My two daughters have been sharing books and recommending documentaries about food. One daughter is motivated by wanting to feed her 4 children in a healthy manner. The other is an animal lover with no children and her motivation is the humane treatment of animals she is eating. It is nice that each motivation has the side benefit of the other motivation. Some of this I have read over the years, but never really dealt with on a full scale due to time. It is interesting and would be good for many to know, so I'm going to do a brief synopsis here. Books and documentaries can give you more information. The book I just finished reading is IN DEFENSE OF FOOD (eat food, not too much, mostly plants) by Michael Pollan. I have returned the others I read, but feel this may be a best start for in a nutshell information. Food, Inc is a documentary I watched on Netflix. It is not for the faint of heart, but will show you how industrialization of our meat production has favored quantity over quality.
God created whole natural food just as our body needed it to give us the exact nutrition we needed. Then, like many things, the government and business messed with it. For example, they determined that fake created margarine was better for us than butter and then many decades later, the truth about man created trans fats came out. We didn't know any better, so we believed what they told us. Part of what I am going to try to do for myself is counteract damage done by 20-30 years of believing all fat was bad and that I shouldn't eat any of it--which I interpreted to also mean I should not eat much meat because meat had fat. Carbohydrates became a large part of my diet, but simple and complex carbohydrates were not distinguished as being better or worse then and we didn't know that "fat free" usually meant "sugar added". I gave up on diets when many years ago, following this plan at 6oo calories a day and walking 20 miles a week, I lost 2 lbs in 6 weeks. When I first read about protein diets where glucogen from protein was necessary to balance insulin production--and that too much insulin signaled your body to store fat and retain water, that suddenly explained a lot.
MEAT
The food industry and government have pushed another out of balance issue on us. Omega 6 from seeds is far out of balance to the needed Omega 3 from leafy greens. Balance is the name of the game and these two provide opposite needs, balancing each other out when quantities are correct. I know, you thought fish was a good source of Omega 3, but fish get it from eating algae and our land meat sources used to get it from grass. Now our meat sources are fed grain (Omega 6)and hormones to make them grow fatter faster and produce more tender (fat) meat. This grain increases illness and E-coli because it is not the natural food source of the animals, so then they have to be routinely fed antibiotics. Research shows that when put back on grass, E coli disappears in a few days. Mass production and marketing calls for crowded, inhumane conditions which has to produce stress--which to me means high cortisal levels in our meat. Chickens are now mass bread with increased breast size so much that they often cannot even stand up; many in crowded completely closed buildings (little circulation and natural light). Free range and cage free for all animals mean opportunities to graze for their natural diet and have movement, exercise, fresh air, and sunshine. This meat has to have an effect on the quality of the building blocks it contributes to for our own bodies.
BREAD, CARBOHYDRATES
I think everyone knows now that complex carbohydrates are best and that not only is there little to no nutritional value to something like a piece of white bread, but it cranks us into automatic glucose which overworks our insulin production. White flour, like most detours from natural food, was a marketing issue. If you left the seed and oil source in the flour, it would become rancid and you could not store the flour as long. Stripping the flour of all but the fluffy whiteness took all storage issues away because there was little food value left to spoil. It then became prestigious to have pure white flour. Whole grains digest slower and insulin is released slower which gives us benefits rather than problems.
PLANT SOURCES
This is where the major source of our diet should come from. Even Thomas Jefferson cited that meat should be a condiment to add some variety and flavor. We now see meat as the main part of the meal and try to through a vegetable in for good measure. The Omega 3 from leafy greens is critical while controlling the intake of healthy complex carbohydrates (Omega 6) to re-establish that needed balance. Eating many colors in fruits and vegetables insures you are getting the variety of vitamins and antioxidants you need.
WESTERN ILLNESSES
These are out of control in countries (US) where we eat this western diet. Studies show when those from healthier eating backgrounds come here and change their diet, they also begin to develop these diseases (diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol and triglycerides). When they return to their original healthier eating, their cholesterol, blood sugar, and other elevated levels improve within weeks.
SOURCES
Frozen fruits and vegetables as well as some canned can improve out intake. Organic does improve odds of pesticide free soils--which is an important factor in the nutrients in out food. Local foods are always better when available--the closer means fewer miles and time to deplete nutrition. Local food markets in season are good. Meat markets that are provided to by closer, smaller (non-mass production) farms who have committed to no hormone or antibiotics and some grazing for natural dietary needs is always better. I call and e-mail to see where meat, milk, and eggs come from and what their guidelines are. Organic eggs means no pesticides in organic supplemental feeds and cage-free opportunities for natural diet. Cage-free only guarantees they have time outside to eat natural diets. If you want to use supplements for Omega 3 yourself, I would recommend you check the bottle for the amount of healthy fish oils. Many supermarket brands tout 1000 mg, but when you look at the the bottle , the healthy fish oils (Omega 3-EPA and DHA) are only about 1/3 of total fish oil amount listed. GNC, for example, has a 900 mg that is truly 900 mg of what you want. Yes, it is probably about 3 times the cost too, but you get what you pay for. There are also CSA 's (community supported agriculture) in most areas. This is where people sort of buy stock in the products to support and encourage these farmers to produce the kind of healthy foods we want. The one locally will also sell to individalas and sells Saturday morning at Penny Lane Coffee House. I suspect they participate in the summer farmer's market too.
GENERAL TIPS
These would be from the book cited in the first paragraph.
These are some things to avoid that are not pure whole foods:
items that your grandmother would not recognize, ingredients you can't pronounce, items with more than 5 ingredients, many items in the center aisles (healthier real foods are usually around the edges)
Things to look for and think about:
You are part of a food chain--what your food gained from eating and environment is now also in your diet (grass-omega 3 and soil quality for examples), larger varieties of food means larger varieties of vitamins and minerals, consider and respect cultural diets as they stood the test of time about what foods were beneficial in specific climates and conditions, pay more for quality and eat less quantity, reasonably sized meals need to make a comeback above so much snacking, make meal time a slow eating social gathering at the table, participate in cooking and growing your own food as much as possible.
I especially like the last section of the book talking about how our eating should be slow, deliberate, and thoughtful. It should be done with an attitude of gratitude for the mystery of its creation by God and for those who participated in the process of nurturing the plants, trees, or animals from whence it came. I think we do take food too much for granted.
Even small changes in your diet can bring about health improvement. I'm hoping what I have learned will pay off some for me.
