Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food – Hippocrates

Once in a while you stumble upon something so dramatically brilliant it could be labeled perfect. That is how my current diet feels. It is the most amazing food journey I have ever taken. Now I want to share it with the world.

Food…Real Food

Somewhere between our grandparents lives and our own food changed. It became an industrial commodity and is now boxed and bagged. Supermarkets only exist as shelves and fridges. Fresh food from the farm has evaporated.

So just what is on those shelves?

According to food writer Michael Pollan it is a whole lot of corn and soy. It is also a confusing array of multi-syllabic chemical additives, thinks like High Fructose Corn Syrup, ascorbic acid, lecithin, etc.

“There are some 45,000 items in the average American supermarket and more than a quarter of them now contain corn.” – Michael Pollan, Omnivore’s Dilemma

There has to be some real food in there somewhere. There is and much it. Unfortunately, it is processed and manufactured into new products that are offered as nutritional alternative to real food. A steak dinner with salad is replaced by frozen vegetables and hamburger helper.

We all know what real food is. It grows on trees and in the ground. It grazes on grass and pecks around. Grab an apple from a tree and there you have it.

Why Does This Matter?

We are currently in the throws of a national obesity epidemic. A recent study found that two thirds of all Adult Americans (67%) are obese or overweight. 14 In response, diet fads are exploding in popularity but not providing the needed results. Vitamins and nutritional labels have become our saving grace, but they are not working either. Beyond our bodies, our minds and our society are suffering from increasing rates of chronic and deep bouts of insecurity, depression, and eating disorders.

In a 2009 study…Mississippi had the highest rate of obese and overweight children (ages 10 to 17) at 44.4 percent.

We have lost touch with what it means to be fit and what it is like to enjoy food. Gone are the simples pleasures of eating and enjoying meals with friends and families. Very few of us look at shopping as anything more than a chore. This food disaster is crumbling the foundations of our health and our society.

The end of this crumbling portends a very scary future. One where children will develop diabetes at a rate of every 1 in 3. 15 Chronic diseases will be on the rise while health will continue to decrease. Our environment will be paralyzed with pollution and ecological inequity.

How to Fix The Problem

We can fix the problem with a diet that is simple and organic. It is easy to understand and based in common sense. It can open your eyes to strange new ways of living that provide amazing benefits like stronger health, happier minds, and more productive lives. Things like supermarkets, nutrients, and dieting just may become foreign concepts. A liberation from the burden of food is as strong as it is strange.

The first step is to only eat fresh seasonal food. Shop at farmers markets and stores that carry fresh food, like Whole Foods. This will take some time as most of us are completely clueless where fresh food can be found. Don’t despair because the markets mentioned above cater just to you and your needs. They are open on weekends and after works hours. The vendors and stores are jealously awaiting your arrival.

The next step is to build new habits. Take a Saturday morning trip to the Farmer’s Market. No need to buy anything, just observe and let your eyes discover what a food market looks like. Imagine it as a bazaar would be in the Middle East. Places that are alive with smiles, smells, and discussions. It is a completely different experience than the supermarkets with lonesome long lines and smooth jazz.

You can find these markets all over America. Google the term “farmers market” and your city to find them. After your initial visit determine a way to work them into your lifestyle. After a few weeks you just may find the farmers market as routine as the supermarket. It is to me where I tend to hit the evening market on Wednesdays and the morning market on Saturdays (open till 1pm in case I can’t get out of bed until noon).

Another crucial step in forming the new habits is learning about the good markets. The places where the food is real and they are transparent about that. Where you can learn about the location of the food, how old it is, and who grew it. Not the appropriate daily recommended intake of the average American. Believe it or not this is big business too.

The largest chain that is profiting off of this new transparency, social consciousness in food is Whole Foods. Whose markets take great pains to tell you about their food. Where it came from and how it was raised. There are many others all across our country too. You probably even pass one on your daily commute.

These markets are excellent sources of quality meats, whole grains, and dairy products. Often they have the freshest food you can buy (outside of a farmers market). They are also open daily and often till late into the evening (for those busybodies). Just be careful of stores that claim more buzzwords (local, organic, fresh) than facts about quality (location of origin, date, quality).

The third step is to learn about food. A person can spend a lifetime learning about how fruit ripens, how to cook vegetables, and the various meaty body parts of animals. Unfortunately, our lifetime has been spent learning about the difference between saturated and polyunsaturated fats or Nutra-Sweet and Splenda.

To learn about food is not hard at all since most of it is common sense and instinct. Produce is grown according to seasons. When in season it is abundant, delicious, and cheap.

