Food, Inc.

I have many people close to me who have made a few jabs at me about my recent interest in nutrition. They think I have gone off of the deep end and find that I talk like a conspiracy theorist who has an issue with the government. To those of you who know me-I'm sure it does seem like things have definitely changed in my life. Well . . . they have! I've been losing weight at a slow, but steady rate, have had more energy, and haven't been sick as much as I would have normally for this time of year. I say none of this to make anyone feel bad, I am just trying to communicate that making changes in your eating habits does in fact make a HUGE difference. Just how huge? Well it can be the difference between life and death.

Living and Dead Food

In Eat This and Live, Dr. Don Colbert talks about the difference between living and dead food. Living food is the food that is as close to its normal form as possible. These are the foods that God has given us that grow naturally: fruits, vegetables, grain, etc. Living food is also classified as animals we eat that are fed the things they are supposed to be eating (i.e. cows by nature, are designed to eat grass, not corn). God gave us a plethora of delicious things on this earth to eat. Why are we so inclined to change them to make them less healthy? Change them how? By making dead foods-processing the living foods.

There is an enormous amount of dead food in our society today. According to Dr. Colbert, about 1/3 of the average American's diet is made up of junk food.The scary thing is that dead food might even be things you don't even realize are bad for you. For example, I grew up eating margarine in my family for two reasons: 1) It was cheaper 2) It had less fat and calories. However, margarine is nothing but a processed chemical substance where the final product is actually gray in color. Food processors dye it yellow so its appearance won't be so off-putting (a.k.a. freaking disgusting!).

Why do I bring this up? Because I thought I knew a lot about the shiesty ways of the food industry. It was for this reason that one of the first things Kris and I did when we decided to start eating healthier was to cut out fast food (fast food companies can sell food for so cheap because of their poor standards when it comes to quality in how their food is grown and raised). BUT, I honestly had no idea just how bad the quality of food in this country was until I stumbled upon a film on our Netflix last Thursday called Food, Inc.

Food, Inc.

Food, Inc. is a documentary  that came out in 2009 about the food industry in America. It talks about how fast food changed the production of food in America forever. While watching the film I saw several things I was aware of before (i.e. ground beef hamburger filler being washed in ammonia to kill e coli and other bacteria) but I was shocked, horrified and disgusted as I learned way more about food in America than I had ever heard of. Here is the trailer:

Food, Inc. is on instant streaming if you have Netflix, if not, I am sure you can find it to rent at any video store or from Amazon.com Instant video. If you don't have the money to rent it, let me know, I will let you come over and watch it at my apartment. That's how much I want you to watch it!

Here are just a few things I learn from Food, Inc.:

• I have been talking a lot on this blog about the importance of buying organic. Well, until I saw this film, I had no idea just how truly important it was. One of the things Food, Inc. talks about it how chickens are raised now. A normal chicken is supposed to grow in about three months. Now, thanks to hormone injections and a change in feed, chickens can be ready for slaughter in just a measly 47 days:

 

• Chickens are also kept in dark houses for the majority of their lives sitting in their own feces. I know that I can't be the only one who feels that there is something wrong here. 
• Chicken is not the only meat that is talked about in this documentary either-pork and beef have equally disgusting stories of how they make it to your dinner plate. Next time you go to the store to pick out meat, look at the packaging of most of the bigger name companies. The name and/or logo will usually have something to do with a farm. Whether it is a picture or says something like "farm fresh" the food industry leads us to believe that the food we are getting actually is coming from the idealistic picture of the American farmer out with his animals in the fresh air:

•  The reality is actually something far different:

• There are no seasons for food anymore. Food can be grown and ripened year round through the use of chemical gases. To me at least, it seems like we have forgotten what food is really supposed to be like. 
• When we go to the store we think we have such a wide variety of things to choose from. Did you know that most of the products you buy in the store are corn or soy based? 90% actually according to the film. We live the illusion of variety every single day. 

