Rediscover Real Food
It seems like we have forgotten what real food is, where it comes from and what it should taste like. You only need to look at any school cafeteria, hospital, bakery or coffee shop to see what passes for food today. We find plastic wrapped meals with little flavor; full of white flour, sugar, hydrogenated fats and salt to add taste. It is manufactured with the cheapest ingredients and full of chemicals and preservatives to extend shelf life (never mind that it shortens our lives!).
In this day and age of so much knowledge, how can we still be so ignorant of what we should be feeding our bodies for optimal health? Refined and processed foods give nothing to our bodies, in fact they deplete nutrients. They cannot nourish or sustain you. Our bodies know this; we are a culture of overfed and under nourished people. We eat and are still hungry because our bodies are searching for nutrients that are simply not there. We have children who always eat but are never satisfied; they are starving for nutrients on a cellular level.
As a holistic nutritionist I feel it is essential to realize that to not care about the source and quality of our food is to not care about ourselves. On a fundamental level, we are what we eat. When we take in and consume food that has been subjected to poisonous chemicals and depleted soils, we are in effect poisoning and depleting our bodies. Is it any wonder that cancer, diabetes and heart disease are at epidemic proportions? In Canada, a new case of cancer is diagnosed every four minutes; one in three Canadians will develop cancer before the age of 65. Recognizing the intricate relationship we have to our food and the Earth is essential to obtaining health, both on a personal level and on a broader planetary level. Realize, that in order to respect our bodies we need to respect the Earth and choose foods that will sustain and nourish ourselves and future generations.
Begin by choosing natural, alive and good quality foods. Discover one new vegetable, grain or legume and learn to use it. Find a recipe, try it, and add it to your repertoire. Eating well can be simple and delicious. It is my hope that you begin to make small changes, one food at a time. There will be failures along the way but that’s how life works, we learn by our mistakes. Enjoy the journey and be kind to yourself. Remember never accept mediocrity posing as convenience, you and your families deserve so much more.