Let me tell ya - there’s a huge difference between food and fuel.
We all understand the concept of fuel for our vehicles…. It’s what makes them run, right? Have you ever thought of all that stuff you put in your mouth as fuel for your body?
Think about it this way, what would happen if you put unleaded into your truck which takes diesel? Bad news!! I actually had a friend who did that on a road trip and only realized after he fueled over half the tank. He had to siphon out all that unleaded right there at the gas station before he could re-fuel with diesel. Bummer road trip.
Fuel is ‘the goods’.
It’s all that healthy stuff you know is good for you to eat: protein, veggies, a little bit of fruit, and healthy fats. The reason this is FUEL is because our body breaks down these elements and is able to use the components for repair & maintenance, immune boosting, mental clarity, and energy. These are just a few of the activities our body is trying to accomplish every day. The more FUEL we consume, the easier these activities are, the better we feel, and the more present we can be for ourselves, our loved ones, and everyone else.
Food is everything else.
I think of food as the stuff we eat because we need to curb our hunger, satisfy a craving, or just fill our belly with something. ‘Fast food’ is a great example of ‘food’. It’s full of a lot of sugars, carbs, chemicals, and not a lot of ‘fuel’. I don’t know about you, but after I eat fast food, I feel sluggish; my brain is tired; and often my stomach does a few flip flops. Those are some examples of how you might feel after eating just food instead of fuel.
‘Food’ is all the fillers. Anything and everything that’s not Fuel. It has a lot of what we don’t need and our body can only process so much of that at a time. If you’re eating a lot of ‘food’ instead of ‘fuel’ you probably have a few pounds you’d like to lose. The reality is, these pounds are attributed to the excess ‘food’ consumed that we didn’t need.
Here’s the kicker – when we get the nutrients we need by consuming more fuel and less food, we don’t need to eat as much.
I had a 92 year old patient tell me, “my daughter started feeding our whole family Paleo. I didn’t like it at first. But you know the strangest thing about it? I eat less and I’m not hungry!” We discussed the reason she could eat less and not be hungry was because she was consuming ‘fuel’ so her body had the nutrients she needed for the day. Her body didn’t need to send her more hunger signals signifying the need for more nutrients.
The same is true for you.