A recent NY times article provides an insider account of how the food industry is shaping our food habits. Following are some trends that this article highlights:
- There is an increasing trend to replace home cooked meals with pre-packaged lunches known as “lunchables.” (Sales in US and UK approached the 1 Billion mark in 2013.)
- When busy, there is a tendency to skip lunch and replace it with snacks, and the amount of snacking is growing steadily.
- A 2011 study of over twelve thousand women and men over a 25 year period shows that as we grow older we tend to exercise less and watch more TV. And when combined with our change in eating style leads to an average increase of weight of around 3.3 pounds every four years.
The result of these trends is that one in three persons in the US is clinically obese along with one in five kids. While over half of the population in the US is overweight, 24 million people in the US have type II diabetes. Even gout, a painful form of arthritis, formerly known as a “rich man’s disease” and associated with gluttony is making a resurgence. More than eight million people in the US are afflicted with it. Of course as industrialization and mass marketing of processed food spreads to the developing world these statistics will spread there too.
While the article details some onerous industry practices such as marketing of lunchables directly to kids during the Saturday morning cartoon show, and it also talks about industry practice of engineering products like Cheetos that melt in the mouth quickly and trick the brain to consume endless quantities of it, in the end it is our responsibility to take charge of our own food habits. Here is a quick guide of what you can do to take charge:
1. Say NO to processed food
The best approach is to make a clean break. Simply refuse to put in your mouth anything that comes off the “industrial-food-complex”. The problem with such food is that it may already be more than 2 months old by the time you may consume it. Because of this delay, unpronounceable ingredients have to be added to preserve it. In addition to preservatives, loads of sugar, salt, and fat is also added to make the stale food palatable.
Once you take this step a whole new wonderful world opens up for you. With as less than 30 minutes per day, you can fix your meal for the evening and the next day’s lunch. When you prepare your meals, they are fresh and you are in charge. You control exactly what goes into your food. And you can do this while you are watching TV or catching up on the phone with your loved ones.
It is easy to break the addiction to salt and sugar. Once you simply stop feeding the craving, your taste buds re-calibrate and you once again learn to love the taste of a regular meal. As you get used to home-cooked fresh meals you will never want to go back to over processed stale food.
2. Create your own lunchables
When you have a few hours of time on hand, you can create lunchables of your own. Keep a few containers handy so you can pack your meal in it and freeze it. Having a few home-cooked lunchables handy and ready to go can help you tide over those days when things are not going as per plan. A few hours of effort on the weekend may get you ready for the coming week or two.
3. Experiment with Juicing
Juicing is another option that you should explore. It is fun, it is healthy, and it is quick. If you are not a big vegetable eater then here is your chance: you can drink them! All you need is a good juicer and a bunch of fruits and vegetables you can throw in, and you are all set. If you can get in a few juiced meals a week, and do this on a regular basis for a year or more, you will notice the impact it has on your waistline and your weight.
4. Plan for the week
The key to success here is planning. Take a look at the week ahead and decide what is going to be on the menu each day. Also look at your working schedule and the schedule of other family members so you know when you will have time to fix the meals and when you are busy. This should allow you to plan how many home-cooked lunchables you may need. Then look at your refrigerator and the kitchen cabinets and prepare a shopping list. Buy exactly what you want in the quantities needed. Your plan should indicate when you are cooking what. Once the planning and shopping is done the rest is easy. There is no more stress as you simply put your plan into practice and then start all over when the week is done.
5. Keep healthy snacks handy
Once you are off processed foods, the urge to snack between meals should steadily reduce. But it is not going to happen overnight. It may not be a bad idea to plan for a light snack between meals or for the time when you come home from work and need an immediate boost. Your meal plan for the week should also include a plan for snacks. Ideal snacks are fruits and nuts. Avoid roasted and salted nuts. Just munch on a homemade mix of plain nuts like walnuts, almonds, pecans, and sunflower seeds, mixed with raisins. There can be nothing simpler than slicing an apple for a snack or having a banana or an orange.
6. Equip yourself
The key for any plan to work long term is that fixing food should be quick and hassle-free and the cleanup should be painless. If you equip yourself properly this can be easily accomplished. You have to realize that it may take some time to get there, but once you have committed yourself to the journey you will slowly learn what is needed and also learn the necessary shortcuts and tips. Some key things to watch out for: Juicer, blender, pressure-cooker, chopping board, oven, good set of knives, and a slow cooker. Also plan to stock your kitchen cabinet with a collection of spices and herbs that you can throw into your meals for added taste and adventure.
7. Make it fun
If your food plan is to be a long-term success it has to be fun. This includes planning, shopping, preparing meals, eating, and the post meal cleanup. All family members need to participate. They can specialize in specific tasks or the tasks can rotate on a pre-determined schedule. The fact that everybody is participating takes the dreariness out and turns it into a joint fun activity. Also, do not forget to include frequent treats, at least once a month or on special occasions. This could be as simple as preparing homemade fried potato chips or planning for a more elaborate meal that the entire family is involved in preparing. There must be something unusual about the meal, either its recipe, its presentation, or the preparation style, or a mix up from the usual roles that family members are used to, in preparing the meal.
Taking charge of the food you eat is no different from taking charge of your health. Studies have found that as children grow up they simply carry their food habits into adulthood. This means that if you have children in your family you are also taking control of the health of your next generation too. But what is more important is that the sense of empowerment and control that this gives you will also empower you in countless other ways.
Credits:This has been written by Raj Shah and edited by Ketna Shah.
Related: NY Times Article: The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food
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