You are what you eat

All right, I’m on a soap box today!

I was reading this article in the Globe and Mail: “One tiny detail spoils that shocking organic milk headline: It was wrong.” 

There was a line in this article that struck me. “Even in winter, our tests have found that the feed cows eat can have an effect on the milk they produce.” 

Really? You don’t say… (insert font ‘Sarcastica’)

I find it amazing that people are shocked to learn that what they eat effects their body. Or in the case of the cows, what they eat effects their milk.

This reminded me of a training I attended a couple of years ago and we were listening to a talk by a psychiatrist, well established, practicing for many years, well respected in the community. I raised my hand and asked the question, “Do you think the red food dyes added to food, like hot dogs, effect behaviour?” (The news had reported, at that time, that red food dye in hot dogs caused or worsened ADHD, a topic he was there to discuss.)

“No,” he said.

“You don’t think the food a child eats effects their behaviour?”

“No, food shouldn’t effect their behaviour at all.”

And at that point I stopped listening to him, and lost much respect.

OF COURSE WHAT WE EAT EFFECTS OUR BEHAVIOUR! And our physical health, mental health, focus, sleep, everything!

I was shocked to hear a professional doctor state this. Seeing the same idea conveyed in the article (who cares if it’s about cows and not people) just made me see red.

The old adage, ‘you are what you eat,’ is true. Our intake affects our output. Period.