Over the past thirty years, I have read and heard a great deal about "eating healthy." Although not everyone agrees on the details, I have found a few commonalities. A list follows, somewhat tongue-in-cheek:
- Sugar is evil
- Artificial sweeteners are evil
- White flour is evil
- MSG is evil
- Food coloring is evil
- Processed foods are evil
- Whole foods are wonderful
- Organic food is best
Some people think honey is acceptable. Others will only use agave syrup. Some stick to stevia and monkfruit sweeteners. Apparently, the more expensive the sweetener, the "healthier" it is.
Some experts say nobody should ever consume any kind of wheat flour, or anything else containing gluten. Others claim non-GMO wheat products are acceptable unless one has celiac disease or a genuine allergy.
The topic of whole foods continues to baffle me. What, exactly, is a whole food? Should I wander through a field of oats or wheat, pulling up a stem and crunching on the grain as I go? I picture myself eating an apple, core and all. Or an orange, rind and seeds included. (I guess if you can afford a VitaMix, you can actually throw those things in there and come up with something you can eat/drink.) If I buy dried split peas, are they no longer a whole food, because they have been split? Are they somehow less healthy than dried whole peas?
This brings me to the topic of processed foods. What exactly is a processed food? I grow my own green beans, harvest them, and then can or freeze them. Did I just turn them into an evil processed food? When I buy organic rolled oats and cook them for breakfast, am I guilty of processing them? I've certainly cooked them, but is that processing? When I bake my own bread, is that processed food?
Anything that comes out of my own garden is organic. Our growing season is about three months long, so truly fresh vegetables are only available briefly. I think it is healthier to eat canned and frozen vegetables from my own garden than it is to buy so-called "fresh" vegetables at the grocery store in the winter. Most of it is trucked in from far away, and is not at all fresh. Tomatoes, carrots, and cucumbers from the store are especially disappointing, as is anything else I can grow in my own garden. I can't grow oranges or bananas here, but I have tasted fresh oranges and grapefruit while visiting in Arizona so I know how much better they taste there. And most of the organic produce available in this area looks like it ought to have been dumped on the compost heap. Again, it was trucked in from far away places and is NOT fresh.
I'd like to hear your thoughts about these topics. Do you know exactly what a "whole food" is? Tell me, please. Do you know what is meant by "processed foods?" Please enlighten me. I look forward to your ideas.
Photo of fresh garden produce taken on my cell phone.