Maybe it's because I'm now the one in our house that does all the cooking, meal planning and grocery shopping. Maybe it's because I've seen a lot of news stories about food and health lately.
Maybe it's because I'm trying to eat better.
Bottom line: I don't mind that food is a focal point.
This week I watched Jamie Oliver's Ted talk and it really drove the point home.
What we eat is crucially important.
"We, the adults of the last four generations, have blessed our children with the destiny of a shorter lifespan than their own parents. Your child will live a life ten years younger than you
because of the landscape of food that we've built around them. Two-thirds of this room,
today, in America, are statistically overweight or obese." Jamie Oliver
I know I still have a long way to go before kicking my bad habits. And I'm not going to do anything drastic like going Level 5 Vegan, eating only things that don't cast a shadow. ;)
I'm trying to start eating like my great grandparents did.
My grandma's generation was thrilled by the post-war conveniences of canned food and Jello.
My mom's generation was in the workforce and Kraft dinner, hot dogs and pizza were favourite childhood meals of mine.
I don't have kids yet, but someday I will.
I want to feed them more vegetables than not, more fresh fruit than sugary treats, as few long words on food labels as possible. I want to teach them to cook at least 10 meals that are affordable, healthy and delicious before they move out. Yes that's a long way off, but I've had my eating habits for 29 years, and I need to change them for the better first.
Have you been thinking about food lately?
Jamie Oliver's one of the good ones. The video does a great job covering the causes and the scope of the problem.
ReplyDeleteThe food industry is so fucked up. Never mind the poisonous crap people eat (the KFC Double Down and Taco Bell with a Dorito's shell... my god), even food that most would presume to be healthy are so loaded with chemicals and additives that you can only guess what it's doing to your body.
I'm wising up more and more about this. I avoid fast food as a rule, make sure to eat lots of fruits and vegetables, and I'm cooking and eating better than I used to -- and thankfully being vegetarian cuts out a lot of the shitty fast foods automatically, though certainly not all of them. I'm going to make a point to wake up early on Saturdays to hit up the local farmer's market more often, too.
I feel like I'm pretty healthy, but I could always be healthier. :)