Three questions from my first workshop have stayed with me: why I leave beans and grains off the plate, how I think about carbohydrates, and whether pasteurized milk is okay. They are really one question underneath, how do we nourish a body so it feels safe and fueled? This post is a high-level look at how I think about food and where my approach comes from. It is educational, not medical advice, and it is one lens among many.
The lens I work from
Before any of the specifics, here is the feeling I hope you carry through this post. Eating is one of the ways we tell our bodies they are safe. Each meal is a small conversation: here is warmth, here is steadiness, I am listening. When we start paying attention to how our bodies answer, food stops being a list of rules and becomes a relationship.
My approach to nourishment is rooted in Kate Deering's How to Heal Your Metabolism, a book I return to again and again. A few of its ideas hold everything else together:
Health goes hand in hand with a high metabolism and less stress.
Metabolism is the sum of every process in the body, including digestion, immunity, detoxification, sex drive, and repair. When the body is well, all of them work well together.
Metabolism runs on the carbohydrates, fats, and proteins we eat. The higher the metabolic rate, the more energy, meaning food, the body needs to run well. When the rate drops, those processes slow down and less energy is used.
Polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) are a thread that runs through Kate's work. She explains how they can slow metabolism, lower immune function, and affect weight and hormones.
Three gentle reminders hold all of this: eat enough, eat regularly, eat warm. And whatever you eat, ask how well your body can receive it. If you'd like to go deeper on how metabolism fits into the bigger picture, you can read more in my earlier posts, What Is Metabolism and Why It Matters and How to Support Your Metabolism.
Why no beans and grains?
What I recommend. In this approach, I look past the nutrition label and ask a different question: how well can the body actually digest and absorb this food? Digestibility and absorption are the heart of how I think about eating. Beans, grains, nuts, and seeds are the foods I lean away from, and here is why.
Why. Grains are seeds, and Kate describes seeds as hard for people (and animals) to digest. Seeds come with natural defenses, often called antinutrients. In grains these include phytates, trypsin inhibitors, lectins, and, in some, gluten. Legumes carry a similar set, along with protease inhibitors and oxalates.
Nuts and seeds also hold high amounts of polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs). Kate explains that PUFAs can lower thyroid function, reduce digestive enzymes, and lessen the cell's ability to make energy. If you enjoy nuts, macadamias, hazelnuts, and cashews are lower in PUFAs.
Legumes are often praised for their fiber, but that fiber can be very hard for the body to break down. Even with a well-working gut and a metabolism that runs well, a moderate amount of legumes can cause digestive upset.
Who it may fit differently. Bodies are different, and so are digestion, culture, budget, and access. If you feel wonderful eating lentils or oats, that is real information worth listening to. This is a lens, not a rule.
A practical tip. If you do eat legumes, soak or sprout them and cook them well. It makes them much easier to digest.
What about carbs? Simple versus complex
What I recommend. Carbohydrates are not bad. They are our primary source of energy, and choosing the right ones supports a high metabolic rate, healthy carbon dioxide levels, less oxidative damage, good brain function, energy and recovery for our muscles, and the liver's work of detoxifying. You do not have to be afraid of them.
Why. In this approach, simple sugars are the best sources: fruit, honey, milk, fruit juice, white sugar, and root vegetables. These supply the body's usable fuel quickly. Complex carbohydrates, like brown rice, whole wheat bread, and lentils, are long chains of glucose linked together as starch, so the body has to take them apart link by link before it can use them. That takes more time and more digestive work, but they end up as the same simplest form, glucose, anyway. So why not take the fast route? Kate describes glucose as the gasoline for the body.
How I like to eat them. Carbs are best not eaten alone. Pair them with a protein and a fat so the fuel arrives steadily. Some of my favorites are fruit and cheese, milk and honey, and eggs with orange juice.
Who it may fit differently. If whole grains or rice sit well with you and leave you feeling steady, that matters. And if you live with diabetes or any blood sugar condition, check in with your provider before you change how you eat.
Is pasteurized milk okay?
What pasteurization does. Pasteurization heats a food, usually a liquid, to a specific temperature for a specific length of time and then cools it right away. The purpose is to kill harmful bacteria and pathogens. The tradeoff, in this approach, is that it also changes the good bacteria, enzymes, proteins, fats, and sugars in the milk, so the milk is no longer quite the whole, living food it began as.
What I would choose. Pasteurized milk still holds plenty of calcium and other minerals, with adequate fat, protein, and sugar to make it a complete food. If it is what you have access to, it is not a bad option, especially if you can find organic, non-homogenized milk. If you can access raw milk and tolerate it, Kate describes it as one of the most nourishing foods for the body.
A note on sourcing. If you choose raw milk, the farm matters most. Get to know the farmers, ask how they test their milk, and check the rules where you live.
A starting place, not a rule
None of this is meant to become another list of things to get right. Food is a relationship, and the body is always communicating what it needs. I see these ideas as a starting place, something to try gently and listen to, one or two changes at a time, and to hold alongside what your own body tells you.
If you would like to talk through what nourishment could look like for your body, I hold space for that. I offer a complimentary 30-minute Connection Call, and you can reach out to book one here.
Where this comes from, and where to go deeper
Kate Deering's How to Heal Your Metabolism is the foundation for how I approach nourishment, and her work comes from Dr. Ray Peat, a biologist and a pioneer of the bioenergetic approach to health, who spent decades studying how hormones, thyroid function, and cellular energy shape the way we feel. Kate's book grew out of his research, which is why his name belongs here. I also love Noelle Kovary, who works within this framework and focuses on optimizing health for women, especially fertility. If you would like to explore more, these are the names I would point you to. There are many others, and this topic can go very deep, so consider this a high-level introduction. We can explore it further together in 1:1 sessions.
As Noelle writes, "meal composition becomes less about following prescribed portions and more about providing the body with what it needs to function well."
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