March is National Nutrition Month and I’m “celebrating” by spending the month giving you reasons to #takebackyourfood. Ten years ago, when I decided to really find out what I was eating, I was shocked–over and over again. I still get shocked occasionally, but I’ve learned so much. I want to share that knowledge.
The truth is that we sold our health for convenience. As grocery stores started to fill with products that saved time, shoppers embraced them. Over time, the quality of those products has gone from ok to terrible and then just criminal. Now, food manufacturers are in an arms race to produce products that are even more addictive and over-the-top in comparison to what was introduced into an overcrowded marketplace just yesterday. Convenience has been embraced and manufacturers have been trusted. When we placed so much our trust in the processed food industry, we lost our food knowledge.
Recently I was checking out at a grocery store and the clerk, a middle-aged man, asked me to identify the vegetable I was buying. It was a sweet potato. Encounters like these tell me we have failed generations of people. I know families with 4 generations that don’t know how to cook. As a society, we are food illiterate.
It has to stop. We need to be mad. We have to take back our power, become food literate savvy shoppers that can shop smart, use whole ingredients, and prepare simple meals. We have to vote with our dollars to shape the future of food.
There are good products available but you need a skill set to locate them. I invite you to join me and #takebackyourfood. I will be posting #takebackyourfood tips on social media throughout the month of March and I have 3 classes this month to help you #takebackyourfood. Check out my cooking classes and nutrition consulting workshop this month.