My own little soap box...

One of the biggest concerns in America (because no where else will you see quite so many frivolous lawsuits) is having healthy food, being healthy, and maintaining a healthy weight.

The real facts about health are more muddied than the Mississippi river in flood season, and there are new "facts" that come up each day about foods... One day you'll be told that margarine should be eaten because it's better for you than butter... Suddenly you're told that it's not, because of trans-fats and other nasty items lurking in wait to suddenly destroy your body.

You're told one day not to eat beef, only to be told the next day that it's actually fairly healthy and you can have it, just as long as all the fat has been removed... And a few months later, beef is once again on the no-no list.

The question is, how did we get to where we are today? Why is it that, of all the nations, we have the most food available per capita, and yet we are filled with hatred and fear toward it? Why do we have one of the highest obesity rates in the world, with Diabetes, high blood pressure, hypertension, and stroke leading the way in death and disability each year?

100 years ago we had virtually no issues with any of these so-called "Western" diseases. And yet, over the last 100 years (actually, over the last 50 years where it's REALLY taken off), we have had doctors, advertisers, food scientists and other snake oil salesmen try and tell us what we *should* eat, how much, when, why, and how... We've been told that low-fat, low salt, low (or no) meat, high carb, low carb, no carb, high protein, low protein, massively pre-processed foods (or should I say FUD) is good for us, and we should eat it...

We've tried all the latest fad diets, health recommendations, food regimens, exercise and other abuses, all leading to an even higher rate of obesity and obesity-related issues - even if we aren't obese... We've spent the last 50 years brainwashing our children to eat whatever the news tells us, and supplementing it with fast food and quick snacks from the local Kwik-E-Mart (I'd get started on spelling, but that's a different rant altogether - along with Foto.).

I have no doctoral degree, and I don't even claim to understand what goes on inside a carrot when it's cooked versus when it's served raw. I don't know how the digestive tract breaks down foods, and I honestly could care less about whether the percentage of beta-carotene is higher or lower in one food or another. I have a different kind of suggestion from everyone else... It's a little radical, and it could potentially tick off your doctor or nutritionist - not to mention salesmen and fast-food restaurant companies all over the country, but just hear me out...

Try not eating so many overly-processed foods... I'm not saying cut them out completely. Why? Because while it IS possible to do it, it can be a difficult thing for us to do. But just try not eating as many... If what you're eating has a lot of ingredients that you can't pronounce, chances are, they're not found in nature... If they aren't found in nature, ask yourself if you really want to eat it...

I'm not saying that they're the worst things for you - but a lot of what we eat just doesn't need to be that overly processed. There's a reason why other countries who DON'T eat a lot of overly processed foods don't have the same issues with weight and weight-related diseases that the US does... They don't have the same level of processed foods that we do.

So, just throwing it out there to think about... I know, it's a radical idea. Perhaps, it's an idea whose time has come... Maybe the next time you decide to make Velveeta cheese dip, try doing it from scratch, with real cheese, rather than Velveeta - could make a difference - you never know.