The Changing Nature of the Modern Meal
In a lot of ways the history of our culture is a history of food. But this has been somewhat derailed in recent times. It wasn't that long ago when people could more or less define themselves as a provider for the family. If people were eating than they were doing well. The whole idea of having too much food that it'd make us unhealthy would have been considered a joke. The concept of too much food would be a ridiculous impossibility for most of human history.
But the past couple generations have changed. We're now at a point where over 70% of the US population is either obese or overweight. And it gets even worse when we're looking at simply having enough excess fat to pose health
concerns . Then it's 90% of men and 80% of women in the developed world. The questions of why this is the case and what we can do about it tend to go together.
A time to start and some things to consider
Thankfully, positive action is available to us at almost any time. The fact that we have access to so much food can be a mixed blessing. On one hand, it's part of what's responsible for the modern obesity crisis. But at the same time it means that we always have food choices available to us when we decide to tweak our diet.
But there's one point that's usually best to begin. When we start a diet in the summer we've got that
motivation to drive us forward . We want to be out in the world. We want to look and feel our best. And it's a good diet which can make all of that happen.
What's caused our weight problem
It's easy to blame the sheer amount of food for our modern weight crisis. But it might be better to consider what it is we're eating and why. Really look at the calories you're eating on a day to day basis. It's usually coming from one of two places. It's usually empty calories from snack or junk food. Or it might be empty calories which come from food additives.
And those food additives can really mess up a good thing. Try totaling up the calories from homemade vegetable soup. Now go to the store and look at what you see in the pre-made and heavily processed soups. The calories are usually far higher in the store. And the nutrients within it far lower than you'd expect. Basically, modern food tends to be high in empty calories.
Taking care of your body and spirit
This is where the
Pegan diet or similar choices come into play. More and more people have been asking about the pegan diet. And in large part because the people following it are among the few who really show progress when making a dietary change.
Basically, it puts together a keto based diet with a vegan ideology. The short of it is that this seems to be one of the few diets that really works. But again, it's important to ask why it works so well. Lack of understanding of what goes into a diet is how our culture wound up in such bad shape.
The diet has two main elements. The keto part of the diet helps to burn off one's excess fat. Meanwhile the vegan diet ensures that people aren't actually adding to the fat they're trying to get rid of. This takes care of one of the larger issues of a standard keto diet. Keto is often good, but there's enough wiggle room there that people can sabotage themselves.
Which diet should you choose
The pegan diet is one of the best choices due to the fact that it mixes and matches to create the best possible diet. But it's also important to remember that all of the parts have something to offer. Keto is great for simply burning fat. And a vegan diet ensures that you're living closer to the way people did in the past. Basically, avoiding heavily processed foods and empty calories. Either can help you look and feel great this summer.
Getting started
But the most important thing is to simply work up the enthusiasm to get started. This really can be the summer where you get a chance to shine. But it only starts when you make an active decision to do so.