 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
TWELVE STEPS TO A BETTER WAY
baltimore eats - February, 2008
by John Shields
My name is John, and I am an industrial processed
food addict.
I came to this realization after doing a careful inventory of my home kitchen. Now I'm not talking the TV dinner route, or cans of Dinty Moore Stew, but rather items that I had convinced myself were "natural" and healthy-like enriched low-fat-high-protein type cereals, or veggie burgers, whole wheat pancake mix, low-fat dressings and the like.
All these products had one thing in common: they are made by large companies, in large batches, and have had most of their real nutrients taken out and a lot of artificial stabilizers, chemicals, flavorings and additives put in. And yeah, ungodly amounts of sugar and/or salt.
I fear that our pantries have become veritable toxic wastelands of foodstuffs: prepared pasta sauces and soups with a full third of our daily sodium max in each serving; spray-on vegetable oil with industrial propellants and grain alcohol; "gourmet" salad dressings containing an alphabet soup of ingredients, stabilizers, gums, "natural" flavorings -Whatever happened to oil and vinegar?
I won't even go into things like lunch meats, sweetened flavored yogurt, or industrial baked goods-I'll leave that to your imagination!
Of course we can look at all this and say: "What the hell you gonna do? It's just the way things are!" Maybe so, but I'm pretty uncomfortable with it, and I don't think I'm the only one.
Industrialized agriculture took away our ability to grow food. Now the processed food industry is systematically taking away our ability to cook as well. Despite what you may read on the label, they are not worried about anybody's health -not yours, not mine...
Their concern is their bottom line, and that's it! As Michael Pollen, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, and more recently, In Defense of Food, points out: If the product has health claims plastered all over the label-Don't buy it! Literally.
If you need more convincing, you may want to read Diet for a New America, or The Food Revolution-both by John Robbins, or The China Study, by Dr. T. Colin Campbell.
Hells Bells! Even your favorite daily newspaper will tell you (more often than you care to hear I'll bet) how our health is directly impacted by over-processed foods.
What's a person to do? Geez, how can we get away from all this stuff? It's everywhere. It's how we eat now. It's the way things are. We'll starve without it! Okay, okay, I am feeling overwhelmed and powerless. Calm down and breathe... Maybe what we need is a new 12-step program -Processed Foods Anonymous (PFA)?
Step One: We admit we're feeling powerless against the processed food empires and that our lives, diets, pantries and kitchens had been invaded by them. This is a good place to begin. We cannot start dealing with a problem until we admit that there is a problem.
Step Two: Come to believe a power outside ourselves could restore us to sanity. This is a pretty big step. We are saying that we believe we can get it together and bring ourselves back to a healthier, saner, and simpler way of eating. And secondly, and very importantly, we are saying that putting all these chemicals, these ultra refined, sodium and sugar laded food into our bodies is Just Plain Nuts!
Whew-we did it! Took the first two steps, and I don't know about you, but I'm feeling better and more hopeful already. So, for the rest of 2008 Our Common Table column is going to focus on a step. We'll take a look at others who are taking action and working our Processed Food Anonymous program.
Want to join our little experimental self-help program? Let me know your thoughts, struggles, and victories. It will be by sharing our experience, strength and hope that we will be able to take back our ability to make changes in our lives and in what's on our tables.
Talk to me!
John@JohnShields.com
 |
 |
|
|