The following excerpt was from a blog response by Dr. Barry Sears, author of the Zone Diet: 

“...with all the rhetoric about health-care reform, no one seems to have asked the question, ‘Why are Americans so sick in the first place’? The ultimate answer is what we are eating and the existing government policies that promote the problem.

Currently there are very few things that America can make cheaper than anyone in the world. One exception is food but not just any type of food. The food production that we are the best at is growing and then adding value by additional refining to certain crops. The three crops that yield the greatest financial returns after refining of raw agricultural material are corn, wheat and soybeans. In terms of the production of refined carbohydrates and refined vegetable oils, America has no equal. In fact, our entire agribusiness sector is based on these three crops.

It starts with industrial-sized farms that supply raw materials to the massive food processing plants that produce the value-added ingredients to make the ingredients for processed food production. Finally, there is the delivery of the finished processed food products to restaurants and supermarkets. It’s a trillion-dollar business that is all ultimately built upon cheap refined carbohydrates and vegetable oils. This is why less than 10 percent of the disposable income of Americans goes to food purchases. This is a far lower proportion than any other country in the world. Human nature being what it is, when you have access to more cheap food, you eat more of it.

The unfortunate aspect of this dependence of the agribusiness sector on cheap, refined carbohydrates and vegetable oils is that when they are combined in the diet, the result is increased dietary-induced inflammation. This is not the type of inflammation that causes pain, but represents increased silent inflammation at the cellular level that is below the perception of pain. This is the underlying cause of a wide range of chronic diseases ranging from obesity to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and neurological disorders. It’s this type of inflammation that is driving the development of chronic disease in America.”

Several good points, but two in particular that I want to harp on.  First, we spend less of our money on food than anyone else in the world.  Second, the bulk of what we do spend it on is of little or no nutritional value. 

You can make the argument that our entire civilization and society is based on the procurement, preparation and enjoyment of food.  Cooking has been replaced by ordering.  Meals have been replaced by “Food”, and I put quotation marks around it because much of what we ingest is hardly food, but rather the same nutritional play-dough that is shaped into thousands of other food-like products.  The same basic ingredients exist in bread, pretzels, pasta and crackers...add a little extra sugar and you have cereal, cakes, and muffins...add a little vegetable oil and you have lean-pockets, oreos, and tv dinners.

We’re not complainers here.  So here is what we can do.

Insist on eating REAL FOOD.  Carbs that you need to refrigerate or it goes bad.  Protein that had a face.  Stuff you can eat raw and un-processed.  Eat it, prepare it, serve it and talk about it to people you know.  You don’t have to be a snob about it, but let people know that your primary decision factors when it comes to food are NOT price and convenience.

Let people know that you choose food that adequately fuels you, keeps you satisfied, and promotes long-term wellness (and with a little extra work, elite fitness).  It might cost a bit more, be a bit more messy, or require some extra prep time...but that is time invested in yourself.  Better yet, grab a friend or family member and share it together.

We all have influence.  Make REAL FOOD a cool decision.