I am constantly working towards a whole foods lifestyle. It's not easy. I married a man who does not like vegetables and I have the cliche picky 3 year old, however, I'm doing the best that I can. I'm not perfect and we occasionally eat things in my house that come from cans and jars. We occasionally go out to eat. We grab fast food when we're on a road trip. We eat hot dogs when camping and, yes, my child has eaten Kraft mac and cheese. However, I see everyday and each meal as a fresh start. I try and make smart food choices one forkful at a time. I whole-heartedly believe that the health and welfare of this country is tied strongly to food. I believe it comes from the way we treat our soil all the way to the seasonings we add at the table.
Because this is a topic that I feel extremely passionate about, I like to talk about it, post about it, etc. Food is personal, however, and you can't necessarily go around criticizing people's food choices. I have had co-workers voluntarily apologize for their food choices at lunch when it never even occurred to me to pay attention! I'm hyper-focused on my family's food... not yours! But it's because food is tied to our economic selves, our cultures, our emotions, our families and childhoods. Simple things can provide us comfort (peanut butter and jelly on a Ritz cracker, for example) and unusual meals can bring back a flood of emotion from a past experience. Everyone prepares meatloaf a different way. Everyone has a secret to the perfect pizza crust. Some of us count calories, some watch fat, some don't count anything, but it seems as though everyone has a complex relationship with food, for better or worse. And so, on the social networking sites that I frequent, I try and balance the difference between sharing information that I think people might find helpful and informative with that that is purely judgmental or emotional.
Likewise, depending on who I'm talking with and what we are talking about, I waiver regarding who's to blame for the current crisis in our food industry. The reality is, our food is full of junk and I don't think people realize this. Or, they realize it, but don't know how to avoid it. Or, they think they are making healthy choices, but are being misled. Or, they simply don't care. So a large part of me blames the food industry for doing these things on purpose as well as the USDA and FDA who allow such things to go on. But then there are the people who don't care. Now, I consider myself an educated individual, but not much smarter than the average Joe and I have been able to research and understand these things, so why can't everyone else? Sure the food companies are playing marketing games and sneaking things into their food, but we also live in an age of information and Americans need to take some personal responsibility here. Sure our cafeteria food should be healthier and our kids should get recess, but no one is stopping you from packing your child's lunch and taking them to the park after school, right?
Frequently on Pinterest I see comments attached to pins that demonstrate how misguided our healthy food habits are. A person will pin a homemade ketchup recipe with the tag "Healthy ketchup! no chemicals or icky stuff." The most unhealthy things in a bottle of store-bought ketchup are the high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and the salt content. So if you are going to make your own with canned tomato paste (salt) and sugar and more salt, you aren't really making a "healthy ketchup," but rather one that might have less salt and no HFCS. Is this better than store-bought? Well, considering the canned tomato paste might contain BPA? It's a trade off, I guess.
Another common one: "healthy brownies! never buy a mix again!" and the pin takes you to a recipe that includes white flour, refined sugar, and probably oil. Would these taste better than a box mix? Heck yes. Are they "healthier?" Probably not. The box mix has listed various additives, but these are most likely in your store-bought flour anyway. Plus anywhere you find white flour, refined sugar, and oil, you're just plain not creating a healthy dish... delicious? probably. Healthy? nope.
*Don't get me wrong - if given the choice, I'd go for the homemade version any day. Home cooks use far less salt, sugar, and fat than processed foods and you're avoiding preservatives for the most part, but we fail to consider the quality of the pantry items we are using in some cases.
Similarly, and with the exception of dairy (usually), "low fat," "no fat," and "sugar free" might save you some fat grams, but you're trading them for sugar and/or salt content and in the case of "sugar free" you're nixing refined sugar for an artificial sweetener like aspartame. I know people love their diet sodas, but aspartame is a chemical poison in my opinion. A good rule of thumb, if it's banned when you're pregnant, then why would you consume it when you're not? Google it if you don't believe me.
I don't have a degree in nutrition - I just read (and I also care). So maybe the responsibility should fall on the individual? But then again, there are many, many books like Salt, Sugar, Fat by Michael Moss. This book details how the food industry manipulates our taste buds with salt and fat. Or THIS New York Times article which everyone should read that outlines a bit of the marketing and lobbying the food industry does - and how aware they are of the choices they're making. So then I think, well, Americans are fighting a losing a battle and someone needs to step in.
At the end of the day, though, I think I fall on the side of personal responsibility. There is just too much information available these days for us to claim ignorance. Where I would like to see more government regulation and oversight is in the case of agriculture. Pesticides, GMO's, and water and land usage are big things that are beyond one individual's choice in the produce department. How we treat our seeds, water, and farm land is going to affect population for years to come and this is an area where I'd like to see some serious reform. I also know that many Americans don't have access to fresh foods and that our food aid system needs some serious overhaul - these are two more examples of places where I think a larger entity is to blame.
But in terms of the average person I interact with, healthy food choices are usually an option. My facebook feed is flooded with updates about autism/learning disabilities/ADHD, allergies, sickness, infections, weight/dieting issues, lack of energy, etc and we would be just plain stupid to not examine the food choices we are making and the foods we are feeding our children.
