In the 1970’s Canada’s Minister of Health, Marc Lalonde, did something no other minister of health has done since. He secretly planted an 8-person ‘think tank’ into his health cabinet that had one purpose; to implement “programs that were aimed at empowering individuals to assume health as an aspect of self-determination through lifestyle change”. His goal; to help Canadians keep themselves healthy! 1
Self-determination is the process by which a person controls their own life. In doing so, they determine behaviours that maximize their physical, emotional, and mental health with the help of tools and resources provided/funded by the government. It’s a team effort where program success is measured by each individual’s health status rather than a set of health statistics.
So what ever happened to self-determination? When did we stop listening to our guts and start following advice that made us gain weight, feel sub-optimal, and question our traditional diets?
Catering Our Diet to Ourselves
Through self-determination, we are the only ones who know what foods energize us, which ones leave us ‘intestinally’ compromised, and which ones make us just plain sick. Ask the oldest people in the world what they have eaten their whole lives and you won’t get a consistent answer. One 119 year old responded with “cow’s milk, herbal chutney and seasonal fruit” while avoiding “butter, fried food, sugar, tobacco, alcohol, tea and coffee”. Another at 116 years, responded with “four pieces of bacon with eggs and grits”, while another at 113 years responded with “pickled herring every day, and in his younger years drank wine and beer.” Who has the healthiest diet? They all do!
While nutritional science continues to swing from one side of the spectrum to the other, find your in between point and stick to it. Determine what is good for you and don’t listen to those trying to preach what is the healthiest diet. Whoever said, “What is food for one man may be bitter poison to others” was right on the mark.
Our Vince’s Power Up Program Mission is simply to educate our customers on the importance of using food as fuel. For all your Power Up news make sure you check out Vince’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Also make sure to follow @VincesMarket and #powerupwithvinces, sign up for our Power Up Newsletter and keep an eye out for nutrition tips and tricks from me, our in-house nutrition expert!
To our health & wellbeing,
Shannon, Guest Blogger
1https://books.google.ca/books/about/Making_the_Lalonde_Report.html?id=SvHUSgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y
