Bio-Individuality: Why We Are All So Different When It Comes to Nutrition

I am so often asked what kind of diet I’m on or what kinds of dietary rules I follow. In short, I don’t really follow any specific diet or rules other than eat real food. Of course I have some rules about foods I avoid based on personal food allergies, but if I could eat them (eggs, lemon, & shrimp) I probably would.

Every individual person reacts different to different types of diets and foods. For example, say someone swears by a Paleo diet and recommends their friend to try it out. The friend may absolutely hate it and feel terrible on a Paleo diet. It doesn’t mean the Paleo diet is bad it simply means that the friend’s body doesn’t function well on that kind of diet. Same with veganism, for some switching to a vegan diet was the best thing for their body, but for others being vegan maybe isn’t the best option.

This idea that every person reacts differently to different diets and foods is called Bio-Individuality. In other words, “one person’s food is another’s person’s poison.” So while eggs are a great source of fats and protein for me they make me really sick. Different factors affect one’s bio-individuality. Things like your gender, age, race, blood type, and level of physical activity will play a big role in what kinds of foods and diets work best for your body to function properly.

I think the best piece of advice I could give when it comes to different diets and foods out there is: give it try and be sure to eat real food. If you are interested in a certain diet do your research, find the pros and cons and decide if you feel it is something you can benefit from. A lot of it will be trial and error you may not really be able to see if you like a particular way of eating until you’ve tried and let your body decide. Most importantly eat real food, you can’t go wrong with fruits, vegetables, responsibly sourced meat, and anything else that you make yourself from scratch. When you make food from scratch you know exactly what goes in it and are able to avoid any harmful preservatives and possible added sugars and salts.

So like anything else in life you just have to be your own individual.