STOP Eating Like a Prepper

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day, and the topic came around to discuss how much pre-prepared and long term stored food we've adopted in our western culture. We weren't talking about the obvious things like packaged cookies, and canned soup.

We were talking about the fact that much of what most people eat, even those who claim to eat healthy, is not fresh. It's old, dried, and tucked away food. Things like rice, flour, spices, beans, etc.

Let's step back and think about that for a minute. Why do we think it's okay to eat this food? It's not fresh. Some or all of that will be 1 to 2 years old or more. Why has the diet of many people become based on old, dried out food? What makes us think this is good for us?

Here are some (not very good) reasons:

• It's just habit. It's what their mother did. So they do the same thing.
• It's what's advertised in the media.
• It takes up a large portion of the grocery store.
• It's in the food pyramid, or various other food guides.

When we look at these, the first 3 are not good reasons at all to be eating these things. They have nothing to do with logic, or thinking it through. Even if we come at this from an emotional point of view, it would be better to choose what YOU want, and not what someone else tells you that you should want.

For the final one, we may think, "Well, they're official. They must have done some research. There must be some evidence." First off, the fact that each country has a different one, and some are extremely different in their combination and ratios should lead us to question why. If they were created based on evidence, real, solid evidence, then they should be similar. The fact that it has changed so dramatically should also be a red flag. If the US government had one food plan in the 80s, then changed it to what we have now, what changed? Did the facts change? Maybe the manipulation changed, maybe the funding changed, but something can't be good for us one year, and bad the next. Not in FACT. If they made such a mistake in the 80s version, what is to make us think the current version is accurate?

Back to the main question: why do we think eating dried out, old food is a good idea? Have you ever thought about that? Who's telling us this food is good for us? Mostly, it's the food producers of old, dried out food. If you asked food producers who only make fresh food, would they have a different answer? Has there been any research actually checking which is better for us, that's not funded by some special interest? Yes, but only a very small amount. And those studies get shot down by all the critics who "know" that can't be right.

But YOU get to think about it, and YOU get to make a decision. Do you want to base your diet on old, dried out food? Or do you want to base it on fresh, living food. Food that's got the maximum amount of nutrients, food that's not lost it's vitality, food that will do your body much more good. 2 ounces of salad has far more nutrients than 2 ounces of flour, or rice or any dried out food.

100 years ago it may have been wise to store vast amounts of food. Maybe people could not get food in the winter, and they truly needed to stock up. People's pantry was their store. That's not the case in our modern world. We have access to grocery stores, and they all receive produce from around the world. When it's winter in Canada, it's summer growing season in South America, and we can eat fresh food year round.

Many of these dried old foods were originally developed in the day and age when there was no electricity, thus no refrigeration. There was no fast or reliable long distance transportion, thus no ability to get food quickly from far off places. The only choice was to have stored, non perishable food. But that's no longer the case.

I'm not saying we should not have stored reserves of food. But we should not be eating this food all the time, nor very much of it.

So, why are so many still living like they're in 1900?

Our food is really the main thing that will determine how we live our life. And I do mean that literally. If you eat Twinkies (do they even make those any more - never had one, by the way) all day long, and chips, that's guaranteed to make you a lump. How exciting will your life be if you're a lump? Tired, fat, depressed, and not enough energy to care.

When we eat fresh, living food, it gives us real energy. Real drive. A real life that we can live to the fullest, with the energy to do all the things we dreamed of as a kid.

So, GO MAKE SOME FRESH FOOD! NOW!

Happy Chow Down.

Thora Toft