"The American Fast Food Syndrome"

Happy Friday everyone! Apologies for not having written much recently, I've been studying nonstop for my Personal Trainer Certification coming up in mid-February. But not to worry, a post is soon to come on cholesterol and all of the myths associated with a high cholesterol/high fat diet=high blood pressure, heart disease, etc. Hint: its a big lie!!!

For now, I wanted to respond to a very interesting article I recently read by Kristin Wartman, food writer for a sustainable agriculture nonprofit, Civil Eats. Wartman discusses the phenomenon prevalent in US society today, where organic, sustainable, local, whole foods are considered "yuppie" in nature. Now make no mistake, these types of food are, in many cases, more expensive. Sadly and paradoxically, the foods grown locally are more expensive than those frozen, shipped thousands of miles, thawed, refrozen, etc, while in the process having lost most of their nutritional value. One of my goals as a nutritionist is to dedicate part of my practice to changing this, and making not only good quality food more affordable, but also expanding education to populations who need it most.

However, what Wartman talks about specifically in her article, and which I have definitely seen, is the group of people who can afford good quality food, but choose not to, based on the viewpoint that these are "yuppie," not "real Amerian" foods. Consider this:

The preferred food of the rich is now considered elitist and scoffed at by many Americans. In fact, there is data to suggest that even though many Americans can afford higher quality foods, they chose to eat cheaper and less nutritious foods. Jane Black and Brent Cunningham recently wrote about this in the Washington Post: “Many in this country who have access to good food and can afford it simply don’t think it’s important. To them, food has become a front in America’s culture wars, and the crusade against fast and processed food is an obsession of ‘elites,’ not ‘real Americans.’”


So processed, refined, crappy food is the shining cultural icon we Americans are so proud of? And does this mean we are also proud of the billions of dollars in health care costs we pay every year in treating chronic disease linked to these eating habits? In 2009, the American Heart Association reported the cost of Cardiovascular Disease to be $475 billion, including medications, health care services, and lost productivity. Regardless of how much we are personally paying for the food in our kitchens, we ARE paying the price!!! Another important point to understand is that our obsession with processed foods is not up to our own taste preferences, instead we are choosing these foods because huge corporations and  media tell us to, and because they are chemically, neurologically addictive. Going off refined carbs and sugars is like going off alcohol (why do you think alcoholics gain so much weight upon quitting? Because alcohol is replaced with sugar...alcoholism is a sugar addiction).


Its true, going to Whole Foods and buying all of our groceries is something reserved for a privileged group of our society. But this isn't the only option. Farmers Markets, co-ops, your own garden, CSA (community supported agriculture) shares....these are all possible! And if you can't afford to buy everything organic, check out this list from the Environmental Working Group for the top 12 most pesticide-laden produce items, and start with making these your priority: 

http://www.organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-214

I have a background in Social Work, and my last job consisted of visiting clients in their home. It was here that my interest in natural health and nutrition grew exponentially, as I was exposed day after day to wonderful people who had layers of medical issues, were taking one medication to cover up the symptoms of another medication, and so many of their issues could have been prevented, and drastically improved by changing their diet from processed to whole foods. And yes, I understand that for them, economically that was not always an option. But for those of us who can afford quality foods, I appeal to you to please make this a priority in your life. Consider it an insurance plan for our present and future health. And as we know, we the consumers are what drive the cost of goods by popular demand. As Wartman eloquently notes:

"...there’s some perverse logic at work here and it strikes me as vaguely similar to the Stockholm syndrome—a paradoxical psychological phenomenon in which hostages express adulation and positive feelings towards their captors. While Americans are not experiencing a physical captivity, they are deeply mired in a psychological condition in which they’re captive to industrial food products and the corresponding ideologies that are ultimately harming them. Call it the American Fast Food Syndrome."

Please read her entire article here: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/13-10