Week One - Day One "In Defense Of Food"

So, unfortunately I came down with a head cold over the weekend and now it seems to be turning into something more sinister. It was a good excuse to up my intake of vitamins so i made a fresh juice and dribbled some echinacea in.

I'm using this time to research the benefit of eating whole foods rather than those that are processed. It's a big shock to see how much processed crap we're exposed to. I purchased a book by best-selling author Michael Pollan called, "In Defense of Food".

One of the most interesting parts of the book explains how we lack essential nutrients, even in our fruit and vegetables that are found in most supermarkets. the author talks about how if we were to get the nutrition from one of today's apples, we would need to eat three to gain the full effects. He puts this down to all the pesticides, commerical growing techniques and the delay from farm to suprmarket. I tend to buy my vegies and fruit from Harris Farm markets as i know they're produce is fresher. Many friends have also commented that they prefer to get produce from a grocer rather than the supermarket.

Another eye opener was the fact that 70% of foods found in the supermarket are processed in some way or another. Michael Pollan says that if your great grandparents came with you to the supermarket, they would not recognise most of what they see on the shelves. Basically, if it doesn't look like something you would find on a farm then we probably shouldn't be eating it. He goes on to say that most good food choices occur on the periphery of supermarket aisles. Think the fruit, veg, meats, dairy and bakery sections.

So, my first task is to use foods that are organic, looking for brands that are the least expensive and sticking to foods which have had minimal processing. Like a lot of you, I'm sure that processed food is difficult to stay away from. So much of it makes up parts of our daily meals. My thinking is that to really have a fighting chance at shifting the weight I need to make unprocessed food the basis for all meals and leave the high sugar and high fat stuff for occassion when i go out.

What do you think about processed food? What food do you think is so processed and marketed that it is barley recognisable as food anymore? My first thought is prawn crackers. We had chinese on Saturday night and they seem to disintergrate into oil once in the mouth. Won't be having any of those for a very long time.