The 80/20 Rule—But What’s in Your 20%?
Get my free Clean Meat Guide below!
I recently had the conversation with Chris about the idea of the 80/20 rule. Ok, it was more like me talking at Chris while he stared back at me with a blank and overstimulated look on his face. BUT I DIGRESS! The 80/20 rule is where 80 percent of our diet should be nourishing fuel for our bodies, and the other 20 percent can be foods that… well, let’s just say, for lack of better words, don’t meet our “healthy food” standards.
As I got to thinking about this idea though, it made me wonder if there are just certain “foods” that maybe we shouldn’t be consuming AT ALL. Foods like commercial sodas (Pepsi/ Coca-Cola, etc), packaged cookies (I’m lookin’ at you Oreos), margarine (I can’t believe it’s not blubber lol), shortening, boxes of sugary cereal, who’s entire ingredient list is pretty much factory-made garbage.
No WONDER we are all sick and miserable, kids everywhere have allergies and adhd, and people are like walking mental cases.
Our gut, our digestive tract, is considered the second brain. SO much of our mental state is reflective of how our gut microbiome is being fed. If we are feeding our bodies garbage, how can we expect anything but garbage as a result?
In many other countries around the world, the foods that America deems “safe” is NOT considered so. As most of us know, there are food companies changing the ingredients on American-sold foods, while other countries have the same product but cleaner ingredients. How clean? I can’t really say. But certainly not this same level of junk.
Some of these “foods” are borderline engine oil and plastics.
Have you taken a look at the ingredient lists on things like cheese singles or Velveeta? Or non-dairy coffee creamers? How about soybean/canola/vegetable/seed oils, who’s processing involves extraction with industrial solvents (like hexane), and then being bleached and deodorized to make it palatable.
Or what about the food production (which is most of it) that involves heavy pesticide use or glyphosate? These toxins are being dumped into our soils and waterways, never to be eliminated because they are considered “forever chemicals”, and our bodies are bombarded with this onslaught of toxins over and over. From the foods we eat to the fabrics we place against our skin, it just doesn’t end.
So, when I think about that 80/20 rule, I simply have to ask myself, “Are there ‘foods’ that maybe we shouldn’t even be eating AT ALL?”.
Maybe, when we stick with the 80/20 rule, we should consider that 20 percent to be things like cakes and french fries and treats that are made with whole foods instead of all the nasty junk from most packaged foods.
We can splurge a little on homemade cakes, made with organic flours and sugars, with pastured eggs and coconut oil, who’s icing is made with butter instead of shortening/hydrogenated oils. We can order the pizza from the local pizza shop, who’s likely to have less junk in their fresh dough, homemade pizza sauce, and real cheese, than from Pappa Johns or frozen DiGiorno’s.
There are definitely options out there so we can enjoy that 20% and still stay within parameters that feed our bodies and treat them well.
Our bodies are created to be resilient, but it’s also our duty to care for them. THAT’S where that 80 percent comes into play!
I created this somewhat short guide to Clean Meats. It’s a breakdown of why I raise all my animals here at Grid Iron Hill Farm the way I do.
You can be assured that I will do it to the best of my ability. Because we need that 80% to build, grow, nourish, and feed our bodies REALLY well, and I am confident that the meats I raise here at Grid Iron Hill farm will do just that for you and your family.
