big picture in mind. Think globally, but act locally.
While our own life is fleeting this isn't just about us but our children and our children's children and beyond. It is about agriculture and health and community. It is about tradition(s) and feasting and pleasure. It is about ignoring government which inevitably ends up being our enemy in the freedom necessary to engage fully in the traditional foods that have nourished us for millenia. It is about the short run and the long run and yes it is bigger than us, and will continue even without us. There are many reasons why disease and sickness are in the world, but to the extent disease and sickness is caused by improper lifestyle and the million and one tentacles that extend from that core, we can have an impact against disease right now in our life today by engaging in the good food war.
12. Understand there will be setbacks
Could it be any other way? You might have some personal health setbacks. Your best buddy might become a secret snicker bar fiend. Your children might go away to college and gain the typical freshman 15 pounds by subsisting on a diet of pizza and top ramen after you spent the last 10 years feeding them the best our bounteous earth has to offer.
Grandma may constantly tempt your children with food you would never provide in your own household. You might blow out your adrenals on a nightly six month drinking binge because you are secretly mourning over some setback in another area of your life. Who knows where the challenges might come from, but be assured you won't win them all. Yet one battle lost does not effect the entire course of a war. Just pick yourself up, knock of the dust, get back in the saddle, and be thankful you live to fight another day.
13. Learn to read a study
This is probably the only point in this entire series where I am deliberately asking you to do something proactive that doesn't involve your attitude or disposition. Learning to read a study has several great benefits:
- Increasing your own confidence in traditional foods by learning to think for yourself and actively evaluate information
- Demystifies the world of science and medicine enabling you to see when they get it wrong, sometimes very wrong. Doctors and scientists have their own biases and blind spots and are prone to be as (negatively) dogmatic and cultic as anyone else, though such problems are usually hidden under the haze of scientific nomenclature. Human nature doesn't change when someone becomes a scientist or doctor, nor is the scientific method any guarantee against the propensities of human nature. Learning to read a study will make that abundantly clear to you.
- The media is constantly talking about this study or that study, and you will be equipped when naysayers start quoting a study for you that has been trumpeted by the media. Many media reports of studies and what they mean are flat out wrong. Many of the abstracts summarizing a study in a journal summarize it incorrectly. Peer Review doesn't solve this problem (see The Grinch Who Stole Science). Competence brings confidence. And if you do your homework in this area you will be well equipped for the battle when skirmishes about studies occur.
Just today I was listening to a podcast where the speaker was noting a book authored by two Harvard University trained teachers which said people should not eat high cholesterol foods like coconut oil and food from other fatty plant sourced oils. There is only one problem. Cholesterol doesn't exist in the plant kingdom. Yes, and these folks were trained and now teach at Harvard. It reminds me of the music video below, Blinded By Science.
14. Understand a prophet is without honor in his own country.
You may have an impact among your peers, but those who know you best will often believe you the least. There is something about knowing the terrain of a person's private life -- their strengths and weaknesses -- that often causes us to not take seriously what they say in a given area.
Part of this phenomenon can be attributed to a problem of perception. If you have been a banker or painter all your life, don't expect your family to all of sudden start paying attention to you about all things nutrition, especially if your advice is contradictory to someone they know who is a certified "expert" in this area, like a doctor, dietitian, etc.
Part of this phenomenon stems from a genuine credibility gap. In other words if you talk the talk but don't walk the walk you shouldn't expect anyone who knows you personally to pay much attention to your prognostications about nutrition.
And some of it is…well…they know you….and an expert is usually someone we don't know. 
15. Fast
Occasionally take a fast away from all the foods you think are important. I don't mean go on a liquid fast (although this is certainly one way to do it) but rather make yourself a small little meal and go off somewhere and relax. Forget about it. Stop obsessing. Go for a hike with just a couple of genuine pemmican bars. Do some intermittent fasting now and then. Treat yourself to a meal where someone else is the cook and you weren't in the kitchen the whole time checking everything out to make sure it is okay.
