Did you see the Department of Agriculture has given us new guidelines for healthy eating? We have now moved from the USDA food pyramid to a plate.
Before you jump in and adopt these guidelines, I would recommend that you read Victoria Boutenko’s chapter on “How Chimpanzees Eat” in her book called Green for Life; the updated classic on Green Smoothie Nutrition, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, CA, c2010.
Boutenko quotes medical sources that estimate that humans and chimps “share an estimated 99.4% of our DNA sequence.” Interestingly, chimps don’t get sick. Humans do.
The author asks “How could it be that we foist our worst human illnesses on chimpanzees but we don’t learn from them? Rather than making them sick, why not make ourselves well? Why not at least try out what they eat?”
So what do chimpanzees eat?
Boutenko observes they mostly eat what we don’t eat!
Learning from Jane Goodall, the world-famous researcher of all thing chimpanzee, Boutenko discovered that chimps eat 50% fruit, and depending on the season, between 25-50% greens. You can see it for yourself because Boutenko has drawn out a “plate” of good (health) as self-selected by the chimps.
Then ask yourself, “When was the last time I included “greens” in my daily diet? Daily!
In fact most people ask, “What are greens?” So before you jump whole-heartedly into filling your plate with the Agriculture Department’s newest visual guide to good eating, purchase a copy of Boutenko’s well-researched book and compare the USDA food plate with a healthy chimpanzee’s plate! It just might make you a believer and the recipient of more flourishing health.
Marlee Huber ~ Advocating for Your Flourishing Life!