What Is Food? (And What Isn't) by Roxana Soetebeer, MHP, NNP, PHC, PFC
What Is Food? (And What Isn't)
Food. It's a basic necessity of life, yet in today's world, most people don't even know what real food is. Thanks to ultra-processed convenience products, clever marketing, and dietary misinformation, we've reached a point where the average person considers anything edible to be "food." But is it?
Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist and expert on metabolic health, has been driving this point home for years. He makes a clear distinction between food and what he calls “edible garbage.” Real food fuels your body and supports your liver, mitochondria, and cardiovascular system. Processed foods, on the other hand, don't nourish you. They trick your body into thinking it's being fed while leaving it starving for real nutrients.
Because the majority of our food supply is now ultra-processed, we are overfed and undernourished. The body keeps seeking the nutrients it needs, but processed foods don't have them—so we keep eating, chasing satiety that never comes. This is one of the reasons why fatty liver disease is no longer just an alcoholic's problem. Thanks to modern diets, it now affects children and non-drinkers, earning its own name: non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
At its core, food should do three things:
- Support your metabolism — Your mitochondria, the powerhouses of your cells, need real fuel to produce energy efficiently. That fuel comes from natural fats and carbohydrates, not processed junk. And yes, I said carbs. While carbohydrates are a natural fuel source, overconsumption—especially of refined carbs—can contribute to metabolic dysfunction and insulin resistance, making it harder for the body to regulate energy efficiently. Restricting carbohydrates can be an effective tool for restoring metabolic health, especially in those with insulin resistance, but carbohydrates are still a valid fuel source for the body.
- Not poison you — This might sound obvious, but in today's food landscape, it isn't. If something disrupts metabolic function, spikes insulin unnaturally, burdens the liver, or inflames the cardiovascular system, it's not food—it's a toxin or a slow poison in disguise.
- Promote satiety and function — Real food keeps your hunger and hormones in check. Processed food keeps you coming back for more. That's not an accident; it's by design.
Let's get specific. Your body has key systems that rely on real food to function optimally.
The liver is responsible for processing nutrients, filtering out harmful substances, regulating blood sugar, and more. But when it's bombarded with high-fructose corn syrup, industrial seed oils, and processed junk, it becomes overwhelmed.
What does the liver actually need? Less garbage. The best thing you can do for your liver is stop overloading it with toxins. No “superfood” is going to undo the damage of a bad diet. Coffee and eggs might help support liver function, but at the end of the day, it's about what you leave out, not what you add.
Your mitochondria determine how much energy you have, how well your metabolism functions, and even how well you age. When you fuel them properly, you feel great. When you overload them with processed sugars and inflammatory oils, you feel sluggish, foggy, and metabolically broken.
Fructose, in particular, takes a serious toll on mitochondrial function. It interferes with three major pathways, making it harder for mitochondria to do their job efficiently. It's like trying to breathe through a straw—your body is working, but it's struggling. The best way to support mitochondrial health? Stop eating the things that poison them. Cut the sugar, grains, and seed oils.
The mainstream narrative around heart health is backwards. For decades, we've been told that whole grains and vegetable oils are "heart-healthy," while natural animal fats and cholesterol are the enemy. This is nonsense.
Your heart runs exceptionally well on ketones—something your body makes when it's burning fat instead of sugar. What damages the cardiovascular system? Inflammation. And what drives inflammation? Sugar, seed oils, and processed carbs. The best thing you can do for your heart isn't to eat more fibre or count cholesterol—it's to stop eating the modern foods that inflame and destroy your blood vessels.
Now that we know what food is, let's talk about what it isn't.
- Seed oils (canola, soybean, corn, sunflower, etc.) — These aren't food. They're industrial waste products repackaged as "heart-healthy" oils, and they wreak havoc on the body.
- Refined grains and processed carbs — Stripped of fibre and nutrients, they spike blood sugar and drive insulin resistance.
- Added sugars (especially high fructose corn syrup) — These hammer the liver and directly impair mitochondrial function.
- Most anything with a label and a long ingredient list — If it wasn't being sold as food 100 years ago, it's probably not food now.
Fun fact: roughly 70% of what's sold in grocery stores today didn't exist a century ago. The explosion of packaged, processed, hyper-palatable products has transformed our food supply—and not in a good way. If you have to read a label to figure out what's in it, there's a good chance it's not food.
The modern food industry doesn't care about your health. It cares about profit. Cheap ingredients, addictive products, and repeat customers drive the industry, not nutrition. The latest development? The food industry is reportedly looking for ways to bypass satiety signals in people taking drugs like Ozempic. Think about that. I had no doubt that ultra-processed foods were designed to be addictive, to keep people eating when their bodies are telling them to stop. If the reports are true, they're actively working to keep people on Ozempic eating. That's straight-up predatory.
If you want to thrive—not just survive—eat like a human. Choose foods that exist in nature, that don't need an ingredient list, and that actually nourish your body instead of poisoning it. This isn't about restriction. It's about rejecting the fake and choosing the real.
Your body knows the difference. It's time we do too.
If you want to be healthy, eat real food. Don't count calories—count ingredients.
Written by Roxana Soetebeer, MHP, NNP, PHC, PFC
Published March 1st, 2025
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