Understanding the Anti-Inflammatory Farmacy
One of the areas that we have been extremely intentional with in the last few years has been in the development and curation of our nutritional program which has been designed to restore the natural rhythms of the human body. Our goal is to eat more REAL food to maximize nutrient intake and get back to the roots of the natural human diet. The program is based on four pillars: nutrient-dense wholefoods, balanced nutrition, simplicity, and intuitive eating to eliminate what harms the body, reduce inflammation, and heal from the inside out.
So much of what we put into our bodies today is actually toxic, creating the perfect environment for illness, dysfunction, and inflammation. However, we as a collective species have become so disconnected from not only our food source but also from listening to our bodies that we don’t even know it. If you go to the grocery store and walk in the middle aisles, more foods than not have ingredients and substances that our bodies struggle to digest and end up wreaking havoc in our internal systems. Our approach is quite simple, perhaps not easy, but definitely simple. We share our approach and some recipes as an invitation to start consciously making choices that will restore vitality in your life.
100% of what we eat at Heroes and Horses has come from the Earth participating in the life cycle carrying energy from the sun. It has either grown in the soil or is of the soil. These are wholefoods which means they are in their natural form. So what are we eating?
Here is the list:
Vegetables
Fruits
Nuts
Seeds
Legumes,
Animal foods such as eggs, meat, fish, and poultry.
Wholefoods retain their fiber as well as the whole portfolio of beneficial phytochemicals and nutrients that are often removed in processed foods. So this means, no grains, no dairy, no sugar, no alcohol, no processed foods, no sulfites or carrageenan.
Our method of delivering nutrients comes in a balanced way. The primary ingredients that our body needs for survival include three macronutrients: Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fats. The intention of balancing macronutrients in each meal is to feed the body what it actually needs to support the overall functionality of the body and its systems. This helps to support the body in losing excess body fat, maintaining wellness, performing better, and better cognitive function. Restricting one macronutrient, such as carbohydrates, means missing out on the vital benefits they provide for the body. Often times breakfast looks like a bowl of stew filled with meat, vegetables, and a rich bone broth. We are not counting our macro just ensuring each one is present in the meals we serve.
Because this way of eating is oftentimes new for the individuals who come to Heroes and Horses, we pride ourselves in how simple it can be. Simplicity is a key ingredient in all of the meals we provide at the Double H Ranch. The ingredients are simple. They are wholefoods!! In developing the recipes, we intentionally include fewer ingredients which require less prep and therefore less time and complexity. The methods by which we prepare the meals involve less than 5 steps total.
The other area in which we work to restore simplicity is in each individual’s relationship with food. Our relationship with food collectively speaking has become incredibly complex over time as we as a species have severed our connection to our food source and use food to cope with our emotional states. Learning to reconnect with our food whether it be moving cattle across grasslands, collecting eggs, or putting hands in the dirt, and unlearning the faulty programming that influences behavior such as using food as comfort from heightened emotional states and triggers to using food as a distraction and/or reward is our aim. Not only do our participants actively engage in operative ranch lifestyles, but we also work with the subconscious to excavate and rewire newfound belief systems that serve the body, the mind, and the spirit. The goal is to help shift any previously limiting beliefs around food into healthier belief systems that allow individuals to appreciate food for what it is, a fuel source, which enables a more vibrant version of self to be born. Understanding that the food we eat is fuel for the body, which is then transformed into energy to run the bodily and cognitive processes you need to live. The better sources of fuel you put in, the better quality and quantity of energy you’ll have to thrive. Again, this is all simple however not always easy.
The last and perhaps the most significant part of what we teach at the Double H Ranch is the importance of intuitive eating. The body is the first responder and communicator of truth however we have become experts at ignoring the truth that speaks to us from within. Intuitive eating offers a broader framework that goes outside the experience of eating and encourages an individual to actively and consciously participate in their relationship with food. It asks you to create a clear channel of communication to the mind, the body, and the spirit honoring and trusting the biofeedback and instinctive responses.
The tenets of intuitive eating are based on trust, peace, honor, love, and respect.
Trust is the foundation of any healthy relationship. Learn to trust your ability to understand your needs immediately, without intellectual reasoning.
Stop the war within by offering yourself a renewal of peace. Give yourself unconditional permission to nurture your body with fuel that supports the biological functionality of your systems. Soon you will crave the peace that is delivered immediately from making intuitive eating choices.
Honor the biological signal of hunger and ask the body what it needs at that moment. Honor yourself by balancing your macronutrients ensuring your body has what it needs to support its intelligence.
Love and accept your genetic blueprint. Forgive yourself for your old ways of fueling the body and for any harsh and critical judgments you have made about yourself. You are a sovereign individual who deserves dignity and love from within. Practice loving the body, the mind, and the spirit through acts of acceptance and forgiveness.
Respect where you've been and where you're going and trust in the unfolding of your life. Intuition is man's invisible superpower and can be used to serve all aspects of one's life. The so-called “gut feel” is more than just a “woo-woo” concept. I recently listened to a conversation with Dr. Zach Bush. He shared that science has now proven through microimaging that there are hundreds of billions of neurons in the gut lining. When bundled together this takes up a surface area of two tennis courts which is actually larger than the neurons bundled in the cerebellum. The gut is now considered to be the second brain. These neurons don’t just sit inside this extremely thin layer of epithelial lining, half the size of a human hair, but rather poke through sensing into the chaos of the gut microbiome, which makes up 70-80% of our immune system, defying all understanding of how neurons work and reorienting our understanding of what it means to be human. These are afferent neurons meaning they do not create information; they only absorb information which means these hundreds of billions of neurons are listening to the microbiome most diverse ecosystem that any mammal has ever sensed. With human beings maintaining the most diverse ecosystem in their gut, we- humans- are designed to take in more information about nature than any other species. May we use it, embrace it, and see how it guides us not just with the food that we eat but with all the choices that are presented to us.
With love and gratitude,
Mackenzie Fink