Defensive eating has a couple of meanings to me. First, I typically do not share my eating habits with others unless I know they are like-minded. The reason I do this is because there are many people out there who get defensive when they learn about the way that I eat and live my lifestyle. Since my diagnosis of cancer, I have changed everything in my life in an attempt to live a healthier, more cleansing lifestyle that enabled me to rebuild my health. This included cutting out processed, refined foods as well as body products containing loads of chemicals and additives. Unfortunately, some take issue with this decision. They get defensive about it and tell me that I was wrong to turn down harsh chemical treatments and that changing my diet will have no effect. I beg to differ.
When I learned of my diagnosis, I was terrified. I was scared not only of the disease, but also the treatments that were being recommended. Radiation and chemotherapy treatments also involved damaging long term risks that I was not willing to take. I weighed the options and explored other opportunities. In my opinion, you are your own advocate. Your life is in your hands. It is in your best interest to explore all avenues before you make a decision on which course you will take. You are doing yourself a disservice if you go with the first option that is presented to you. Always, always get a second or even third opinion.
The other meaning to me of defensive eating is that you are defending your health and need to eat with that in mind. Consuming foods that have been processed and contain additives and refined ingredients will not provide you the nutrition your body needs to stay healthy. Eat defensively! Consume whole foods that are rich in nutrients and minimally processed. Focus on the produce section of the supermarket and buy organic produce when possible. Try to vary your intake of produce. Keep in mind that the more colorful the vegetable, the more nutrient rich it is. And, the more you vary your intake, the more nutrients you will be providing your body. Keep away from the middle sections of the supermarket. These are where the bulk of the processed foods are kept. These are the foods that are so harmful and have caused so many of the health problems that plague our society.
By simply changing your diet to eliminate the harmful foods, you will be encouraging your body to cleanse. You will begin to purge toxins from your body and set the stage for improving your health. You have control over your health. I changed my entire lifestyle and healed myself. After I had the tumor in my breast removed, I took the opportunity to clean house and continue to live a healthy lifestyle. I have been able to avoid recurrence of the aggressive type of cancer I had. I feel that this is a result of the choices I made.
So, if you are attempting to change your life and you are having problems with having to defend your choices, ignore those who are clearly not as informed and practice defensive eating. It is your life you are protecting afterall.