Moving to San Francisco and getting out of graduate school have really opened my eyes to what I eat and prioritizing my health. I grew up in the south and despite having a mom who grew up on a farm, 'eating your vegetables' still means mostly canned food that has been cooked to the point of having very little nutritive value. Obviously, this means they had very little appeal to me. Honestly, it wasn't until I was on a trip to Peru and my friend force fed me fruits/veggies to help 'keep me regular' that I realized why they are an important part of one's diet. This was a much better argument than my mom's argument that they'd make my eyelashes grow longer. I've never once cared about the length of my eyelashes! In fact on a recent visit to family, I was eating some baby carrots and made fun of for 'eating rabbit food'. I think that made me realize that my family's notion of a healthy diet and mine were dramatically different. This is in part due to several food documentaries I've watched over the last few years that have changed the way I eat and think about food.
The first food documentary I watched was recommended by my fiance. We watched the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead on Netflix, which opened my eyes to juicing. This follows the journey of an Australian man as he travels the US and completes a 90 day juice fast. He has been on immune suppressants for an autoimmune disorder related to his horrible diet. We immediately had my mom send us her unused juicer and started juicing. I'm sure my body was in total shock. Of course, like any busy couple, we eventually fell out of habit in juicing. Later, we watched the documentary Forks over Knives, also free on Netflix (we like documentaries!). I really liked this one because it wasn't as much anecdotal evidence so much as hard numbers and statistics. It really plays up the importance of a meat-based versus plant-based diet and the incidence of certain diseases and health problems. So, of course we tried having less meat-based protein in our diets. But, since I was born in Texas, I can never grow out of loving a good steak every once and a while! I can say that this transition was easier to stick to now that I had made an effort to have a serving of fruits or veggies with every meal.
Recently, we watched the documentary Fed Up (can rent from Netflix). This was by far my favorite. It gives a historical perspective on the battle between big food companies and health legislation, really highlighting how corrupt our government is. Most shocking to me was the unfamiliar landscape of children's cafeterias which resemble a fast food restaurant. I remember in high school when my school was 'sponsored' by Coca Cola and we got our first coke machines. I can only imagined how terrified I would be as a parent if my child's options for a 'healthy' lunch included pizza and hamburgers. So, of course, now we are working hard to pay attention to our sugar intake. We'll see how long it lasts, but I have noticed I feel much better overall. I don't even have that much of a sweet tooth, but this transition was especially hard for me. I never really noticed how much sugar I take in on a regular basis.
One thing that struck me about all of these movies is that they focus on the individual rather than how we can change society to help combat these health ailments that are plaguing our country. Living in SF, I have seen two major pieces of food legislation go up for a vote only to be voted down. One was the labeling of GMO's and the other was the recent soda tax. I voted against both of these. For GMO's I feel we'd basically have to label everything and that there is really no harm from eating GMO food. As for the soda tax, I feel strongly that the consumer should not be punished for consuming high-sugar beverages when our government is too weak to fight big food corporations who advertise to kids and are unwilling to admit the serious health risks they are imposing on our society. It is ironic when you realize that we as a country spend an exorbitant amount of our budget on defense, yet we are unable to defend ourselves against corporations. One piece of legislation I would like to see, which was mentioned in Fed Up, is to add a percent daily recommendation for sugar on nutrition labels. The recommended daily dose of sugar is 24-36 grams. However, many items in your local grocery store nearly reach that in a single serving, including soda. Adding 100% next to that 30 grams of sugar on your can of soda would help parents who are desperately trying to keep away unhealthy food options from their children.
