What behavioral ecology teaches us about the wisdom of the palate (interview with behavioral ecologist fred provenza, part 1)
Fred Provenza is professor emeritus of Behavioral Ecology in the Department of Wildland Resources at Utah State University and the author of over 250 publications and several books—his latest one being Nourishment: What Animals Can Teach Us About Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom.
Fred is also one of the founders of BEHAVE (Behavioral Education for Human Animal Vegetation and Ecosystem Management), an international network of scientists and land managers committed to integrating behavioral principles with local knowledge to enhance environmental, economic, and cultural values of rural and urban communities.
In this podcast episode, Fred sheds light on how we've largely become disconnected from the wisdom of our palates and bodies; what we can learn from behavioral ecology to reconnect with our 'nourish’ sense and eat for our health and the health of our ecosystems; and more.
To start, get a glimpse below into the conversation between Fred and Green Dreamer Podcast's host, Kamea Chayne.
“We’ve become obsessed with the parts rather than the whole when, in reality, it’s about the synergies.”
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This is a conversation on Green Dreamer with Kamea Chayne, a podcast and multimedia journal illuminating our paths towards ecological balance, intersectional sustainability, and true abundance and wellness for all. This preview has been edited for clarity. Subscribe to Green Dreamer Podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or any podcast app to stay informed and updated on our latest episodes.
On what it means to have ‘nutritional wisdom’:
“If you view [nutritional wisdom] as a stool, there are three legs that are the essence of what it means to have nutritional wisdom.
[…] The one that none of us ever think about that literally stopped me in my tracks when we were doing the first studies on this, is this idea that we talk about as feedback.
I often ask people: When we eat food, where does that food go?
This question oftentimes catches people by surprise because it's not something we think about, but ultimately, where the food goes is to our cells, to the trillion cells that make up our body.
And feedback is a way that cells and organ systems can influence our liking for the flavors of foods as a function of what those cells and organ systems need. It's an amazingly powerful and intricate system.
[…] The second leg of the stool is that the availability of alternatives is really critical. And the third leg of the stool of nutritional wisdom is social-cultural linkages.”
On how to reconnect with our ‘nourish’ sense:
"Try to figure out what it is that your body is telling you. And this is why wholesome foods are so critical because the processed foods hijack the system.
[…] Start eating wholesome foods and then start paying attention to your body and even experimenting with your own body to figure out what is it that works for you.
I think that's as sound as advice as trying to follow all of [the nutritional advice] that comes out. It can become so confusing.”
On valuing the synergies of parts within the whole:
“Here in the United States especially, we've become obsessed with the parts rather than the whole. How much Vitamin C is in this? How much potassium is in that? And so on.
When in reality, it's about the synergies. The synergies are so complex, it's beyond our capacity to study those things.
This is not to say that individual vitamins and minerals aren't important. But it's the synergies that count.”
This is Part 1 of a 2-part conversation. Tune in to part 2 in the following episode.
