My cousin, Libby, asked me about my "eating style," since we've talked a little bit about food and ingredients, and eating healthy. She's been eating more produce, and more organic, avoiding high fructose corn syrup, and wondered what else might be worth a shot.
Me? I'm just me! Crazy food sensitivities have dictated most of my food changes, but I have read quite alot.
In recent years, the book Twinkie, Deconstructed got me thinking and questioning the most. And it all went up-hill from there. Twinkie, Deconstructed made me think about every ingredient in the foods I was eating. I realized that I was trusting my food more than it deserved. Not in a scary "NEVER EAT PROCESSED FOOD, THEY'RE OUT TO POISON YOU" kind of way, but I found myself with a voracious interest in where every ingredient came from. In the same spirit as watching those old clips on Mr Rogers and Sesame Street on how crayons are made. The same curiosity that is sated by watching Modern Marvels: Ice Cream, Fast Food Tech, Candy, Toilets, Lawn Tech, etc.
Then, I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and Plenty, which introduced me to the politics, advantages and challenges of eating more locally. They chose a 100 mile radius as their definition of "local," but the whole experiment makes one wonder why on earth we have grapes from Chile and apples from New Zealand in our stores, on the OTHER side of the globe, anyway.
Then I read Joel Salatin's Holy Cows and Hog Heaven, which is all about how "farm-friendly" your food is. Or not.
Raw milk and some of the ideas behind Nourishing Traditions have also had their influence on me.
All of these topics are not directly about nutrition, or organic farming and gardening practices, but it turns out that when we buy food that is humanely produced, benefits the farmer as much as or more than big agribusiness, is good to the earth, and is shipped from closer by than the next continent, *it will be more nutritious.*
Turns out it's a little more expensive, too. Because agribusiness and years' worth of farm bills that promote agribusiness practices make junk food cheap, so we buy it. Me, too, I'm not claiming superiority. (Brownies with chocolate chips and frosting, anyone? Or GMO cornchips?! Come on over!) It comes down to how much food money we have in our budget, right?
Enough preaching. What do I eat? Tune in....
Then, I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and Plenty, which introduced me to the politics, advantages and challenges of eating more locally. They chose a 100 mile radius as their definition of "local," but the whole experiment makes one wonder why on earth we have grapes from Chile and apples from New Zealand in our stores, on the OTHER side of the globe, anyway.
Then I read Joel Salatin's Holy Cows and Hog Heaven, which is all about how "farm-friendly" your food is. Or not.
Raw milk and some of the ideas behind Nourishing Traditions have also had their influence on me.
All of these topics are not directly about nutrition, or organic farming and gardening practices, but it turns out that when we buy food that is humanely produced, benefits the farmer as much as or more than big agribusiness, is good to the earth, and is shipped from closer by than the next continent, *it will be more nutritious.*
Turns out it's a little more expensive, too. Because agribusiness and years' worth of farm bills that promote agribusiness practices make junk food cheap, so we buy it. Me, too, I'm not claiming superiority. (Brownies with chocolate chips and frosting, anyone? Or GMO cornchips?! Come on over!) It comes down to how much food money we have in our budget, right?
Enough preaching. What do I eat? Tune in....
1 comment:
Sally, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Sorry it's taken me so long to get on here I was out of town this whole weekend. I'm excited to check out some of these books from the library. And, I wish I had more money to eat better. That makes me so mad that the cheap stuff is not good for you. How the story goes I guess??? :) thanks again!
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