Food is a very important part of my life. What im going to
eat next is always in the back of my mind. Therefore I end up having several
conversations about food daily. since recently I have decided to take a
healthier approach and it got me thinking about the change in diet over the
years and hw just like everything else food has evolved.
Growing up I was virtually indestructible, and many of you
might share this same view on your childhood. Playing outside and not being
under constant supervision from our parents we had many opportunities to eat
something that was less than suitable for eating, however there were hardly any
consequences. I attribute this to the
diet I had as a child. Snacks weren’t deep fried and dipped in chocolate. It was
common place to drink water every day. The products used were naturally grown
and needless to say an obese child was a rarity.
The older population was also generally healthier. Diabetes,
obesity and hypertension were not as
common as they are today and were ‘old people’ illnesses. Colon cancer
was so rare that hospitals had 2-3 reported cases per year.
But as time progressed the food available changed and so did
the general health of the population. Babies are being born with diabetes. 3
year old children having strokes and we
have little or no resistance to viruses. For many of us if we drink some water from the
pipe without boiling it we will feel the effects for days (while our
grandparents grew up using rain filled tank water and were perfectly fine).
We have diverted from the naturally grown provisions that
provided us with authentic nutrients to genetically grown food that are ready
for harvesting 3 weeks after planting. Water
is no longer used to wash ground provisions, instead most producers use
chemical peels.
Fast food has replaced home cooked meals and the microwave
the main means of ‘cooking’ for many of my peers. I will not bore you with my
opinion on how safe microwaves are but for your reading pleasures http://www.snopes.com/science/microwave/plants.asp
make your own conclusions.
Too many things have been almost completely eliminated from
our diet. When was the last time you has soursop juice, naturally made carrot
juice or even a cucumber? All of these
being things with surprising health benefits. Instead we chose sodas and kool
aid as our preferred source of hydration.
Colon cancer is just as prevalent as obesity the reason for which is thought to
be as simple as not eating enough fruits. Cancers are developing in places people
didn’t even know they had. Mint tea is no longer taken from the backyard
instead we buy a pack from the store that has added chemicals such as cafeen
We have an older population due to the fact that older
people have a longer life expectancy than younger ones because of our diet. What
we have become accustomed to eating are more We are living in a very unhealthy world. And even
though a healthier lifestyle may be more expensive and time consuming isn’t a
long healthy life worth it? “health is the most important factor for each one
of us to live a happy and fulfilling life. Without our health, we lose the freedom
to fulfill our potential”
