When did healthy eating become so complicated? So hard to do? How did we get so fat and so sick so fast? What the heck happened? Food continues to be a bargain, we have more healthy choices than ever before and we’re constantly being bombarded with healthy eating messages — eat this, don’t eat that. But, instead of getting better; we’re getting worse. And, our kids are in “eating trouble;” nearly 40% of them are overweight or obese.
In America today, we can get our food anyway we like it – fresh, frozen, smoked, dried, marinated, breaded, fortified, enriched, pasteurized, homogenized, irradiated and genetically modified. We can get it raw, partially prepared, fully prepared, a little bit processed, a lot processed, or so processed that it bears only the slightest resemblance to the food it once was. We can get it conventionally produced or organically grown, with or without hormones and antibiotics, free-range, grass fed, humanely raised and kosher butchered. And we can get it just about anywhere – grocery stores and big box discount retailers have food, of course, but so do drugstores, and convenience stores, and gas stations, and office supply stores, and liquor stores. And, that’s only for those of us who on those rare occasions actually want to go to all that trouble of actually making our own food at home. For the rest of the time, we have dozens of restaurant choices – from slow food fine dining establishments where we can linger over a tasty meal to eat it and beat it fast food joints.
Not only do we have access to more foods from more places around the world than ever before. We also have more information about the foods we consume than ever before. So much information, in fact, that it makes your head spin. This food will lower your LDL while raising your HDL, this one has been linked to hypertension, this is rich in anti-oxidants, this is low in saturated fat, this caused the heads of laboratory rats to fall off.
Things that used to be good for us, now we’re not so sure about. And things that we just knew were bad for us, may not be a problem at all. Health studies about the food we eat certainly aren’t much help. I know they’re intended to bring clarification and help us make better choices, but there’s a new one out every week and mostly they just muddy the water further. The latest study tells us we shouldn’t be eating this food, which we only began consuming just a few months ago because the previous study told us how wonderfully healthy it is. Nutrition labels are great at letting us know what’s lurking inside the package and giving us the opportunity to compare products, but generally it still feels like you have to make a choice between this food which will kill you quickly and in a horribly painful manner or this one which will kill you slowly but a bit more pleasantly.
It used to be just difficult to determine what was good for you and what wasn’t; now it’s darn near impossible. And, it’s getting more complicated everyday because Madison Avenue and the giant corporations that feed us have caught on to the fact that we consumers want a healthier diet or at least want to believe we are making improvements. It’s become the latest trend in the food industry and everybody’s jumping on the bandwagon.
Every product has a way to help us out with our food problem. All of the old products we used to eat have been reinvented and repackaged to make them a little less toxic (banner labels advise us that our old favorite is new and improved – same great taste, same low price, but now with half the sodium, half the fat and half the calories of our original recipe … sure, the manufacturer now only puts in half as much of the product in the package, but it’s way better for you). Then there are the scads of new foods to choose from. These foods promise to absolutely transform us. Every product label beckons us from the shelf by emphasizing its healthful blessings – eat me, I’m low fat; no, eat me, I’m low carb; no, eat me, I’m bi (both low fat and low carb). Best of all, every one of these awesome products is made from 100% natural ingredients (what a relief it is to know that everything in this package of food is from planet earth and that it contains no extra-terrestrial plants or animals whatsoever).
America’s fast food chains have also stepped up – they now offer us healthier choices (sorta kinda at least – a green salad with chicken, bacon bits, blue cheese, toasted walnuts, croutons and a quarter cup of salad dressing is arguably healthier than a triple with cheese and a large order of fries, but healthy?).
Even our snack foods are working it. Bags of potato chips, tortilla chips and cheese curls now brag that they are cholesterol free foods and contain no trans fats (just letting us know they too are doing their part to help us out – they could have boiled those potatoes in lard or beef tallow, but because they were thinking of us and our hearts, they used vegetable oil instead).
It’s enough to make you want to swear off food altogether. Navigating the aisles of the supermarket is like negotiating your way through a field of landmines. And, going out to eat? Well, we might as well just have a big plate of hazardous waste for dinner. But, we got to eat to live, right?
Eating healthier is important, but it needn’t be so complicated and confusing as it’s become, and we don’t have to give up our favorite foods or sacrifice flavor. We might need to consume a little bit less of some of our favorites (selecting the 8-ounce portion of prime rib instead of the 24-ounce king’s cut, for example, is something to think about … it came from a cow, we are what we eat – need I say more?), and we may need to expand our cooking creativity beyond the fry baby on the counter and a 64-ounce bottle of oil (the oven is not just for baking cookies and warming your toes on those cold winter nights), but we don’t have to deprive ourselves of anything. Eating healthier doesn’t mean eating boring-er.
Eating healthier is especially important these days. Think about it – we’re hard on our bodies. We work long hours, we take care of family matters and we manage our households, we get in some exercise whenever we can and every once in awhile we try to squeeze in a little fun. We get up early and we stay up late, and we catch our dinner wherever and whenever we can. Yet, we still expect great things out of our bodies – we need to look good dammit, and we expect all of our parts to work perfectly every time. Our bodies take a lot of abuse from us. The least we can do for our body’s faithful and loyal service to us is to feed it well.
Over the next few months we’re going to explore the world of healthy foods together. In this column you’ll learn how to make healthier choices and how to cook some awesome meals. I’ll shed some much needed light on processed foods, dispel some myths, and share my culinary point of view.
Got a recipe for a delicious nutritious meal you’re willing to share? A question about how to make your favorite dish healthier? A story about how you improved the nutrition of your family? Join our food forum and tell us all about it.
Until next time – ¡Mucho Gusto!, ¡Muchas Gracias! y ¡Buen Provecho!