Discipline your body in such a way that you are the master, able to leave the hubbub of its incessant needs for a refreshing and recreating time out. After that hike with the pemmican bars skip the evening meal and take in a book, a movie, a glass of wine. Walk away from the battle sometimes so you can get a fresh perspective and develop renewed strength for what lies ahead.
16. Feast
Occasionally have a big festive to-do with your family and friends. Invite many, crack open your best stuff, make it a potluck if you have to, but most of all just flat out enjoy yourself (and keep your mouth shut about healthy food). Control the cooking if you must but the point of this is to celebrate family and friends and all the many things you have in which to be thankful. Let the bonding power of food, which exists whether it is good food or bad food, draw you closer to those who are the most meaningful in your life. None of us can live without food. Let it work in your favor even with people who don't share the same nutritional principles as you do.
17. Remember, not everyone is going to like you
Face it. No matter what you do, some people will never get with the program. Some people will be highly reactive. Some people, no matter how winsome your personality, how salubrious and artistic your cooking skills, and how persuasive your arguments are still going to think of you as freak, fanatic, both or more. That's life. Live with it if you want to remain a good soldier in the battle or retire from the fray if the pressure is too much for you.
Whatever you do don't remain in the middle, trying to eat well and at the same time obsessing about family, friends, and neighbors because they are not going along with the program. You won't be any good to anybody in that mode. You may perhaps destroy or hinder your own health through unnecessary stress as well as freaking out others and making further unattractive any desire to adopt a good food program. So smile, eat your food, and get on with your life. Being a happy warrior has its own benefits, whether or not those close to you join in.
18. It is the pattern, not the occasional use, that is the issue
It usually comes as a verbal hand tossed grenade. The person throwing it thinks they have you dead to rights. Someone brought home a bag of donuts and you ate one or two of those junk food monstrosities. Perhaps your "eat anything he wants and never get fat uncle" brought by some Domino's pizza and you chowed down on a piece or two or three. Then the look. The silly grin, and the exclamation, sometimes openly said and sometimes not, "man I thought you were a health food eater." Then they walk away feeling extremely relieved that the pressure on their conscience of a healthy example has, at least by their way of thinking, been removed.
What should you do? Ignore them. If you feel the need to respond you can remind them that just as working out in a gym once a year (or whatever interval you choose) isn't going to build a body like Lance Armstrong, eating a piece of bad food on occasion isn't going to hurt you.
One natural healer I know made the comment once that what you do 5-6 days a week is far more important than what you do the other 1 or 2 days. There is a lot of truth in that statement. Know your body of course (if you at the stage where you cannot make a deviation then by all means don't, refer to principle number 9), but the occasional deviation isn't going to much matter (if you are basically healthy) and the rocket launched objection people try to send your way as a result will turn out to be just a water pistol if you handle it properly.
19. Keep it all in perspective
In the end it is only food. Sickness and poor health can highlight its importance and you should pay attention but in the end it is still only food. As with work so with food -- as important as they are, neither will make us immortal or substitute for other important aspects of our lives.
Work and food are necessary and in the right context can be enjoyable, fulfilling, and fun, but they aren't the most important things in the world, although they can serve as avenues to some very important things. Just remember that food, like work, does not lead to salvation. After all in the end we are all going to die.
Make the most of your physical life as you walk this earthly sphere, but keep a balance. One reason why we adopt good food in the first place is to remain healthy so we can enjoy the many other joys and pleasures life has to offer without the burden of sickness.
While good health is a joy in its own right, if food becomes a barrier to enjoyment, it defeats the purpose of the whole enterprise. This doesn't mean we have to compromise, but it does mean there are some things more important than food. Enjoy them. If I have to tell you what they are then you are probably already a casualty in the war on good food.
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Michael Miles is the editor of Nutrition and Physical Regeneration
