I am studying for an MS in holistic nutrition, and as a result, learning more and more about our industrialized food system, and its related health problems such as obesity, diabetes, allergies, cancer and more. The more I learn, the more uppity I am becoming about food. Next to air and water, food is our most precious resource, without which we could not exist. And in the U.S. especially, corporations have commodified and industrialized the very things we need to survive, which, as history teaches us, just ruins them for future generations. I consider it a human rights issue that Americans have little access to clean, safe, unadulterated food, and unbiased nutritional information.
Most of us know how polluted our air and water have become, but many of us do not fully understand just how nutritionally bankrupt—and even outright toxic—our food has become. In Part 1 of this series, for your interest, I attach a Democracy Now! video interview with Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Why, you may ask? About 95% of the money spent on marketing food is spent advertising processed foods. If you’ve seen it advertised, chances are it was processed in a factory somewhere. And processed food is food that is has been stripped of its nutritional value, and filled with unnecessary salt, sugar, and chemicals like MSG, artificial colors and preservatives, all of which are huge contributors to our national epidemics of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, digestive disorders, heart disease, cancer and more. In addition, almost all processed food contains genetically-engineered corn, canola, wheat or soy ingredients, which scientific evidence has found to be so toxic that doctors have begun telling their patients not to eat them.
Until recently, the Small Footprint Family has eaten mostly organic for environmental reasons. Now that we have a child, we eat only organic, simply to protect our health. Food is our greatest household expense besides rent, but the more we learn, the more we consider organic, free-range, unprocessed food to be—hands-down—the best investment we can make in our health and safety as a family. Every time we go to the grocery store or farm market, we “vote” with our dollars for cleaner, safer, non-industrial food for our families. We hope you will too.
Please enjoy this interview, choose your food wisely, and stay tuned for Part 2!
