Unanimity on what constitutes the best diet will never be achieved. But maybe we can achieve consensus. Surely there are things we agree on. Let's see how far we can get.
Ready to reason together?
We can agree on ...vegetables. But we'll have to leave out higher carbs like potatoes and corn. We can all enjoy a salad -- worry about the dressing later -- or stir-fried vegetables -- talk about the oil later -- or steamed green beans or broccoli.
Alright. That's the beginning of a meal we can share.
What we do with these vegetables may be a deal-breaker. I for instance would slather that broccoli with butter. Maybe alot of it.
Okay. Maybe even vegetables aren't entirely benign as we lay them on the table and negotiate what we all deem healthy.
Junk food is a safe subject. Notice, I'm not asking if you eat it. What I'm saying is, we know overprocessed foods aren't healthy. We know that desserts that stay beautiful for months thanks to preservatives, are bad news.
As a society we consume too much sugar and artificial sweetener, too much high fructose corn syrup. We eat too many refined simple carbohydrates.
We drink too much soda and coffee, too many energy drinks and too much fruit juice. Consensus achieved here.
What else do we know?
We know that the grand transfat experiment of the past few decades failed. And we're catching on that our consumption of omega-6 oils has been way too high and needs to be cut back. And the amount of omega-3 oil needs to come up.
We've all heard about the wonders of olive oil. Hopefully we're all using it. And hopefully none of us use margarines containing transfats or omega-6 fatty acids.
We know that the hormones and antibiotics in our food supply aren't good for us. We've read about BPA leaching into what we eat and drink.
We've heard disturbing talk about genetically modified food, about how it's already out there and nobody ever asked our permission or even has to keep us informed when they're feeding it to us.
We're all just a little uneasy about every bite of food or swallow of a drink that goes into our mouths. We're seeing the results that we're reaping after a generation of tampering with our food supply and we're grieving over it.
Bingo. Something we can all agree on.
Resources
Trans Fats Hinder Multiple Steps In Blood Flow Regulation Pathways
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090616121345.htm
Omega-3 Fatty Acids Can Reduce Your Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
http://diabetes.about.com/od/nutrition/qt/fattyacids.htm
Safer Food For a Healthier You
http://www.webmd.com/health-ehome-9/pesticides-hormones-in-food
EWG's Tips to avoid BPA exposure
http://www.enviroblog.org/2009/05/ewgs-tips-to-avoid-bpa-exposure.html
Doctors Warn Avoid Genetically Modified Food
http://www.rense.com/general86/doct.htm
Visit Jody's website and blog at http://www.ncubator.ca and http://ncubator.ca/blogger