Friday, October 13, 2006

Eating Simply II

So what does eating simply involve in my humble opinion? Well it may well differ for you but here are my ideas:
  • Inform yourself about what you eat: This might seem obvious but many people just eat what they like (hence the high rates of obesity, heart disease and food-related cancers in the UK ). Find out what is good for you and what is not. Be interested in what you eat.
  • Avoid processed foods as much as possible: Get your food in its most basic forms. The less processing has gone into it the fewer nasties such as preservatives, artificial colours, hydrogenated fats, added salt, added sugar etc. will be found in it. Generally, processed foods are heavily packaged, avoiding them will cut down on waste too.
  • Buy organic: Cut out the amount of pesticides and other chemicals that end up in your food because of industrialised farming processes. Sure it costs more, but the food value is higher and the flavour is much better.
  • Buy local: It will be fresher, support your local economy and be better for the environment. Supermarkets will fly in produce from the other side of the world that can be grown locally in order to sell it more cheaply. This is a false economy. Exotic foods might be a nice treat but make them an occasional one. You might even consider growing your own.
  • Eat seasonal produce: Learn what food is available when and try to eat with the seasons. Buying out-of-season food is a luxury that our environment cannot sustain much longer. When I lived in Italy many years ago I remember that people would simply not buy vegetables out of season. It was idiomatic that they would be no good.
  • Learn to cook: This is perhaps the most important step. Ready meals and convenience foods have separated us from the food we eat. Many people rarely see their food in its basic form anymore. And if they did they would be at a loss how to deal with it. We need to reconnect with our food again and take control of how it is prepared. Be creative with food - a producer of fine cuisine rather than a consumer of unhealthy slop.
  • Eat fairly-traded foodstuffs: Most of the tea, coffee, chocolate, bananas and other tropical fruits are cheap for us because of the exploitation of workers in the third world. Do not let your addiction to coffee or chocolate or whatever be at the expense of someone else's standard of living.
  • Eat sensibly: It goes without saying that health benefits of a simple diet will be lost if you overeat or do not eat a balanced diet.
  • Cut out or cut down on meat: It takes 100kg of vegetable protein to produce 9kg of meat protein. The area of ground it takes to feed one carnivore will feed twenty vegans. We could feed the world easily if we gave up less than half of the meat consumption of the developed world. One could also add the terrible conditions for animals endemic to factory farming, the chemicals deleterious to health and the environmental damage. Meat production is a miserable business. Dairy and egg production are no better.
  • Buy Quality: Don't go for cheap all the time. Cheap food is usually less good for you, the environment and the producer. I think it is important to try to spend less on many things but not on food.

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