My Excuse & Eating Food

First off, I'm so sorry for the lack of posts lately. My life is always busy, so I can't use that excuse........but I will use this one: I've been scrambling to get everything ready, so I could come here:

While I've been here, I've been able to finish my book, In Defense of Food. I know I cant' force everyone to read it (although I think it should be a requirement to everyone who eats food), so instead I will just share some knowledge!

I really liked the following advice given by Michael Pollan:

*Pay More, Eat Less: More energy is going towards price and quantity rather than quality. One supermarket even has a slogan, "pile it high and sell it cheap". (I wish I could copy the whole chapter here, but I'm going to have to sum it all up) So, yes you can find high quality food, but it is more expensive. So, if you can afford to buy more high quality food, do it. You are also more likely to eat less of high quality food as well. And when you are feeding your body food that is made up of 15% actual food and 85% fillers, addivitives, and preservatives, well it's not going to fill you up, so you'll tend to eat more. So, really, are you saving money by buying cheap food....or are you spending more money to get more quantity of crappy "food".

Is it just a coincidence that as the portion of our income spent on food has declined, but spending money on health care has soared? In 1960 Americans spent 17.5% of their income on food and 5.2% of national income on health care. Now...income spent on food has dropped to 9.9%, and health care 16%. Think about where you spend your money. Has anyone had thoughts...hmm...it is so hard to spend X amount of money on food...and then later had the thought....Oh, we can get all these channels on our TV for only X amount of money. How come we can find money to pay for Internet, TV, but have a hard time justifying spending more money on better food. I like how Michael Pollan says, spending more money on better food is less a matter of ABILITY than PRIORITY. Think about that. We spend a smaller percentage of our income on our food than any other industrialized society.
Spend more money on food, so you can spend less on health care. Something to think about.

The "eat less" part, is easier said than done. Especially if you live in a culture where you eat cheap and abundant calories and have no set rules to curb overeating. Other cultures, however do have rules. The French have their modest portions and taboo agains eating "seconds". The people of Okinawa, one of the longest-lived and healthiest populations in the world, practice a principle they call hara hachi bu: Eat until you are 80% full. Kind of hard to follow that rule though if you eat like most Americans. (who eat faster than your brain can actually send you "i'm full clues") In fact in a recent study, Americans actually tend to rely on visual cues that it's time to stop eating: the plate is empty, the package is empty, the TV show is over, etc.

*Eat Slowly. This is where my European admiration and envy comes in. They actually have a Slow Food Movement. An Italian-born movement dedicated to the principle that "a firm defense of quiet material pleasure is the only way to oppose the universal folly of Fast Life." Oh, and it started in Rome during the 80's when the American fast food era started. How embarassing. To eat slowly, in the Slow Food sense, is to eat with a fuller knowledge of all that is involved in bringing food out of earth and to the table. To have actual "food experiences". (which I will have to talk about later, because I'm excited to, but for right now, I need to go lay out on the beach and read more!)