So why would I post about this film? Why would I choose to write a blog about eating healthier? Why would I not care about looking like a health nut in front of people I care about? Because I think that what we put into our bodies matters. I believe something we do as frequently as eating should be beneficial for us instead of harmful. I believe that we have the right to know where our food comes from and how it is processed.

Why do we not eat better?

So why do so many people eat unhealthy food? For majority of us, the answer is ignorance. Not ignorance by choice, but because this information is not shared readily with the public. The big companies that process our food do not want us to know how they are handling the food we put into our bodies daily. For others, maybe it is ignorance by choice. For a long time this was me. I thought I would be happier not knowing and no one cared to tell me. Change is hard. Change is scary. Change is uncomfortable at times. I just feel that as a Christian, and just as a fellow human being, keeping the information to myself is not an option. 

A scary fact talked about in Food, Inc. is that 1/3 of children born after 2000 will get early onset type 2 diabetes. That number is 1/2 for minorities. People are getting sick and dying because of the food that is just handed to us day in and day out. This tears my heart out. I can almost handle hurting myself, but I refuse to hand my children this fate.

For some, the problem is that healthy food is expensive. Plain and simple. I understand this all too well. Kris and I are a young, newly married couple living on one income while the other goes to school. Needless to say, money is tight. We see eating healthy food as an investment in our future. We are spending a little more money on food now, so that we don't have to spend money on medical bills in the future. 

Where do I start?

I'm sure all of this is overwhelming. It is a lot of information. A lot of real, scary, honest-to-God-punch-you-in-the-stomach information. Say you do want to start eating healthy, where would you even start? I would suggest watching Food, Inc. and then reading the remainder of this blog. Trust me, it's worth your time.

Changing the way you eat is not a quick process and it shouldn't be. Making drastic changes in your eating habits almost ensures that you will fail to maintain new habits in the long run. Gradual, small, changes are the best way to go. Kris and I have almost been on this journey for a year, and we are still working at it! 

If you are interested in having a healthier life but aren't sure where to start, here are a few jumping off points:

• If you eat a lot of fast food, start to gradually cut back on your intake and replace those meals by cooking a meal at home with fresh ingredients. 
• Try to have a fruit or vegetable at every meal you have. Buy one that is organic and in season. Then try expanding the variety of fruits and vegetables that you eat. Learn how to incorporate them better into your meals. Then try to make them count for a bigger portion of your meals. 
• Try buying a few things from a Farmer's Market. 
• Simply replace candy with dark chocolate (See previous post). 
• There are literally thousands of places you could start, but you have to start somewhere!

Like I said, small gradual changes are the way to go. Just as in exercising, don't do too much too fast, or you will want to give up. As you work your way towards a healthier lifestyle you will also get to enjoy the benefits of it along the way and that should motivate you to keep going. Having more energy, loosing weight, and a better immune system are just a few of the benefits you will start to notice. In the long run, you can rest assured knowing that you are making an investment in your future.

But don't take my word for it. Watch Food, Inc. Seriously. Do some research. By a book. Watch the Jamie Oliver videos on my site. If there is one thing I know, it is this: God wants us to take care of our bodies, so we should. Therefore what we put into our bodies matters a great deal. 

Well that's all I have for today. As always, thanks for reading and eating along with me!

A Chocolate A Day . . .

 
Since it's almost Friday I wanted to write today about something more fun in the healthy food world . . . CHOCOLATE! Who doesn't love chocolate? I mean, I'm a girl, so it's kind of in my DNA, but seriously, who doesn't just love chocolate? I tend to crave chocolate on bad days or when I'm moody and I spent my whole life trying to fight that craving until one day I came to a beautiful realization: chocolate can actually be good for you. Let me say it again so you can be sure I didn't type it incorrectly: Chocolate can actually be good for you!

Yes, I know you're thinking I'm crazy, but before you decide to stop reading my blog and never return because the crazy lady thinks chocolate is good for you, let me explain:

Let me start off by saying that I said chocolate can be good for you. It really can, that is if you eat the right kind. When I was in high school I absolutely detested dark chocolate. Under no circumstances would I ever have eaten the stuff. This also could have been because I had overloaded my body with sugar from milk chocolate and white chocolate candy bars. The bitterness of dark chocolate just didn't compare to the uber sweetness of regular chocolate.  I vowed to never ever eat dark chocolate, and I kept my word until about six months ago.

