Yesterday morning my wife and 15 year old daughter left the house to attend a women's conference in Venice, Fl for two days.

So yesterday after work I thought it would be fun to take the kids out to do some salt water fishing.

They jumped at the opportunity, especially when I told them that if we catch any keepers, we can bring them home and have a fish fry (Unfortunately, the snook in the picture above was not a slot snook so I had to let it go).

We got to the fishing spot and threw our lines out in the water and didn't get a bite.

So, we tried a different spot that seemed to be a bit more promising as other anglers were in this area.

As I cast my line out, another fisherman next to me asked, "What are you using for bait?"

When I told him what I was using, he said, "You're not going to catch anything but sheepshead using that."

As time went on, he apparently was right as we didn't catch anything but seaweed.

Then one of my kids spotted some friends of ours from church that were fishing about 100 yards away.

They came over and the words that came out of my friends mouth was like music to my ears as he asked, "Hey, we've got live shrimp, do you want to use some of our bait?"

You should have seen our faces light up.

As soon as we put the shrimp on our hooks, the fishing poles started to bend, and the action was livelier than a Broadway show in New York City.

Experiencing good health can sometimes be like our fishing experience yesterday.

There was probably a 99.99% chance we would never have caught a fish last night had our friends not come over and shared their bait with us.

Just like you can't expect to catch fish if you are using the wrong bait, you can't expect to feel great if you are eating foods that don't agree with the individual biochemistry of your body.

What am I saying by this statement?

Every person on this planet has a unique design to them with DNA and cells that are particular for their genetic make-up that responds better to certain foods and worse with other foods.

In other words, certain foods can make you feel better - less pain, more energy, increased vitality, etc. while other foods can make you feel worse - increased pain, less energy, chronic symptoms, etc.

Food is meant for our enjoyment, yes, it is also meant to be nourishment and fuel for our bodies.

Just like you wouldn't put Kool-Aid in your car's gas tank because it would be bad for your vehicle, you don't want to put the wrong food in your body as it would be counterproductive for your health.

Yes, there are times when we know we are eating something that is not the best for us but we are going to eat it anyway for our enjoyment, you just don't want to make that the norm but rather the exception.

Start paying attention to how you feel after eating certain meals and move more towards those foods that energize you and make you feel good over the foods that do the opposite.

Eat good today and your body will thank you tomorrow..

Have a GREAT weekend!

Dr. Derek 'throw another shrimp on the barbie' Taylor.