We are what we eat

Everything in our world today is so inter-connected. Not only do we see this in how television and the Internet connect with our minds and consciousness, but also in the way we live our lives, the food we eat, the choice of consumer products we purchase. We see a food ad — we want to try it, no matter that the food item itself is loaded with fat, sugar, salt or worst, unhealthy binders or preservatives.

Sometimes, due to the convenience of grocery and fast food stores all around us, we purchase food products without even thinking of where they come from or what’s been added on to make that chicken more plump, the canned roast beef tastier, the bread whiter, or even what’s in that foamy milk. We are the sum of all the choices we make. And if food is one of the major factors that keeps us alive, then it’s worth taking a second look especially when health issues like diabetes, cholesterol, obesity and heart diseases are on the rise.

I have always admitted that of the Seven Capital Sins, mine would be gluttony. This is because I am such a foodie that, if left unchecked, I would live to eat, rather than eat to live. Through the years, I have managed to control this over-active appetite streamlining it down to healthier choices. It hasn’t been easy. Consciously choosing natural foods, grains, nuts, salads, vegetables has been a daily battle until the daily choices became a habit that became a lifestyle. The first to go were the white breads and white refined sugar. Then red meat. For a period of time, I became vegetarian but slowly re-introduced chicken and fish once a week to my diet.

While I do have my occasional soda and chips, it’s been heartening to know that somehow balance has been achieved. One eye-opening documentary film I saw that really made me sit up was the 2004 documentary SUPERSIZE ME where documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock makes himself a test subject of this documentary about the commercial food industry and shedding light on obesity in the US today. Rigorously eating a diet of McDonald’s fast food, three times a day for a month straight without exercise, he wanted to prove the physical and mental effects. As the film continues, his health deteriorates as he becomes fatter.

Consciously trying to see the kind of food we eat, and where our food comes from is one of the best things we can do for ourselves today. Too much pesticides in our vegetables and root crops, too much steroids pumped into our poultry, pigs and cows and hormones into our milk, are bringing strains of viruses formerly never found in our food. It is both cheaper for the pocket and healthier to try to cook and prepare dishes at home to bring to work or school so we choose fast food only once in a hectic while.

Last month, I was sent to the US to attend the Natural Products Expo West 2010 at the Anaheim Convention Center. I was part of a mission organized by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Midwest Export Association. What was clear in that trip to me was that going green, natural and/or organic wasn’t the alternative path anymore. It is now mainstream. The humongous expo had almost 3,000 booths of everything and anything vaguely related to a green, sustainable, natural and organic lifestyle. Food and beverage products, beauty and body care, health supplements, leisure wear, baby and even animal care — name a lifestyle trend — they were all represented.

We had the good fortune of attending a talk and film showing of a multi-awarded winning documentary entitled FOOD, Inc. This investigative and controversial documentary on the state of food production by big companies in the US today has captured the general public’s interest and spawned growing advocacy groups who are more vigilant about industrial food production. The film examines corporate farming in the US concluding that the meat and vegetables produced by agribusiness have many hidden costs and are unhealthy and environmentally-harmful. The documentary generated extensive controversy in that it was heavily criticized by large American corporations engaged in industrial food production.

I was totally sickened and shocked at the e-coli virus in cows due to cheap corn being fed to them, and as their manure goes out to farms, vegetables and crops get the virus also; how the poor workers were being mistreated in inhuman work conditions; how animals like chickens and pigs are stuffed with antibiotics and steroids while raised in their own wastes, and where full growth is aborted to answer to the industrialized processed to answer to the demand of the market. Power is suddenly taken away from the poor farmer and consumer, as large multi-corporations control all aspects of food production and distribution.

The Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, Kevin Kenner, gave a talk thereafter stating that he never expected the film to generate such public reaction and debate, or advocacies for legislation changes led by mothers who care for their families. He recounts how he spent large amounts of his budget on legal fees to try to protect himself against lawsuits from industrial food producers, pesticide and fertilizer manufacturers, and other companies criticized in the film.

While these two films were both made for the US public (you can check them out in YouTube), they are just as relevant to us in the Philippines as we have always followed trends in American culture and lifestyle. It is heartening to know that today: more community farmer groups are going organic as they plant their crops, raising hormone-free chicken, cows and pork; that the weekly organic or natural markets are seeing a steady rise of consumers; that fast foods and restaurants have healthy options in their menu offerings.

Health is about a lot of elements combined together: keeping fit physically, nurturing strong relationships, maintaining quality of life and constructive growth-promoting work. Nutrition plays a key factor in our total well-being. We are what we eat. Let us make choices in our menu-planning, our kitchen stocks, our market and grocery purchases, our restaurant choices... that would make us all shine with health and vitality.