I just finished reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food and, as a result, have decided to strive toward the abandonment of processed foods. This will neither be an easy, nor thoughtless task, and most likely cannot be fully achieved within reason. However, I have decided to make a conscious effort toward making better food choices, favoring "real foods" over the "food-like" items that are a mainstay of today's Western Diet.
Currently, I am studying to become a registered dietitian, and therefore am not new to an obsession with food and how it affects our bodies and overall health. Furthermore, it is generally acknowledged within my circles that I have a slight obsession with calorie counting and a fixation with fiber to boot. Calorie counting has become second nature to me, and I have given up on trying to abandon the habit. I now accept it as part of who I am. Moving on.
What has happened to the major food groups in America scares me. Crops are grown to make money, instead of facilitate a healthy population. They are genetically modified and sprayed with poisonous chemicals. They are fed to cows, chickens, and pigs, in addition to us humans. They are making all of the above sick. We (yes, all of the above, again) are fed antibiotics by farmers and doctors, respectively, and perpetuating a cycle of sickness and ill health. Nothing is untainted. The crops are tampered with, the animals eat the crops. The animals are also tampered with (think chickens with 8 breasts, living in their own excrement), we eat the crops, the animals, and the animals' produce (eggs, milk, cheese), and wash it all down with a few bags of factory made, nutrient-deprived, over-processed, well, junk. It's time to make some changes.
