Don’t eat anything that your great-great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
Michael Pollan
I have never kept it a secret that my diet and health have been all over the place. I am overweight, plain and simple. I am less overweight that I have been recently, but more overweight than I have been in years past. I have been a victim of the yo-yo diet, and I lead a busy lifestyle which has found me in more fast food drive throughs than I care to admit. My journey to wholesome, homemade food and growing our own produce has been slow and quite difficult, honestly. I didn’t grow up eating that way, nor did my husband. However watching a documentary many years ago about some of the things the food industry does to our food, and then being diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic about 6 years ago has really awoken a passion inside of me that I didn’t know was there. Getting back to our roots, becoming old fashioned, and cooking like my great-great grandparents did. Cooking with foods that are in season, and preserving fresh produce in my own kitchen to eat in the off season. Baking our own breads, crackers, tortillas, all things that take time, but the reward is like something you’ve never tasted before. It tastes “real”.
In the past year or so I have become pretty interested in how we, Americans in particular, have strayed so far from “real food”. I have become further called to share what little I do know since I have started selling eggs to my local community. So many people don’t understand where their food comes from and it is alarming to say the least. I have been doing some research on our slide to convenience and processed food, and how it links to some health epidemics we are experiencing as a whole, and I wanted to share.
Where Did It All Begin?
Food processing has been happening since the beginning of time in some form or another. Fermenting grains as a way to make them last longer started as far back as records have been kept, but processed food in the way we are discussing today- convenience food, or heat and serve food- started in the late 1800’s or a little before. It was born out of necessity and was pioneered by the Van Camp company who started providing canned beans to the military. By the time the 20th century rolled around canned food was more common in the everyday home, however it was mainly used to supplement the menu because it was still fairly expensive and finding or providing one’s own fresh food was still more cost effective. Then when World War 2 began most canned food was rationed because it was needed to feed the military soldiers.
Women in the Workforce
The suffrage movement and labor shortages brought on by the World Wars meant the work force was filled with many more women than it ever had been. For most of their lives woman had been told their place was in the home, but now they were needed to serve their country while the men were at war. The problem with that (and it’s still a problem today whether anyone wants to admit it or not) is that the women were still largely in charge of the home. They were still needed to get food on the table for their children, but now they had a small fraction of the time to do it in.
This brought about a whole new market and a whole new marketing scheme from the major food companies. Processed convenience foods began being presented to mainly women as healthy and nourishing for their families. It was also during this time that candy bars and soda started being marketed to give ladies more energy to work and take care of their families. The big message being sent was “Uncle Sam is counting on you!”
Post war convenience food that was introduced in the 1930’s include pudding packets and in 1970 Hamburger Helper hit the scene. Marketing leaned heavily on the “be a homemaker and earn a paycheck too” notion, making a lot of homemakers feel that they had to do both to contribute, which is something that again, is strong today.
Between 1948 and 1958 the number of supermarkets doubled in the United States, bringing convenience even closer to home.
The 1950’s also brought electric ovens, microwaves, and a huge marketing campaign to entice women to buy easy to heat meals for their family and reclaim their lives. Don’t get me wrong, I use my microwave and I love my oven. That’s not what this is about… I truly don’t want to return to the cave man days and cook on an open flame. No thank you. I just feel in my soul that this is not what our bodies need for nourishment. We are now at a place where we can buy pre-sliced apples that have been dipped in chemicals to keep them fresh, instead of just grabbing a fresh apple from the tree or the local farmers marked and taking a big ol’ bite of… just an apple. An honest to goodness, fresh apple. Delicious and full of health benefits for our bodies!
The BIG Coincidence
My diabetes diagnosis is really what led me down my little research slope here, and I discovered a couple really big coincidences. Ok, I don’t think they are coincidences at all, however that’s what the experts say so….
In 2016 almost 60% of the calories in the American diet came from processed convenience foods. 60 percent!! We also lead much more sedentary lives than we used to, which combined with our empty calorie intake is a recipe for health disaster.
The rise of the processed food revelation hit a high in the 1950’s and in 1960 diabetes in the American people hit epidemic proportions. Coincidence?
Dementia is another one that hits close to home as it took my Grandma Orean from me in the most heartless of ways. She lived on a heavily processed food diet and was raised and started her own family during the outbreak of the processed food revolution. Researchers have recently proven that dementia can be linked to and sped up by processed foods being consumed as a main part of the diet.
Heart disease is another one that took off at the same time that the processed food revolution was raging. Yet another coincidence?
Where Do We Go From Here?
One thing I have learned, and as alarming as it is, needs to be shouted from the roof tops is that you always need to follow the money. We joke about it a lot in this country, however it is true. When looking at research, you MUST also look at who paid for the study. Listen, I love Diet Coke, but I am very aware of the effects of aspartame on our bodies. A few years back a study was released saying that aspartame had no negative effect on our health, and was almost good for us. Guess who paid for the study? Pepsi. Pepsi, who uses aspartame in their diet products, same as everyone else, paid for a study to tell you how good aspartame is for you.
I am not a health guru at all, not even a little bit. I am mainly trying to get my own health straight and keep my daughters on a healthy balanced journey. One thing I am trying to instill in our home is, if it takes a lab to make it, it doesn’t belong in our bodies. Are we perfect? No. Not even close. However, we are better than we were even just a year ago, and that’s a win for me!
~Tara