You Can Learn a lot from a Chicken
This appeared in the June 4, 2020 edition of The Fish Wrap.
Pasture-raised chickens have a varied, ever-changing diet. Our chickens are on fresh pasture every day and find a wide assortment of plants, bugs, grubs and worms to choose from in addition to the feed we supply. Chickens, like all beings, evolved instincts to choose the foods that are most beneficial at that time from all the foods that are available. They will instinctively choose whatever their cells need for maximum health.
Humans evolved in just the same way. The instincts are still there, we just forgot how to use them. With a bit of practice, we can remember how to listen to the wisdom of our bodies. The first step is to accept that there are no bad foods, just foods that are more or less beneficial at any given time.
We evolved a fondness for sugar because it called us to eat very rare and seasonal fruits that contained essential nutrients. But today, sugar is added to almost all processed food to capitalize on that inherited fondness, leading to a culture-wide addiction to sugar. Sugar causes the craving of addiction to a drug, rather than the instinctive call to eat a beneficial food. It blocks the signal of the wisdom of our bodies.
We’re not suggesting you scratch and peck in your pantry like a chicken, but here are three things you can do to remember how to eat instinctively:
Find ways to cope with your emotions that aren’t based on food
Experiment with skipping meals so you can learn what real hunger rather than craving feels like
Try eating one healthy food you like every day for a week. We learn to crave what we eat every day. Give your body what it needs and you will feel your instincts come alive!