The Value of Food: An Ode to Food

By Karin Stumpfl

Wertigkeit unserer Ernährung

Perhaps a somewhat philosophical perspective...


Or: Why it seems strange to call some things that are consumed "food".


In my opinion, there are two ways to experience hunger:


  1. The body needs one or more nutrients.
  2. You recently ate something very starchy, which in turn caused an (excessive) release of insulin, leading to a lowered blood sugar level.

If you listen closely to your inner voice, you might realize that both circumstances could even coincide.


One theoretical assumption: Our body needs manganese. A trace element required for a number of enzymes – such as superoxide dismutase (SOD). This need is expressed through hunger.


We respond to this hunger by eating something, such as a nice salad with tomatoes and cucumbers, then spaghetti "al verdura" (in English: with vegetables), and for dessert a nice croissant or a fruit salad. In short, what you would call a varied diet: with plenty of fruit and vegetables. Just as it should be.


After a few hours of digestion, our body notices two things:


  1. The desired nutrient was not sufficiently present in the meal.
  2. We convert the excess starch from the "filling side dish" into fat, which we then store primarily around the midsection as a precaution for the "winter".
Lectin-free food as a luxury item

You don't necessarily need a degree to see the consequences of repeating this process several times a day...


Overweight, lack of energy, lack of motivation, pain, depressive mood...


Against this backdrop, they take on a completely different image.


And something else happens: You have probably already heard that our human system, which includes our microbiome (inside us) and the holobiome (around us), contains more cells with foreign DNA than those with our own.


So we are actually more of a collection of bacteria than of human cells.


And these bacteria want to be fed, and they communicate with us. So when we eat something starchy, we're feeding bacteria that metabolize starch. This includes a number of "bad guys" like Klebsiella, Clostridia, and others. These, in turn, signal to us that they would like more starch, for example, sugar.


Guess what we'll get hungry for then?

Lectin-free schnitzel

IS IT ALL A MATTER OF QUANTITY?


How much would you like?

Over time, my philosophy has also led to an interesting phenomenon: due to the high nutrient density and stable blood sugar levels, I rarely feel hungry anymore. It's settled into a pattern where I eat only once a day on average. And within that one meal, I can hardly "waste" as much money on food as I used to with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and all the snacks throughout the day...


https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/270794

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