Seems like a simple concept right? Well unfortunately the definition of "food" has changed drastically in the last twenty years. The things that our great grandparents purchased in the grocery store (when they didn't grow it themselves) is very different from most shopping carts today.
While processing and refining has greatly expanded our food supply it has also complicated the selection of "healthy" foods. So, in an effort to help you decipher those confusing food labels found on all products I found an insightful article. The recommendations are ones to try and live by, but understand they maybe difficult because the will alter your selection of "healthy" foods. Happy reading!
- Eat food. Seems simple enough right? Depends on what you classify as food. Try this instead don’t eat anything that your great-great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. More than likely this will eliminate several foodlike items in your local supermarket (go-gurt? Breakfast-cereal bars? Nondairy creamer?).
- Avoid foods that make health claims these foods tend to be heavily processed and the claims are often dubious at best. Think about this the American Heart Association charges food makers for their endorsement. Oh yeah and margarine which was developed as superior to butter still gives people heart attacks.
- Can’t pronounce it perhaps you shouldn’t eat it. If ingredients are unfamiliar, unpronounceable, contain high fructose corn syrup or have more than five ingredients these should be avoided if possible. None of these are particularly harmful in themselves, but instead indicate that these foods maybe highly processed.
- Get out of the supermarket! Become a member of a CSA (community supported agriculture) or attend your local farmers market. Guaranteed you won’t find high fructose corn syrup or unpronounceable ingredients there. Maybe you’ll get the opportunity to meet the farmer that raised and picked your produce for the week. Think about this the average produce travels more than 1500 miles to reach your supermarket how fresh can that really be?
- Pay more, eat less. Americans, on average, spend less than 10 percent on food down from 24 percent in 1947 and drastically less than citizens in any other nation. Not everyone will be able to spend more, but the majority of us can and should. Supporting the farmers who are using reduced pesticides is not only good for our health, but is good for the environment and the communities where that produce is grown. Organic growers incur a substantial cost to switch from conventional production to organic and the only way they recover that cost is through us purchasing their products.
Pollan, Michael (2007). Unhappy Meals. The New York Times, January 28,2007. 1-16.