Kloven, Leah. “Healthy Foods.” 2017 PNG file
What does real food look like to you? On a recent road trip, I stopped at the store a bought some car snacks. A lemon vitamin water and a pack of corn nuts. As someone who tries to eat healthy, this has always seemed like a decent snack. Sure it’s not organic veggie snacks, but it’s just baked corn and water with added vitamins right? Until reading Michael Pollan’s book, issues like preservatives and added nutrients and vitamin supplements was never something I considered having harmful effects. Sure, the western diet of high sugar cookies and breads and high fat foods like meat and cheese was unhealthy but I was fooled by the many other seemingly harmless foods that are filling our supermarkets and kitchens. And cars for that matter. Although this issue of sneaky nonfoods taking over brings every purchase, snack and meal into question there is a simple filter that can be used to help us buy healthy foods. Ask yourself is this a food that has been unaltered, or nearly unaltered from what we as humans would have historically eaten? This means, fruit and vegetables that are fresh and close to their source, it means meats that are healthy and free to range on good food sources. It doesn’t mean corn nuts that have 17 ingredients and a long shelf life, or a sweet artificially flavored drink that has some vitamins added in to help the product sell better.
Great post, Leah! I have also been fooled into thinking foods are healthy when they probably are not: power bars, cereal (hey, it’s fortified, right?), Amy’s frozen burritos and pizzas, dried mango, pretty much everything at Trader Joe’s… It was only relatively recently that I learned I am a sucker for cutesy marketing that promises food is health- or eco-conscious. There I was swearing off butter and olive oil when the breakfast bar I was wolfing down in the morning was loading my body with all kinds of sugar, preservatives, and who knows what else (it probably has 17 ingredients, too). You hit the nail on the head when you said “sneaky nonfoods” are taking over and calling every purchase into question! I like the suggestions you give on what to eat—eat what humans would have historically eaten—though there are different schools of thought on what humans historically ate, as well (paleo, for example). However, there is no denying that fresh, organic fruits and vegetables and a little meat are better for the body than all the processed junk that fills grocery stores these days. Thanks!