I was putting Aurelia to bed the other night and quickly fell into our typical pattern. She told me to get in bed, read her a book, but only after I get under the covers. I began to read her the novel Dinosnores, the epic tale about dinosaurs going to bed. She then starting asking me about the boo boo on my ankle.
“How did you get it daddy?”
“From my boots rubbing last weekend when I was demoing the kitchen.”
“Should we put a band aid on it?”
“Yes, you already put a pink band aid on it.”
“Oh yeah. How does a band aid work?”
At this point I went into a PhD dissertation on band aids and how they provide a protective barrier to allow the skin to heal while avoiding repeat trauma. I then explained the significance of the word “barrier” and tried to define it in several ways that she would understand. I then explained the significance of friction and why band aids are especially important on joints and fingers and all those areas that rub. I was quite pleased with myself at the end of this extensive lesson in wound care.
She then responded:
“Oh, so band aid makes the boo boo better?”
I laughed and we continued reading about dinosaurs falling asleep, but this story made me think about current lifestyle and nutrition views and recommendations, PhD dissertations on how to eat food, how to quantify it and count calories utilizing complex equations and mobile applications. The significance of intermittent fasting and the importance of a calorie deficit (and usually the ignoring of the importance of body composition).
All of these diatribes would lead Aurelia to respond with, “Simply eat real, nutrient-dense foods that fuel your body and keep you full.”
Smart people make difficult concepts simple, while simple people make easy concepts difficult. We can try our hardest to science it up and complicate things (look at all those influencers), but at the end of the day it is easy as this simple advice.
Now following it is another story, as we are continually around food that stands in opposition to this mantra, tempting us, but you get the picture.
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A man named Albert said this, “if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t’ understand it well enough.”