WE ARE WHAT WE EAT

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”