Disclaimer:
The following post is at times grandiose, overly simplistic and blindly optimistic; but it deserves to be said.
It also contains just a bit of colorful language. If you're sensitive to that, please read some of our other, cleaner posts.
This falls under the category of "Deep-Seated Personal Truths", if that were a category here.
Much Love,
I was talking to my parents the other day, and my mom mentioned that I'm cooking like my grandmother. With marrow bones, soup-making, and natural, whole foods....
That was one of the best compliments I've ever received. Both of my Grandmothers were amazing cooks (as most of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers were.)
I believe that our grandparents were considerably healthier than most of the people in today's developed nations.
(Nevermind the high rates of smoking and lack of modern medical care that we have today)
Before the introduction of food science/food technology, before the development of 90% of the grocery items we have available today, we had food. Real food. There were whole foods that you had to prepare and cook at home. There were few restaurants and fewer packaged goods, so everyone cooked: with meat, with butter and lard, with full-fat cream, and a ton of fresh vegetables, many grown at home.
What came of this were the delicious, rich, filling recipes that have been suppressed during the last 40+ years of low-fat, high-carb nonsense recommendations.
When did we become so blinded by science that we forgot what real food was supposed to look and taste like? When did we buy into the fact that we were too busy to feed our families nutritious food, and opted for pre-packaged, chemical shit storms masquerading as "food"?
Was it the post-war years, with the rise of suburbia, shopping malls, the media, and the start of cooking for convenience?
Was it the 1970s and 80s when more working mothers were looking for quick dinnertime options?
Yes, our lifestyles are very different than those of our grandparents, but we can learn from them.
Our grandparents understood that if you were eating full-fat ingredients, you didn't eat as much and you felt fuller, longer. They knew the value to eating organ meats/offal, with nothing going to waste. They understood that hard manual labor brought strength and health. They walked or biked for transportation, they gardened for food, they scrubbed the floors on hands and knees.
They understood the best way to fatten up livestock was to feed it grains.
They were strong and hearty and much more attuned to nature and their bodies than we are today.
I'm not one to be negative; There is positivity and good to be found within all things.
I believe we are encountering a great shift.
We've been "fed" a whole lot of shit over the last generation.
We're realizing that we're smarter than the food scientists and the heads of these large food conglomerates. Many are already making changes to their "recipes" by removing GMOs and other troublesome ingredients to boost slumping sales. McDonald's is closing more stores than they are opening, for the first time ever. There's been pressure and they are caving.
It's a start, but that's not enough.
Shop only the outside ring of the grocery store (fresh veggies, meats, eggs and dairy). Support your local farmers market and/or start your own kitchen garden. Cook at home using these whole, full-fat, low carb ingredients. You will be considerably healthier (feeling more satiated and with fewer cravings) as a result.
Remember how our grandparents and great-grandparents ate when they were growing up.
Is there any "real" food in that box?
Science does not make better food. It might make food last longer on the shelf or be more resistant to bugs, but we don't have to believe that pasta-in-a-little-blue-box-with-powdered-cheese-mix is food.
The irony is not lost on me, though. We can't be completely against science, for it keeps those of us alive with chronic health conditions. I'm thankful every day for insulin, my Roche Pump, test strips and accessible medical care. I am thankful for technology.
I draw the line with food technology and how it's changed the way most of us eat.
We all have to be aware of what we are feeding our bodies, where those foods have come from.... and why. I don't want to be lining the pockets of some CEO with my hard-earned money any more than I want to be lining my body with inferior "food products" desperately marketed as the real thing.
What are your thoughts about the state of our modern food system? What do you think we should be doing about it? Leave a comment below with your thoughts....
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