Look around. Notice how many people are overweight or struggling with chronic health issues like heart disease and diabetes. This modern health crisis reveals the deep flaws in the Standard American Diet. To realign with our bodies’ natural rhythms, experts suggest adopting an ancestral diet modeled after the traditional foods humans evolved eating for centuries. This article explores why ancestral nutrition is the key to revitalizing our health.
How the Standard American Diet Fails Us
The typical Western diet, fittingly nicknamed SAD, predominately consists of processed convenience foods packed with sugar, unhealthy fats, and artificial ingredients. This modern way of eating cultivates preventable diseases that were rare for our ancestors.
Sugary sodas, fast food, refined grains, and packaged snacks high in salt, fat, and calories dominate the Standard American Diet. The few whole foods tend to be refined grains rather than the vegetables, fruits, beans and nuts that provide optimal nutrition. The modern food industry capitalizes on our evolutionary cravings for fat, salt and sugar to sell addictive hyper-palatable products with little nutritional value.
The catastrophic health impacts of the Standard American Diet are clear from modern health statistics.
- Over 40% of Americans are obese, raising their risk for diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
- An estimated 10% of adults already have diabetes directly caused by poor lifestyle habits. Experts estimate that this number will rise significantly in the near future if we don’t change our eating habits.
- Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are also widespread due to over-reliance on processed foods.
By abandoning traditional whole foods, the Standard American Diet has fueled an unprecedented epidemic of diet-related chronic illnesses. The solution lies in revisiting the ancestral diets humans thrived on for millennia.
What Our Ancestors Ate and Why It Worked
Despite regional variations, ancestral diets shared certain key traits that optimized health:
- Focus on minimally processed, locally grown seasonal foods
- Plant-centric with abundant vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds
- Healthy fats like olive oil, avocado and oily fish
- Fermented/cultured foods to support gut health
- Complementary high activity levels from daily life
This traditional nutrition supplied nutrients and antioxidants to prevent disease. Fiber-rich plant foods promoted gut health. Fermented foods provided probiotics for immunity and digestion. The active lifestyles of our ancestors prevented obesity and diabetes. They enjoyed nutritional wisdom that we must reclaim.
Shifting to Ancestral Eating in the Modern World
Adopting an ancestral diet today requires mindset shifts:
- Reconnect with local, sustainably raised food sources
- Prioritize nutrition over convenience
- Honor your body’s signals instead of fad diets
- Value time-tested traditional wisdom over trends
On a practical level:
- Learn from ancestral nutrition resources
- Meal plan around seasonal, local ingredients
- Take cooking classes on ancestral preparations
- Grow your own food or join a CSA
- Eliminate processed foods and make staples yourself
- Join online ancestral diet communities for support
Overcoming Transition Hurdles
Change is rarely easy, but with commitment and the right strategies, you can smoothly transition to ancestral eating patterns. Here are some approaches to make the shift more manageable:
- Severely limit sugar intake, even from natural sources like honey or fruit juice. Our ancestors only had seasonal access to ripe fruits, so sugar should be restricted as much as possible. Rely on whole fruits for occasional sweet treats.
- Address emotional or stress eating through practices like mindfulness, journaling, therapy, exercise, social support, and self-care activities. Find healthy outlets besides food for coping and comfort.
- Explain your ancestral diet needs to navigate social pressures. Bring approved foods to share at potlucks. Politely decline off-plan offerings or have just a small serving. Help family understand your motivation is long-term health.
- Satisfy cravings with ancestral diet approved foods. Try nuts or dark chocolate for crunch, avocado or nut butters for creamy cravings, and fruits or herbal teas as sweets.
- Slowly adjust taste preferences by cutting back on salty, sugary and processed flavors. Your sensitivity to subtle natural flavors will increase over time. Retrain your palate to appreciate the richness of minimally processed ancestral foods.
- Make transitioning to ancestral eating a family affair. Get kids excited by engaging them in gardening, cooking classes, and meal planning. Lead by example in adopting this beneficial new lifestyle.
With commitment to your health, community support, and simple adaptive strategies, you will smoothly make the transition to your optimal ancestral diet. The effort is well worth the payoff of reclaiming your natural vitality!
Harness the Power of Hypnosis
Hypnosis is a powerful tool for reshaping your mindset and habits around food to support your transition to ancestral eating. In this relaxed, focused state, your subconscious mind becomes more receptive to suggestions that can rewire your eating behaviors.
Studies confirm hypnosis is highly effective for changing ingrained eating patterns. It can help address many of the hurdles that arise when adopting a new diet:
- Reduce cravings and urges for unhealthy foods like sugar, fast food and processed snacks through post-hypnotic suggestions.
- Strengthen motivation and resolve to stick consistently with your ancestral diet goals, even when tempted.
- Adjust taste preferences away from too much salt, sugar and artificial flavors. Retrain your palate to savor subtle natural flavors.
- Build self-esteem and positive body image related to your health improvement efforts through hypnosis imagery.
- Provide accountability through regular hypnotherapy sessions and support between appointments.
- Teach self-hypnosis techniques to reinforce new habits and mindsets around ancestral eating.
Look for a certified hypnotherapist who specializes in dietary counseling and habit change. Many offer both in-person, online sessions along with recordings and tools for self-hypnosis at home between appointments. With an experienced hypnotherapist guiding the process, you can make incredible progress towards adopting optimal ancestral eating habits. The mind is a powerful lever – hypnosis allows you to harness its full potential to transform your health.
Reconnect With Your Healthy Ancestral Roots
Returning to traditional whole foods can help reverse our modern health crisis. What our ancestors ate sustained exceptional health for millennia. Although changing lifelong eating habits is challenging, proven techniques like hypnosis pave the way.
Imagine how amazing you will feel when you leave behind the Standard American Diet and reclaim your natural vitality. Now is the time to take the first step towards your ancestral health legacy.
If you’re ready to shift your mindset from SAD to Ancestral, visit SuccessWithHypnosis.com or call (330) 904-8441 for a free consultation.