How do you know if any given food on the market is any good? For that matter, how do you know how good a given food is for you? In this series of posts I will answer these questions. For now, I will focus on the issue of eating less.

As a general rule, the better the nutrient density any given food has, the less food you will need to eat to become full. Let me illustrate this point from one extreme  case to another. Many years ago, I used to eat lots of junk food and some traditional home cooked foods, though in general the quality of the ingredients was quite poor. When I went to a friend’s house, I typically surprised the friend’s family with my voracious appetite. Once I got going, I ate and ate, as though my stomach had the capacity of a bottomless pit. Fast forward 10 years. I eliminated all junk and processed foods from my diet and ate a fraction on what I used to. Mind you, at that point I did not eat high brix nutrient dense farmed foods – I did not even  know what that meant. I ate a basic WAPF diet, consisting fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, seeds, wild-caught fish, and grass fed meats and dairy.

So what did I mean above when I said one extreme to the other? This needs closer attention. One side of the spectrum in terms on nutrient density happens to be a junk food diet, with some unrefined foods thrown in here and there. After that, you have a whole foods unrefined diet, a diet consisting of real food. Next we approach the other end of the spectrum – you guessed it, by eating high nutrient dense farmed foods. So what happens when you eat these foods? The following anecdote of Dr. Carey Reams provides the answer.

Reams wanted to see if any food intake differences exist when eating top quality food – high brix nutrient dense for sure – grown under his system relative to everything else out there in the market. So he did a little experiment. He invited some fellas who can really eat to participate by trying some high brix nutrient food grown using the Reams method of agronomy. I am talking about those people that can eat an absurd amount of hot dogs in eating contests to the tune of 50 hot dogs or so. He gave them much smaller portions than they were usually used to eating and told them to have as much as they like. Naturally, they thought he must be nuts, since he obviously didn’t understand that this food in the given amount could not fill them up. Anyway, they got started. Can you guess what happened? They could not finish the food!

Although this anecdote demonstrates an extreme situation, eating high brix nutrient dense foodstuffs will fill you faster than anything else out there. You will eat less right away, over time, or both. How much less you might ask? It depends on  the following factors, among others:

(1) How well do you assimilate food? Some people need a lot less food than others due to this alone.

2) At what level of nutrient density do you find the food in question to be? For instance, something in the excellent brix range will be more nutritious than in the good range.

(3) What have you been eating all these years? If you have been treating yourself to a steady fair of junk food,  you will likely need more time to remineralize your body. Just as a malnourished starving person in certain parts of Africa, you will need some time to rebuild your mineral reserves before you body starts naturally eating less.

(4). How many different high brix nutrient dense farmed foods do you have access to? The more the better the results in eating less.

This post is linked to Party Wave Wednesday at HolisticSquid.com.