GR: All people need the same nutrients. This story explains why that’s true and it debunks the “bio-individual” myth. The subject is important because switching to a vegetarian diet is one of the ways people can help stop converting wildlife habitat to monotonous rows of cattle feed.
Illustration from The Princess and the Pea.
“Increasingly, there are many institutions and professionals who teach a “Bio-Individual” approach to nutrition. But what does this mean, and does it hold any merit?
“Bio-Individuality basically translates to: “There’s no one-size-fits-all diet – each person is a unique individual with highly individualized nutritional requirements.” The Bio-Individual Diet paradigm holds that “Personal differences in anatomy, metabolism, body composition and cell structure all influence your overall health and the foods that make you feel your best. That’s why no single way of eating works for everyone. The food that is perfect for your unique body, age, and lifestyle may make another person gain weight and feel lethargic.” Proponents of this idea also often believe that “men eat differently than women, children eat differently than adults, and… our personal tastes and inclinations, natural shapes and sizes, blood types, metabolic rates and genetic backgrounds, all influence what foods will and won’t nourish us.
”Bio-Individuality & Nutrition: Breaking It Down
“1. Bio means “life” in Greek. Individuality means “the particular character, or aggregate of qualities, that distinguishes one person or thing from others; sole and personal nature.”
“Bio-Individuality lends itself to mean that each of us has “unique life.” Is this true? Of course it’s true, but “unique” is relative. As humans, we are very different from one another in many ways if you compare two people. But if you compare a human to a Jamaican Rock Iguana, those two humans begin to seem pretty similar and, as it turns out, they are.
“2. So is there a “one-size-fits-all” diet for humans?
“Yes. When born healthy, humans are anatomically very similar, warranting a natural diet [lifetime food, not a weight-loss plan] intended for human anatomy & physiology.” –Carla Golden (Continue reading: Bio-Individuality & the Myth That Some People ‘Just Need Meat’.)