Food, oh beautiful food! It’s colorful, smells good and tastes oh so wonderful. Plus, it’s a bit important to survive. Food is the center point of our everyday, 2nd only to sleep. That’s right, I am suggesting that food (and sleep) come above your job and everything else that clutters your day. It’s not a part of your lifestyle, it defines your lifestyle. What you eat not only defines your health, but where and when you eat defines your day.
Any changes in food and food culture can have a dramatic impact on your health. Are you a part of the fast food generation, a take-out expert or a believer in the farm-to-table movement? Like me, you might be a mix of them all. Food has changed, not only in appearance but also in size over the last 2o years, in fact quite dramatically. Here are a few examples of what we are talking about.
Eggs — part of the classic American breakfast and available to be prepared in more than a dozen ways: Hard boiled, soft boiled, scrambled, omelette, fried, sunny side up, over easy, baked and poached to name a few. And not to forget my personal favorite… parboiled. Eggs are a vital part of our food system and a cheap way to eat protein. Yet, eggs look nothing like their original self. They have had more botox and plastic surgery than former Hill’s star Heidi Montag. Before you scroll down, ask yourself this question: what color should an egg yolk be? Is it a yellow or a bright sunset orange? Egg yolks are a direct representation of the food chickens eat. Chickens that can wander in pastures, eat grains, fruits, veggies and colorful flowers have egg yolks that are bright and beautiful. Caged chickens eat livestock feed that is artificially colored with marigold flowers to make their yolks somewhat yellow, but it pales in comparison.
Apples — are so American they have their own song and hero in Johnny Appleseed. They overwhelm our supermarkets every fall, in every shape and form, from juice, to cider, to pies. We can’t get enough. Apples have shifted their shape and color (literally) in the last 20 years. They are bigger, redder and have way less nutrition. They dwarf their natural predecessor, but fail in comparison. Did you know the apples you eat outside of the fall time period, can be cold stored for up to 12 months!
Carrots — are engrained in my childhood mind next to the playful Bugs Bunny and his classic slogan “What’s Up Doc?” I can still remember every adult telling me that eating carrots was good for my eyes. Carrots get their orange color from beta-carotene, which also keeps my eyes healthy, but they were bred and mutated in the 17th century by the Dutch from their original state. In fact, original carrots were purple! Who knew!
Does it matter that the food you eat looks very different than the food your grandparents ate? Cross breading and plant mutation have always been a part of the global agricultural system. It has created new varietals, increased crops yields and made plants less susceptible to insect damage. This means more, tastier food for you. These food enhancements aren’t bad for you or your health.
The problem arises when we manipulate food to increase productivity but decrease nutrition. In the short term, this means more food on everyone table. In the long term, food science bastardizes our food model and leaves us with vegetables and fruits that are all puffed up with nothing left in them. Bland, large fruits with no flavor and no nutrition. They might be able to last 12 months in storage, so you can eat apples in July, but what does it matter, it still tastes like crap.
The more you can connect with food, touch it, smell it and know exactly where it comes from, the more likely you are eat well, to be healthy and to live longer. Nutrition is as much about science as it is about taste. Eating good food means eating ripe, delicious, seasonal food too.
- What you eat defines your health, but where and when you eat defines your day
- Eggs yolks should resemble the golden color of the sunset
- Apples should only be eaten when they are in season
- Eat every color of carrots
- Food that has been more manipulated than the body of Hill’s star Heidi Montag, isn’t worth eating
- Food science needs to increase productivity and nutrition to get it right
- I eat a lot of carrots, my eyes feel no different. WTF?
- You can ignore everything else if you eat local, organic and seasonal food
- Parboiled my friend, parboiled
- You are what you eat
Corevity | A Health Community for Millennials. A health community of beautiful people, images and experiences. We know you want to be healthy. We want to help. Join our exclusive community.
