You take a look at a chicken produced in a chicken factory, where it was grown on a pile of its own feces, raised on soy and pumped full of antibiotics to survive the harsh, unsanitary environment.
Then you take a look at a pastured, organic chicken that has had full access to the outside world and whose diet consists of whatever it is that chickens naturally eat.
To you, they look pretty much the same. Chickens are just chickens, right?
Most people can’t easily distinguish between healthy and unhealthy animals, except maybe their own pets.
We have a much easier time distinguishing between a healthy human and an unhealthy human.
Meet Tabitha Klausen. She is an IFBB Professional Fitness model. Her diet is gluten and dairy free.
Obviously, she also exercises a lot.
Now meet Keith Richards.
An example of what a lifetime of unhealthy living can do to your appearance.
Now, let me ask you this:
If you were a cannibal, which one would you rather eat?
Tabitha or Keith?
I’m guessing you would rather go for Tabitha, which is the right choice.
Her fatty acid and micronutrient status is way superior to Keith’s. Keith also has a lot of toxic substances floating around in his bloodstream, things you definitely do not want in your body.
You may think these are extreme examples, but are they really? Have you seen how animals are raised today?
If not, then I recommend watching the movie Food, inc.
It does a good job of showing how the animals we eat today are raised. Their diet consists of processed grains, they receive hormones to make them grow faster and they are given antibiotics in order for them to survive the awful environment.
Just in case you didn’t get it already, Tabitha is our pastured, organic chicken and Keith is the processed, factory raised one.
The fact is, we can’t see from the outside if the animal we are eating is healthy or not, and we most certainly can’t tell from the outside if the piece of meat on our plate has a favorable omega-6/omega-3 ratio and micronutrient status.
Yet research has shown that they are in fact very different, depending on what the animals ate.
We can see how we would much rather eat a healthy human than an unhealthy one, why should it be any different with animals?
Hello,
Your example of Keith Richards and a girl 1/5th his age is not fair or correct. As a matter of fact, he looks pretty good physically for his age. Let’s see what she will look like when she’s 65.
What is she, 20 something? Everybody looks great at 20 something with a little exercise and eating right. Bad example.
Jonathan, you are right. It is a bad example.
This article is supposed to be more comical than anything else, but it is still true that most people who live a healthy lifestyle generally look better than those who don’t, with some exceptions of course.
Honestly, people get far too hung up on details sometimes; You teach us something very useful via the process of metaphor, and it works.
Any way that we can help our clients, friends, family and readers understand that what they eat is hugely important is valid. IMHO. The more ways we come up with that help people get the message that you are are what you eat, and you are what you eat eats is a go’er.
Keep up the good work Kris,
George
Thanks, George :)