During your trips to the markets you can easily find the seasonal food because it is everywhere and cheap. Its also the best for you!

Meats is a bit more complicated. To learn about the meat industry is like descending into a horror story from World War II. Trust me. The only recommendation I can provide is to shop at locations like Whole Foods that are committed to selling quality, socially conscious meats. We are still learning the effects this kind of animal treatment has on our bodies, it may not be wise to willingly accept being the ‘test subject’ in this case.

Those are the basic building blocks of real food. Add in whole grains and cooking and you are a regular polymath of food.

Notice that I have not mentioned drinks. Nearly everything we drink is nothing more than water, high fructose corn syrup, and additives. Switch to water and avoid all of the unnecessary ingredients, including corn syrup which is incredibly addictive and unhealthy. I also personally recommend quality food items like coffee, tea, wine, and freshly made fruit drinks (lemonade). Just remember that like food items the quality (and most of the time freshness) of them is what matters.

Make the switch and see what happens. You may just experience the bountiful flavors of real food. Most often comment to me how good it tastes. No need for condiments, dressing, or seasoning. They completely forget to add the sodium enriched condiments because the food tastes so natural, so good.

I have been cooking this way for months and I always love it when folks ask me what seasoning I use. Nothing its just real food!

Where Does My Food Come From?

I don’t know and nobody really knows. The only markets with labels of origin are Whole Foods and Farmers Markets. The occasional natural foods store offer this information, but not all.

I only shop at those stores and I only buy the food with labels of origin and date. It is this food, the transparent food, that I know I can trust. Like in wine shopping it is essential to know the age, origin, and composition of product. Without that information you are taking a blind leap of faith about the quality (and toxicity) of the food you are putting in your body.

It is in transparency where the quality of food diverges down two very different paths. Where knowledge about the food is open and well known, you can expect quality. It is even advertised using large signs and with pride. Many of the farmers markets and Whole Foods certify their foods this way to continually improve the quality and ensure customer confidence.

The other path is dark and hidden. The food can from factories thousands of miles away in China or Mexico. It could come from the same place that the worst outbreaks of E. Coli started at. Maybe even place you would be embarrassed to visit.

Avoid the food shrouded in marketing terms. Look for honest labeling of origin. Become a sommelier of fresh food.

Remaining Answers

Cost. There is a myth circulating around our country about green. It is a myth that all things green cost more. In many areas, including food, this just isn’t true. Fresh food that is in season is the cheapest kind of food you can buy. This is not in question, nor is it the issue at hand when people ask me about it.
The real question they are asking is if they can maintain their current food favorites when they switch to fresh food. They want to know that they can keep eating their ice cream, noodles, or macaroni and cheese. Most even venture out to a natural foods market to try to buy these items. Only to find that they are expensive items

That is true and will be forever true. It is the personal decision to switch over to fresh food. Some try it in balance with some ‘junk’ food and some fresh food. Others switch entirely over and ‘treat’ themselves once a week. Either way it is your health and your sustainable lifestyle that is the choice. Just understand that the best food for you is also the cheapest, that is what this diet offers.

Not All Fruits and Vegetables are Created Equal. I have the hardest time explaining this concept. As an industrial society it is logical, to a point, to expect everything to be of the same make and model. It just doesn’t work that way for food. Produce is grown in dirt that can be bountiful or toxic. It can then be picked before its ripe, drenched in toxic gases, and refrigerated for days, all before it arrives in front of you. Needless to say those kinds of items are not the best for you.

Most of us assume that eating a salad is eating healthy. It is definitely much more healthy than some alternatives but if you want a healthy body and mind it is not enough.

Benefits. Throughout this piece I have mentioned various benefits that result from this diet. This section gives me a chance to highlight the benefits I have found in my own life. The most important of which is a freedom from hunger. A liberation from dieting and constant hunger. I have not felt at peace with food, ever…now I am at peace.

That alone would make me a lifetime fan, but there is more. I am becoming more fit. I have lost fat weight and gained muscle weight. In fact, my regular workouts are decreasing. As a gym rat for over 15 years, I find myself outdoors more. I don’t need to workout to maintain a beautiful body and so I spend time playing, chatting with friends, and exploring the outdoors.

Finally, I am happier. I have much more energy and not until writing this piece did I discover something is missing. I no longer think about food all the time, I no longer worry, I spend hours in the day free from the burden of food, fat, and dieting. With this I have gained hours back in my day. I have used that time for so many silly activities but the ones that seem to stay are truly beautiful activities.

I now cook for my family and I spend much more time enjoying their company.