Until a week ago, I never even heard of “The Chimp Diet”. But then I met Scott Joseph. You can see a quick video snip in the Facebook post below:
According to Scott Joseph, animals have had perfect health for millions of years. Our closest living relatives are chimpanzees… who also experience perfect health. Therefore, we should mimic their diet.
That is, 60% Fruit, 25% Veggies, 10% Nuts 5% Seeds and nothing else! Not even water… your hydration comes from your food! Are you feeling super Chimpy? Feel free to go all in and add in 1.4% bugs… Oh, I almost forgot… your fruits and veges… eat the skins, peels, pulps, seeds, stems, rinds, husks… the whole enchillata!
I’m not sure which fruits and vegetables are OK to eat the whole thing. I haven’t read Scott Joseph’s book yet. Please don’t go into this blindly. For instance, I know that personally I won’t eat the outer leaf of aloe vera… for me it’s inner gel only… since I don’t want to turn my bowels into a soup factory.
One might argue that we are not Chimps and therefore should not eat like them. But when I look at what they eat… I must admit, it is healthy food and we can certainly learn from them.
For me, I’m going to include Chimp food in my diet. But I will also consume foods that Chimps do not eat – since I suspect I have more nutritional needs than a chimp. I probably work and play harder than a chimp, and hopefully I’m supporting higher brain function than a chimp. I should also live about twice as long as chimps. So getting more nutrition makes sense to me.
Now, as to that question…
There are so many different contradictory nutrition teachings when it comes to diet… who should I believe and what advice should I listen to?
Have you ever heard someone say “You have to believe… if you want to get well, you have to believe you’ll get well”. Jesus used phrases like “Your faith has made you whole”. In the movie “Field of Dreams”, Ray played by Kevin Costner hears a voice in his dreams that says “If you build it they will come” which plays well on the faith to fruition concept.
One thing I’ve often pondered is “What comes first, the faith or the knowledge”.
Most people recognize that there is a source of all knowledge and omnipotence. They most commonly call it “Universal Intelligence”, “I am”, or “God”. Many believe we have access to the source of knowledge. Innate is described as that portion of universal intelligence that is in you. Christians would say “It is the Spirit of God that is in you.
We can’t deny that many humans seem to possess a direct connection to the source of all knowledge. That is, they know and do things that they really never learned… but were rather, somehow given to them. I, for example, breath without having ever been taught to do so. I could probably list a few other amazing personal feats… but I’ll leave it at that for the sake of brevity.
Some have referred to the way they hear the voice of knowledge as “that still small voice”. They don’t question much whether or not it is there. But rather, they question whether or not they are listening to it.
Over the years, I have had much practice listening to the voice… and making better life decisions as a result. I still make plenty of bad decisions… sometimes I even willfully disobey the voice! This does not work out well for me. If you struggle with the same, you are in good company. The apostle Paul once went on a sort of “Abbott and Costello rant” relating the struggle between the spirit and flesh saying “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”(Romans 7:15 NIV) Feel free to look it up and read the rest… it is quite humorous since most of us can relate to what he said.
It’s usually not as clear cut as to proverbial angel on one shoulder and devil on the other speaking into your ears… which reminds me of a scene from the movie “Animal House”. This image might trigger your memory…
What I hope we agree on is the possibility that wisdom is being imparted to you from the source of all wisdom.
So what does this have to do with diet?
As you are listening to a guru, there will be things you agree with and things you disagree with. Maybe it isn’t so obvious… maybe your not sure… but when you hear it, you are uncomfortable with the recommendations… or, contrarily, your faith increases as you say to yourself “finally an answer”. Maybe you intuitively feel the wind in your face… or, the wind at your back gently pushing you along.
Still not sure? I used to pretend I’ve already made the decision to see how I felt about it. If I couldn’t tell, I would pretend to have made the opposing decision to compare the two.
Most health gurus admit that there is no one diet for everyone. That is, we are all different and have varying nutrition needs. The advice given by one is not necessarily the best advice; especially if you perceive in your Spirit that it isn’t. I’ve even had two masters of Kinesiology testing give me opposite opinions within an hour of each other. One said I should definitely consume one supplement and not the other… and the other said I should be consuming the other supplement and NOT the one that was recommended. This was based on muscle testing… of which I performed to my best ability for both. The good news is that I knew in my spirit which advice was best for me at the time.
In conclusion, if you are given advice and don’t feel right about it, you should consider the possibility that you are being given knowledge from the Almighty. If you are told the direction you should go and you do feel good about it, again, maybe knowledge from above. It is when you follow this direction that your faith will be the greatest.
These statements are NOT intended to replace professional medical advice.
Don’t like this answer and want to try another? I once answered nearly the same question COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY and, quite accurately. Want to see? Read about it HERE: Why Are There So Many Different Diets?.