Making healthy decisions is one of the greatest challenges to the modern world, as is clearly demonstrated by the horrific rates of poor health and modern disease. The problem is that the subject at hand includes a collection of difficult topics, including (but not limited to) nutrition and physiology, both of which are much more complex than is typically taught to and appreciated by the public.
Although we spend much of our time learning which specific actions will best help our bodies, the reality is that the body has its own systems for deciding how it responds to what we give it. This means that the ultimate state of our health is largely up to the decisions made by these complex systems, and not necessarily a direct, linear effect of what you decide to put into it.
Because of this, there is a need for a new framework of understanding of how our decisions lead to the ultimate state of health. This new framework for making healthy decisions would appreciate the body for the complex system that it is.
I developed The Reprogrammed Systems Models to fill this need – to help you understand how your decisions impact your body, how your body responds to these decisions, and ultimately, how your state of health arises.
Understanding The Basics
The traditional model for making healthy decisions makes us hyper-focused on specific components of a food while ignoring the greater complexity of the food. While we focus on individual variables, we lose sight of the bigger picture that is the ultimate state of health that arises.
To demonstrate, let me walk you through one specific example.
Saturated fat and cholesterol are two dietary components that have been demonized for decades. The reason?
There is strong data to suggest that elevated levels of cholesterol or saturated fat correlate with unhealthy outcomes. This has led to the widespread advice to lower consumption of cholesterol and saturated fat. But is this the healthy decision for you?
Consider the following:
- Consuming saturated fat or cholesterol does not necessarily increase the levels of cholesterol or saturated fat in your body. Your body has the ability to synthesize these biomolecules and will regulate these levels based on other factors (1).
- In reality, other factors may have a significant impact on the level of a certain factor in your body. For example, consuming excess or refined carbohydrate results in de novo lipogenesis, the synthesis of fat from other biomolecules (e.g. carbohydrate). The primary product of this process is a saturated fatty acid, palmitic acid, and get gets shipped around the body in the cholesterol filled particles that we know to play a crucial role in the development of atherosclerosis (LDL).
- In this case, it is the consumption of refined carbohydrate that actually drives up internal levels of saturated fat and cholesterol.
Does this mean that we should ignore the advice to consume less saturated fat and cholesterol and we should really just consume less carbohydrate, as some studies (2) may suggest would be beneficial?
Possibly, but not necessarily, as the effect of saturated fat intake on markers of poor health get non-linear very quickly (see reference 3 for a good example of this), and this is when things begin to get complex and people begin to lose interest.
Which is why we need to re-think how we approach healthy decisions entirely. What we need is a different framework from which to base our decisions – one that takes the focus off of the specific nutrients and instead turns the attention towards what is most important.
What is most important to understand for making healthy decisions?
Now that we understand that our decisions do not linearly impact the physical state of our bodies, and instead impact them in a complex, non-linear fashion, we must move forward with a framework that truly helps us understand how our decisions lead to a healthier or unhealthier body.
To begin, head back to The Reprogrammed Systems Models page and follow along with the tutorial, or jump right in with the first article here to see what the most important information is to begin making healthier decisions.
Also, make sure to head over to the side-bar to sign up for my weekly blog where I take you through The Reprogrammed Systems Models.
References
1. Volk, B. M., Kunces, L. J., Freidenreich, D. J., Kupchak, B. R., Saenz, C., Artistizabal, J. C., … Volek, J. S. (2014). Effects of step-wise increases in dietary carbohydrate on circulating saturated fatty acids and palmitoleic acid in adults with metabolic syndrome. PLoS ONE, 9(11), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0113605
2. Volek, J. S., & Feinman, R. D. (2005). Carbohydrate restriction improves the features of Metabolic Syndrome. Metabolic Syndrome may be defined by the response to carbohydrate restriction. Nutrition and Metabolism, 2, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1186/1743-7075-2-31
3. Enos, R. T., Davis, J. M., Velazquez, K. T., McClellan, J. L., Day, S. D., Carnevale, K. a., & Murphy, E. A. (2013). Influence of Dietary Saturated Fat Content on Adiposity, Macrophage Behavior, Inflammation, and Metabolism: Composition Matters. The Journal of Lipid Research, 54, 152–163. https://doi.org/10.1194/jlr.M030700