The Geometry of Food

I will continue on the topic of food this week. Keep in mind that this column is my opinion and that you are more than welcome to join me in my way of thinking, run quickly away, or plant yourself somewhere in between. I want to get you looking around and thinking a little more deeply about the world that we live in.

Have you ever noticed that we live within a food triangle? We have our food manufacturers producing beautifully packaged lovely concoctions to fill our bellies temporarily. Then we have the pharmaceutical industry producing lovely remedies for the symptoms we develop from eating these concoctions.

And thirdly we have our lobbied political system happily making the third side of this triangle to keep things going around and around as they do. If you are wandering around living your life within the confines of this triangle you may be feeling like the rat on the wheel, but don’t despair because you can get off that wheel if you want to.

Paul Stitt wrote a book back in 1982 describing some of the time he spent working for a major food producer, and why he left that industry and started his own natural bakery. In his book titled “Beating the Food Giants” ISBN-10: 0939956063 ISBN-13: 978-0939956067 he “gives a first hand account of the inside workings of the giant food companies of America.

He tells how they program you to crave certain foods, to overeat every day, to make you feel stuffed but hungry.” So if you think that the giant food companies have your interest at heart, you may want to think again. Do you suppose that the food execs play golf with the pharmaceutical execs so that they can keep up to date on how many appetite stimulants need to be added to food and to figure out what ingredients to add to produce symptoms that will magically be “cured” by the latest miracle drug? Are you starting to get the picture? Some of you are thinking that I am completely off of my rocker and that this kind of thing does not happen here in Canada, and our government protects us from this, and I will respond to you by simply saying “read the labels.”

Dig a little deeper into some of those ingredients and discover their many properties. Also keep in mind that there are other things added to packaging and foods that don’t have to be identified on the label because they are not considered ingredients but food preparation or processing agents.

For a little more food awareness you may want to type “food truths” into your favourite search engine and do a little reading. Yes, I know that not everything that I read on the internet is substantiated, so maybe you could try the ultimate test and let your body tell you what to eat to make you feel energetic, clear minded, balanced and healthy. Oh, and if you want to jump out of the food triangle you can grow some of your own food and stick to purchasing whole unprocessed foods from your nearby produce stand or grocery store.

Check out the 100 Mile Diet movement if you want to get really serious about this http://100milediet.org/ I am not organized enough for the 100 Mile Diet step and may never be, but I think it is a great idea. Yes that means that you will have to spend more than your usual two minutes in front of the microwave in the kitchen to prepare these choices and, yes that means that you may have to take some time to do some menu planning and learning how to prepare new and exciting foods. It does take a lot of time and a lot of effort, but if you stick with it, it can become a natural way of life and it can enrich your health.