Eat to Your Advantage: How to Make Real-World Food Choices That Defend Your Body and Brain

EAT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

How to Make Real-World Food Choices That Defend Your Body and Brain

EAT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

How to Make Real-World Food Choices That Defend Your Body and Brain

Kirsten Serrano

Indianapolis, IN

EAT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

Copyright © 2020 by KIRSTEN SERRANO

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written consent of the author, except as provided by the United States of America copyright law.

The content of this book is not medical advice and is not meant to treat, cure, or prevent any disease, illness, or medical condition. It is understood that you will consult your medical professional before making dietary changes. The author and publisher claim no responsibility to any person or entity for any liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly as a result of the use, application, or interpretation of the material in this book.

For permission to reprint portions of this content or bulk purchases, contact Kirsten Serrano at [email protected]

ISBN: 978-1-952654-02-2  Paperback

ISBN: 978-1-952654-03-9  eBook

ISBN: 978-1-952654-04-6 Hardcover

Published by Niche Pressworks, Indianapolis, IN

https://nichepressworks.com

Printed in the United States of America

Dedication

To Paco—for helping me get up every time I fall and taking me to Small Wonder Farm.

To Lily—the one who was always meant to be.

To Mom and Dad—who taught me my brain could always find a way out.

Acknowledgments

This book is a dream realized. It could not have happened without help from some very special people. First and foremost, my husband, who, as always, supported my endeavors wholeheartedly and to my daughter Lillian, who was the impetus for this enti re journey.

A special thanks to Remy Thomas, who created the perfect illustrations to explain the concepts when words were not enough. Thank you to my dear friend, V Capaldi, for the Foreword and for the constant encouragement. Thanks to Jill Garza, my best friend for over 30 years, and to my mom. Both were early readers and gave me invaluable feedback just when I needed it.

As this project neared completion, the whole world and my life went sideways. I want to give a huge shout-out to Amie Mullikin, who saved the day just when I needed her (as she so often does).

Finally, thank you to Nicole Gebhardt and the Niche Pressworks team. Their step-by-step guidance helped me create a book of which I’m super proud and develop business strategies that will allow me to share this life-changing message even further.

Foreword

Eat to Your Advantage is a must-read for anyone who wants to get conscious about our food chain and its effect on our lives and bodies. Chapter after chapter is filled with information substantiated by Kirsten’s years on the front line of the food chain—from her decades in the restaurant business to her nutrition studies, farming, and personal hea lth crisis.

Eat to Your Advantage fuels the reader with a newfound understanding about our soil and nutrient depletion and details all the lessons Kirsten has learned through years of discovery on her own healing journey and as a regenerative farmer and restaurateur. The book provides invaluable information on the critical role resilience plays and potential roadblocks along the way.

Eat to Your Advantage offers a unique insight into how to take charge of your life through food while informing the reader in an easy-to-follow, thought-provoking book that changes the lens on consciousness regarding the foods we eat. Readers will gain a true understanding of the systems in place, how we got here, and where we are going—all of which help the reader make everyday choices. 

Eat to Your Advantage is a must-have for every household wanting to take charge of their lives and what they eat while also respecting Mother Earth and her most valuable assets. You’ll learn about every aspect of our food chain—from the soil to your plate.

Big love and mad respect.

XO,

V Capaldi

@paleobosslady

Preface

Now More Than Ever

As I started the final editing process for this book, a global pandemic brought the world to its knees, and everything changed. Change isn’t easy. It creates friction and can challenge our beliefs. Business as usual is almost always easier, but change is often forced upon u s—like now.

During uncertain times, it’s essential that we learn and adapt. I faced my own mortality for the first time almost 15 years ago. It forced me to question what I could do to take charge of my health and my life. Because of that event, this book exists. The global pandemic has us facing our own potential mortality together. It raises the question: How can we, as a community, take charge of our lives and health during this time?

I feel strongly that the themes in this book have at least some of the answers. What we eat impacts our health, and now, more than ever, we need to strengthen and defend our bodies and brains by learning how to navigate the American food system and by working to build community-based supply lines.

My hope is that Eat to Your Advantage will help you understand that food is more than what you see on the table. It’s part of an entire food chain, and the choices we make along the way impact our health in a multitude of ways.

During these uncertain times, I see the seeds of a brighter future where people connect their health to what’s on their plate and how their food got there.

Be well,

Kirsten

Introduction

You're in a Pickle

The Pickle

Yes, we are starting with pickles. Hang in there with me for a page or two, and you will see why. Whether you love pickles or not, you’ve got plenty of choices on offer at the grocery store. You probably already have a go-to brand. The thing is your choice of pickle can either add to or detract from your health in a meaningful way. You make countless small decisions like this daily, and they add up to define your health story.

