My trademarked House of Health System
When it comes to dietary theories, we don’t live in pyramids, we live in houses. My House of Health system makes much more sense.
When I first went back to school to study nutrition, the school where I studied boasted about covering all the dietary theories. The moral of the story is that there is no one dietary theory that works for everyone all the time. I learned loads more to back that up in the 10 years I’ve been counseling clients on food and health issues.
Each of us are uniquely individual with different needs depending on our heritage, our lifestyles, location, age, season and much, much more. To try to jam all of that diversity into something like the USDA food pyramid is both insane and impossible.
The government food pyramid fails miserably, with huge conflicts of interest from the milk and meat lobbies, your health and wellbeing is not being served. Very few Americans follow the food pyramid recommendations much less fully understand them. What do all those pyramid’s rainbow stripes stand for? Heck if I know! This faulty food pyramid is impossible to teach and basically useless.
People don’t live in pyramids, they live in houses. I have created a system that works for everyone. It’s based on common sense and includes the big picture view of optimal health. My House of Health system is a memorable metaphor that all ages can connect with.
Part 1: Food is the foundation of your health
The first pillar of my house model: Food is the foundation and framework. Our food can either strengthen or weaken our infrastructure. Remember the story of the three little pigs? The pig who built his house out of straw was eating poor quality food, the one who made his house of bricks was eating much better.
When eating and when building a house, remember individuality. Look around your own neighborhood, each house if different. This concept is essential because it is ultimately up to each of us to determine what foods will optimally nourish us.
Please note that I personally do not know the right foods that you should be eating. No one does but you! I work as the guide on the side to help you in that journey Beware of any outside “authorities” they are often pushing something, such as the latest “superfood” or supplement.
Part 2: Many other non-food details make a house a healthy home.
Always remember that YOU are your own expert. But keep in mind that the right combination of foods is just one component of creating optimal health
The 2nd pillar of my HOH system is what makes a house a home. Once you’ve got a solid framework with the food, your house is empty. You’ll still need additional components to make that house a home. These are the non-food sources of nourishment things like sleep, sunshine, movement, laughter, touch and community. These factors are as important as veggies in creating good health. If you want to sustainably lose weight or build better health, you’ve got to consider all three pillars in the House of Health model
Part 3: We live and eat differently each season.
Last but not least, the 3rd pillar has to do with home maintenance and seasonality. You know that as a homeowner, you’re never really finished. It’s the same with our food and health. We must constantly keep up with what is happening in the world of real food. As for seasonality, we live differently in summer than we do in winter, the same goes with our food.
Ok, so what foods should we eat? I created a continuum for food selection. This is not a black and white issue: healthy or unhealthy, there are shades of grey. I’ll explain more about the continuum in a future blog post. Looking at food choices in this way will help to build your intuitive muscle around food selection
This continuum along with the HOH system will empower you and your family to cut through the confusion and build your critical thinking skills around food and health.