I was being an early morning bum watching the Today Show on NBC. They had a health expert on, as they often do, who was talking about ways to make a healthier lunch. I was checking my e-mail when  I heard this lady say that having a bit of chocolate everyday can actually be good for your heart. Thinking that I must have misheard her, I quickly rewound, and much to my surprise heard her say the same thing. The problem was that it had to be dark chocolate. Bleh! The expert said that as long as it was dark chocolate with a 60% or higher cacao content, one to two ounces of chocolate per day could actually benefit you.

I decided to look into this further and found it to be quite true. Kris and I decided to buy individually wrapped ounces of dark chocolate just to try it out. At first, I wasn't crazy about it, but I was crazy, however, about the idea of being able to eat chocolate daily without feeling guilty about it. Eventually, I got used to it, and had an ounce of dark chocolate at the end of lunch every day to finish off my meal. Then, one day, we were out of dark chocolate so I got into the pantry to find the milk chocolate baking morsels we had and grabbed a small handful out. I only had a couple of chips before I had to spit them out. The chocolate tasted synthetic and had a weird texture. It was then that I realized, the darker the chocolate, the more "real" the chocolate was.

The food industry has put us on a sensory overload when it comes to taste. They use synthetic, chemical flavoring as well as ridiculous amounts of sugar to make food taste more intense so your taste buds will like it more. Unfortunately, this same phenomena is what often gets us addicted to food in the first place. Because of this, often natural foods, even sweet ones do not taste as good to us as they should. Our taste buds have become "desensitized" in a way.

Needless to say, since the milk chocolate incident I have become a lover of dark chocolate and am so glad that we decided to try it.

Okay, so maybe you're still not believing me about the whole chocolate being good thing. Here's the part where I will actually explain why: Dark chocolate, when eaten every day can decrease your risk for cardiovascular disease by 75%!!!! That's crazy! The reason for this is the flavonoids in cocoa. Chocolate really comes from these little cocoa beans that though bitter, have terrific flavor and many health benefits. The flavonoids found in chocolate are called flavanols and they prevent fatlike substances from clogging arteries in your bloodstream (Johnny Bowden author of The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth). With a reduced risk in your blood clotting you can help your body prevent heart attacks and strokes. They can also lower your blood pressure.

Cocoa beans are also high in anti-oxidants which can help you from getting sick and help prevent you from getting a wide variety of other diseases. In 1998 the British Medical Journal reported that dark chocolate consumption is linked to longer life. The proof is in the pudding, er, chocolate that is, you should probably stay away from chocolate pudding though . . .

Dark chocolate does have fat in it though so if you're going to eat it, you should substitute it for other kinds of fats and sugars you are currently eating. It will be better for you any way. You must also be able to limit yourself to just 1-2 ounces of chocolate per day (this is roughly about two squares on a candy bar).

To sum up, I want to give you some guidelines when it comes to eating dark chocolate:

• High cacao content (60% or higher)
• Organic is always better, but not required
• Low sugar content
• Low sodium
• Low saturated fat
• If the ingredients include milk fat, make sure that they also include cocoa butter (cocoa butter is fairly expensive and so most companies will try to cut corners by using the cheaper, and worse for you, milk fats).
• Limit yourself to 1-2 ounces per day 

Kris and I are currently eating Ghirardelli's Premium Baking Chips Bittersweet Dark Chocolate-60% cacao. We have tried several different brands and this is the one we like the best. We have found that usually it's cheaper to buy the baking chips instead of individually wrapped chocolate. We make sure to limit ourselves by separating the chocolate into ounces and putting it into little, individual Ziploc snack bags.

Please let me know if you have any questions about dark chocolate and this post. I hope you get to enjoy, as I have, your daily allowance of that all-too-delicious (and good for you) dark chocolate!