Many of you don’t know much about my weird medical past, but suffice it to say that I went through a two year period where my health took such a nosedive that I consider myself lucky to be here. I won’t go into details but the end result is that I had to radically change my lifestyle, lest I end up getting the wrong end of the Darwinism stick. Seriously – if evolution had its way, people like me would have been culled from the herd years ago to prevent us from procreating.
Ok, so I lied about not giving you details. I was raised on 70′s nutrition, which means that 90% of the food I ate while growing up came from a box or a can. I don’t blame my mom… hell, everyone thought they were eating healthy in the 70s, didn’t they? But after years of crap food, my body completely and utterly failed.
Imagine putting sugar in the gas tank of your Ferrari (and this metaphor is about as literal as you can get) – Italian racecars (another appropriate metaphor) have very specific needs when it comes to creating compression within the engine. If you toss something gross in there, your plugs don’t fire correctly and your pistons get all gummed up.
You might get warning signs – in other words, your body will start to ping, not unlike a race car engine. Problem is that we tend to ignore that pinging until your manifold’s warped and you’ve tossed a rod through your engine block.
Ok, enough of the car talk, because I’m totally talking out of my ass at this point. Let’s just say that I blew a head gasket and need major remachining.
As a result of all of this medical drama, I had to take a long, hard look at what I was eating. Now, I rarely put anything in my body that isn’t in its almost completely natural state. No refined grains, so processed foods, no hydrogenated-reconstituted-whathaveyou. If it came from a lab, it sure as hell isn’t going down my gullet.
I’m still working on the sugar thing, but that’s an entirely different post altogether.
The moral of the story (if I even have one at this point) is that we need to be much more conscious of what we put in our bodies. Just because it has a pretty label and a $4M marketing budget doesn’t mean it’s good for you.
It’s pretty simple: if a particular food wasn’t around in your great-grandma’s time, then don’t eat it.
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Hmmm. How about a little moderation? I eat pretty well most of the time, but still love those occasional Haagez-Dazs splurges. (My poor great-grandmothers didn’t have access to Dulce de Leche, which I will think about the next time I’m shoveling it in.)
Amen to this post. It is so true, lots of people don’t read the back of the box nutrition label, they just pop it into their grocery cart and go merrily on their way.
Stephanie, nice job with saying what needs to be said. Kudos!
Ruth, moderation may have been a possibility for me at some point in the past, but with the buildup of food allergies I’m in one of those cold-turkey situations.
Thanks Judith! I actually still find myself throwing random things into my shopping cart out of habit, and sometimes it’s funny what junk food I find before I’m about to check out. “Where did these Oreos come from..??” Ha!
Love love LOVE the ferarri metaphor C: very good advice
Hey–good thoughts. Grandma’s stuff wasn’t always that perfect, though. And I don’t want to wring the neck of the chicken and hang it by the feet on the clothesline to pluck the feathers. Nah, I’ll look for organic, but not in my own chicken coop.
Steph,
have you read Barbara Kingsolver’s book Animal Vegetable Miracle? I think you might like it — it’s about eating locally. The author’s name escapes me , but there’s also book called See You in a Hundred Years which you might find of interest too, especially the food related parts.
I did! I love that book. Thanks for the tip on See You in a Hundred Years… I’ll definitely check that out.
What a great post!
My wife and I concur. The food industry is in a crisis, but very few people acknowledge it. We used to buy organic, grass-fed beef from a local farmer (until he was forced to quit because he was losing money, not making it). He told us more than once that we Americans have no idea how close we are to not having food on the table.
Scary.
Farmers producing real food are scarce. Commercial farming churning out GMOs and worthless produce sent straight to processing plants are getting government subsidies.
We are with you. Say No to non-natural, processed foods.
Jeff, I so totally agree. It’s frightening what people put in their bodies these days, and it makes me so so sad that many folks just don’t understand why they’re getting sick.
Good thing boudin, cracklin and fried chicken were around in Great-Grandma’s day, cuz you almost convinced me to give those up!
Dan,
I am so happy those things were around in Great-Grandma’s day! I love me some boudin, cracklins, and fried chicken!
I wish I could fry chicken myself. Unfortunately, everything I try to fry gets ruined. I just don’t have the knack for frying. Poor me.
Peace!
Jeff, what happens to your fried foods?
Steph,
Just can’t get them quite right. Either way overdone or soggy… never crispy and GOOD! So, I tend to stay away from frying all together.
Any suggestions?
Sounds like your oil isn’t hot enough, or your dredge matter isn’t the right texture. But either way, it’s probably a healthier choice!
Dan, I totally agree. If they’re done like great-grandma used to make (natural fats, pasture-raised meat, no chemical preservatives, etc etc etc) and if you’re living an active lifestyle, why not?