Let’s look at the ingredient lists of two different dill pickles:

You may be thinking, what’s polysorbate 80? Why yellow 5? What does calcium chloride do? What is a natural flavor? Those are fantastic questions, and I am going to answer them in a minute. But the more important question may be, how do those Bubbies pickles get sour without vinegar? The answer is fermentation.

If you are old enough, you may remember someone making pickles in a crock on a counter—no vinegar, no heat, just cucumbers, water, salt, and some spices in a crock that magically turn into pickles, for real. The magic is industrious microbes getting to work. Naturally-occurring microbes on the food and in the air convert carbohydrates into acid or alcohol—turning your cucumber into a pickle.

In case that doesn’t sound appetizing to you, let me reassure you that humans have been using microbes to ferment foods since at least 7000 BC. You are eating fermented foods all the time. Not only does fermentation make pickles, but it is also responsible for beer, vanilla, coffee, cheese, chocolate, wine, yogurt, bread, and much more. Fermentation preserves food, makes it more digestible, increases nutrient levels, and creates amazing flavors.

What we didn’t know, until just the past 20 years or so, is how dependent we are on microbes for our health. Active, living fermented foods are full of microbes called probiotics. These probiotic-rich foods help populate our gut microbiome (the microbial life in your intestinal tract). Later in the chapter, we’ll talk about why a healthy gut microbiome is so essential, but for now, just know that we want to be doing everything we can to support a healthy gut microbiome.

Back to pickles. The Bubbies pickle is a pickle and a prescription. It has the very same ingredients in it that you would use to make pickles yourself. The calcium chloride is a mineral salt that helps keep the pickles crisp. I add a little when I make pickles at home.

The leading brand pickle foregoes the fermentation process and uses vinegar and heat to make the cucumber into a pickle. That’s not terrible, but it robs us of the opportunity to get some much-needed probiotics. This pickle also has a bunch of unnecessary ingredients. This isn’t a natural pickle. It’s a simulated pickle. This dill pickle has no dill or garlic?! Instead, natural flavor has been added. Natural flavor does not mean dill and garlic. It means a lab-created substance that was originally derived from a natural product—often completely unrelated to the flavor. The flavor could have 100 different ingredients, and we don’t get to know what’s in it.¹ Yellow 5, derived from petroleum, is added to make the synthetic pickle more appetizing. In the European Union, foods containing yellow 5 are required to have a warning label stating that they may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.² The leading brand pickle also has polysorbate 80. Its purpose is to disperse the flavoring and coloring to make this faux-pickle more pickley. Why can’t it just be a real pickle?

Choosing a real, fermented pickle matters. It builds health, and it’s real food. Unlike some of the other fermented foods I mentioned (like coffee, beer, and chocolate), the Bubbies pickle still contains active living microbial life, which makes it the perfect probiotic prescription.

You need to know the difference between real foods and simulated foods. If this difference is news to you, don’t feel bad. Most people can’t tell them apart, either. No one is teaching us this stuff. Knowing the difference between the two pickles and why it matters is what I call food literacy. The purpose of this book is to teach you what you need to know about food to make smart, informed choices. Those choices add up to a better brain and a healthier body.

You’re in a pickle, but I’m here to help.

A Broken System

Our food system is completely broken. This will become clear as you read on (Section Two is all about this). There are all kinds of issues intertwined with the rise of industrial food—gender roles, classism, ethnic identity, economic status, and diet culture among them. Systemic change is needed. This book focuses on helping you maneuver a broken food system so you can eat to your advantage. Along the way, I hope you will become committed, like me, to voting with your fork. Consumers are already providing the catalyst for a new food economy, but we need a lot more people to opt-in.

Above all, I am an educator. I have learned that by understanding food, you can understand health. I’m a nutrition expert, but I am also a farmer, a restaurateur, and a patient who uses food and lifestyle to manage or eliminate a long list of chronic and autoimmune issues.

It’s time to pull the curtain back, take a sobering look, and make a plan. Over the past 15 years, I’ve researched and focused on food, nutrition, and health. What I’ve learned is contained in this book, so now I can lead the way for you. But I’m not going to kid you; it takes some effort. What you’ll discover, though, is that choosing real foods is life-changing and absolutely worth it. I’ll help you figure out how to make decisions about the foods you choose so you can eat to your advantage.

How to Use this Book

Section One—What?

This section defines the problem. Essentially, we’ve traded nutrition for modern convenience. I share my dramatic health story and explain how becoming food and farm literate changed everything for me. In this section, we will keep coming back to pickles, because real foods and those little microorganisms are the keys to getting back on track.

Section Two—Why?

This section focuses on the reasons why our society is struggling with food. I’ll delve into the disconnect between the food we produce and the food we need for our health.

I’ll draw on my background and experience as a farmer, restaurateur, patient, and nutrition professional to help you understand what has gone so terribly wrong with our food system.