🥚 You are what you eat eats

No beating around the blooming bush today, folks. It’s Spring!

Let’s get right to it. It’s too beautiful outside to waste a second of the day. Just read this email first :)

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I’m pretty proud of the title of this week’s newsletter.

You’ve no doubt heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.” This is true in a very real sense. The cells all throughout our body are constantly dying and being replaced by new cells made from new material. The only place that new material can come from is from what we eat! (Or drink or breathe or consume in some way or another. But mostly eat.)

Let’s get meta and take it back one step further than that. The foods we eat also consumed things at one point. If that’s plants, it was water, sunlight, and nutrients from the soil they grew in. If that’s animals, it’s the water, plants, and possibly other animals they consumed.

So in a sense, you can also say to the cow or strawberry, “You are what you eat.” Because a commercial feedlot cow that eats crappy corn and Skittles (not a joke, look it up) is going to be very nutritionally different from a cow that’s pasture-raised on a regenerative farm and eats healthy grass its entire life. And a strawberry grown in wild pastures or diverse gardens with rich, biodiverse soil is going to be much more nutrient- and phytochemical-rich than one grown on a monocrop, over-farmed, pesticide-ridden, nutrient-deficient plot.

Long story short, you are what you eat eats.

The case for eating food that was healthier when it was alive

Food that’s grown in nutrient-rich, better-for-it environments is ultimately going to be much better for your health.

Animals raised industrially are often treated poorly and fed diets geared more toward fattening them up rather than keeping them healthy. This often results in the animals living in an inflammatory, diseased state. I don’t know about you, but consuming an animal that was unhealthy, unhappy, and sick does not sound appealing to me. Because we are what we eat, consuming low-quality meats in excess can result in cascading inflammatory effects in our own bodies.

Alternatively, animals raised on proper diets with proper care and room to live as nature intended are eons healthier. The animals will be full of healthier fats (like Omega-3s as opposed to Omega-6s), higher quality protein, and fewer inflammatory compounds.

You can visibly see this difference in eggs. Not to ever hate on any eggs, because they’re a superfood—some are just more super than others. Compare pasture-raised chicken eggs to those from caged chickens. The caged eggs are lower in nutritional value than the pasture-raised ones because of how the chickens that produced them live and eat. A chicken raised more naturally produces eggs with more Omega-3 fats and vitamins, which you can even see in the rich color of the yolk! Yes, eggs are expensive right now, but if you’re able to upgrade for a buck or two, I think it’s worth it.

Likewise, local fruits and veggies grown sustainably will have higher levels of the nutrients they naturally produce, as well as the phytochemicals (science word for “plant compounds”) unique to them, which have all kinds of beneficial effects on our bodies. In fact, plants grown in a more wild, diverse setting produce more robust defense mechanisms that help them stay alive and increase their longevity. We now know that when we consume them, they infer those same benefits into our bodies! Resilient plants create resilient humans.

Recent evidence even suggests that we can even taste this difference. Compare a store-bought tomato to one plucked out of your garden on a hot July evening, and you know what I’m talking about. Our bodies naturally know that these rich, delicious flavors are good for us. Unfortunately, this feature been hijacked by the commercial food industry to literally engineer “foods” that are hyper-palatable but lacking in any nutrients. But if we’re eating whole foods, we can listen to our taste buds and smile when you know that burst of flavor also means a burst of nourishment for your body.

The Nuance: If you can’t access or afford the ~best~ beef, berries, eggs, or anything else, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat them at all. Even the “worst” whole foods (animal products, fruits, veggies) are probably going to be better for you than most ultra-processed foods (sugary cereal, chips, soft drinks, pastries, etc.). Don’t let “perfect” be the enemy of “good.” That stands true for much of health, exercise, and nutrition. Do the best you can with what you’ve got. It’s certainly better than nothing or just giving up and not trying!

One way to shift your diet to more nutrient-rich foods is by shopping locally! As farmers’ markets open back up, now is the perfect time to get in the habit of visiting your local one. Shopping local not only supports your community, but it’s better for your own health, the animals and produce, and the environment at large. I know price can sometimes be inhibitory. But just swapping one or two of your regular store-bought items for something raised more locally and sustainably can make a lasting difference for your health.

The best strawberries I’ve ever had were sold out of the back of a truck at a cattle sale barn in Green Forest, Arkansas. The best figs and pomegranates I’ve ever had were plucked off of trees in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Get out there and find your local nutrient-rich foods. Your body and taste buds will thank you. 🍓

✅ Take Action

Every newsletter's Take Action section will invite you to take small steps to improve your health. Recognizing that we all have different capabilities, I'll offer three different levels of action you can choose to take.

Level 1: Swap out one regular item on your grocery list for an “upgraded” version. Grass-fed beef, pasture-raised eggs, local organic spinach or berriess—you decide!

Level 2: If you can afford it, always opt for the better-sourced product. “Organic” doesn’t always mean better, but sometimes it is. Bring awareness to how higher quality foods look and taste different too.

Level 3: Garden! There’s nothing more local than your own backyard or windowsill. Growing your own food (or chickens if you’re ambitious—I’ll get there someday) is such a special experience that rewards you in countless ways.

This newsletter is brought to you by… me!

Interested in becoming a sponsor? Know someone else who might be? I’d love to get to know you and/or your business and see how we can partner together. Reply to this email!

✍️ Drew's Picks:

• This Doctor’s Farmacy podcast episode on the goodness of fully grass-fed meat. Fantastic stuff!

• This Quiet the Diet podcast episode all about dietary fats. Another 10/10 episode that’ll change the way you look at the fats you consume.

• Article: Vegetable Gardening for Beginners—Expert Advice. The title says it all :)

Spring has sprung! Spring your way into a friend’s DMs and share this newsletter with them if you got something from it. Then spring out the door and get moving this week, friends. 🏃‍♀️ 

Keep moving,

Drew

The content in Move to Improve is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. It is always a good idea to consult with a trusted health professional before making any major lifestyle changes that could have a significant impact on your health. This is not a medical resource, and any opinions and articles are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. They are not substitutes for consulting a qualified medical professional. Please think critically and take what I say with a grain of salt (aka don’t sue me).