We have been told from an early age: “eat your vegetables.” But as a kid I liked a hamburger all dressed and cherry pie much better than peas and green beans. We all know the phrase “you are what you eat” and most doctors will tell you that your diet has a great influence on the condition of your health.
When we look closely at common diets in different parts of the world and compare them to the health of the same regions, we notice that in Europe, people eat more like our grandparents did. They eat smaller portions of real food and there is less obesity.
In Asia, much more rice, fish and home grown vegetables are consumed than meat, bread, and sugar like in North America and they seem to be healthier and more active too.
In the undeveloped parts of Africa, there are still hunters and gatherers like our ancestors were a couple thousand years ago. These tribes live on wild berries, tubers and greens that grow wild and when an animal is hunted down they gorge themselves on meat, but meat is not an every day food. In these tribes infant mortality is quite high but from their teen years on, these people are very healthy.
We, the inhabitants of North America, have witnessed tremendous changes in diets in only a half century. Although our life expectancy has gained by 20 years, by the time we pass on to the next world, we are more like the bionic man with plastic joints, titanium hips, several stints to keep our arteries flowing, a new heart salvaged from some young accident victim and probably have had an encounter with at least one kind of cancer.
We have visited the doctor more than our four previous generations combined did. Our monthly drug bill at the pharmacy (even though some of it is subsidized by the province) is more than our grandparent’s electric bill ever was.
The number of people in North America that are now classified as obese has skyrocketed. Some people say that now we do not exercise enough. When we look at the number of people that bike to work, play soccer, belong to an exercise club, walk or run daily for exercise, some of us wonder if this is true.
Maybe we should take a close look at the food we eat (or so called food). When we sit at the exit of a grocery store and look at what leaves in the grocery carts, our grandmother couldn’t even name half of what is in the carts. Sugar, salt and fats are incorporated into much of what we bring home. Cereals, snack food, drinks, ketchup, sauces, salad dressings, soups and most everything we find in the middle aisles of the store are an unknown food.
If we contact the manufacturer and ask what the contents are, the manufacturer probably cannot tell you what kind of sugar that they use, what type of oils or fats are used or what the crop was sprayed with before it was harvested, even if he wanted to.
Our farmers operate on a survival of the most efficient principal. Every seed that they plant, every spray that they use and everything that they vaccinate their animals with has been approved by Health Canada before use. Some of these products the farmers used in past years were pulled from the market in later years because of human health problems but at the time of use, they were legal.
Many countries in the world have different safety levels for chemical residue left in food. Some people have told me after a vacation in Europe that they never had any reaction to the food there but after returning to Canada they had to resume using an antacid or something for acid reflux!
Grandma and great-grandma cooked and served real food. One guideline is that “if a food will not rot, don’t eat it.” Another bit of advice: “If it grows on a plant, eat it. If it is made in a plant, don’t eat it!” There is a growing trend to eat local food, visit the farmers’ markets, and look for organic food to avoid all chemical residue in food.
Remember that you make the choice of what food you eat (except for infants, children and those in hospitals) and don’t be afraid to ask “what is in this and what was it sprayed with?”
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon
on land that has been in his
family for generations.
gladcrest@gmail.com