So is the industry to blame? Yes. Is the individual also at fault here? Absolutely. Wake up America, no one is looking out for you. It is time to take some responsibility for your own health and welfare and the health and welfare of your children.
Because this is a topic that I feel extremely passionate about, I like to talk about it, post about it, etc. Food is personal, however, and you can't necessarily go around criticizing people's food choices. I have had co-workers voluntarily apologize for their food choices at lunch when it never even occurred to me to pay attention! I'm hyper-focused on my family's food... not yours! But it's because food is tied to our economic selves, our cultures, our emotions, our families and childhoods. Simple things can provide us comfort (peanut butter and jelly on a Ritz cracker, for example) and unusual meals can bring back a flood of emotion from a past experience. Everyone prepares meatloaf a different way. Everyone has a secret to the perfect pizza crust. Some of us count calories, some watch fat, some don't count anything, but it seems as though everyone has a complex relationship with food, for better or worse. And so, on the social networking sites that I frequent, I try and balance the difference between sharing information that I think people might find helpful and informative with that that is purely judgmental or emotional.
Likewise, depending on who I'm talking with and what we are talking about, I waiver regarding who's to blame for the current crisis in our food industry. The reality is, our food is full of junk and I don't think people realize this. Or, they realize it, but don't know how to avoid it. Or, they think they are making healthy choices, but are being misled. Or, they simply don't care. So a large part of me blames the food industry for doing these things on purpose as well as the USDA and FDA who allow such things to go on. But then there are the people who don't care. Now, I consider myself an educated individual, but not much smarter than the average Joe and I have been able to research and understand these things, so why can't everyone else? Sure the food companies are playing marketing games and sneaking things into their food, but we also live in an age of information and Americans need to take some personal responsibility here. Sure our cafeteria food should be healthier and our kids should get recess, but no one is stopping you from packing your child's lunch and taking them to the park after school, right?
Frequently on Pinterest I see comments attached to pins that demonstrate how misguided our healthy food habits are. A person will pin a homemade ketchup recipe with the tag "Healthy ketchup! no chemicals or icky stuff." The most unhealthy things in a bottle of store-bought ketchup are the high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and the salt content. So if you are going to make your own with canned tomato paste (salt) and sugar and more salt, you aren't really making a "healthy ketchup," but rather one that might have less salt and no HFCS. Is this better than store-bought? Well, considering the canned tomato paste might contain BPA? It's a trade off, I guess.
Another common one: "healthy brownies! never buy a mix again!" and the pin takes you to a recipe that includes white flour, refined sugar, and probably oil. Would these taste better than a box mix? Heck yes. Are they "healthier?" Probably not. The box mix has listed various additives, but these are most likely in your store-bought flour anyway. Plus anywhere you find white flour, refined sugar, and oil, you're just plain not creating a healthy dish... delicious? probably. Healthy? nope.
*Don't get me wrong - if given the choice, I'd go for the homemade version any day. Home cooks use far less salt, sugar, and fat than processed foods and you're avoiding preservatives for the most part, but we fail to consider the quality of the pantry items we are using in some cases.
Similarly, and with the exception of dairy (usually), "low fat," "no fat," and "sugar free" might save you some fat grams, but you're trading them for sugar and/or salt content and in the case of "sugar free" you're nixing refined sugar for an artificial sweetener like aspartame. I know people love their diet sodas, but aspartame is a chemical poison in my opinion. A good rule of thumb, if it's banned when you're pregnant, then why would you consume it when you're not? Google it if you don't believe me.
I don't have a degree in nutrition - I just read (and I also care). So maybe the responsibility should fall on the individual? But then again, there are many, many books like Salt, Sugar, Fat by Michael Moss. This book details how the food industry manipulates our taste buds with salt and fat. Or THIS New York Times article which everyone should read that outlines a bit of the marketing and lobbying the food industry does - and how aware they are of the choices they're making. So then I think, well, Americans are fighting a losing a battle and someone needs to step in.
At the end of the day, though, I think I fall on the side of personal responsibility. There is just too much information available these days for us to claim ignorance. Where I would like to see more government regulation and oversight is in the case of agriculture. Pesticides, GMO's, and water and land usage are big things that are beyond one individual's choice in the produce department. How we treat our seeds, water, and farm land is going to affect population for years to come and this is an area where I'd like to see some serious reform. I also know that many Americans don't have access to fresh foods and that our food aid system needs some serious overhaul - these are two more examples of places where I think a larger entity is to blame.
But in terms of the average person I interact with, healthy food choices are usually an option. My facebook feed is flooded with updates about autism/learning disabilities/ADHD, allergies, sickness, infections, weight/dieting issues, lack of energy, etc and we would be just plain stupid to not examine the food choices we are making and the foods we are feeding our children.
So is the industry to blame? Yes. Is the individual also at fault here? Absolutely. Wake up America, no one is looking out for you. It is time to take some responsibility for your own health and welfare and the health and welfare of your children.
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