You Are a Professional

Good food.

More good food.

I received a lovely and heartwarming e-mail from Kirianna yesterday, a reader from New Zealand who never leaves comments :) Seriously, you can leave me comments. I'd rather have this blog be more of a conversation and without comments it's just me standing on my soapbox. Don't get me wrong, I like it up here on my soapbox, but company is good too. Anyway, back to Kirianna's e-mail. She said she felt affirmed by my Mindful Eating post, and that she sometimes feels like the only person who thinks about food the way she does. Her e-mail, plus countless conversations I've had with Kayleigh, has inspired me to write this post addressing something I feel really passionate about: the American concept of "professionals." My mother is something of a renegade. She has a habit of reading a book about something and then doing it, like reupholstering furniture and having a baby at home. There is very little, if anything, that intimidates my mother. She doesn't have a degree to match every field in which she has become an expert, and she doesn't need one. I've always been profoundly grateful to my mother for having this quality, and for passing it on to me. Because of her example and experience, I had the courage have my first baby without any drugs. I remember lying in the hospital bed and the OB asking me what my plan for pain management was. Already halfway through labor, I replied "I'm just going to do it." Fogassy women would make good poster children for Nike: we just do it. There are times in life when you absolutely must defer to the knowledge and expertise of someone who knows more than you; for instance, if you need brain surgery. But a lot of the time your own judgment is your strongest resource. It puzzles me, considering our country's defiant beginnings, that as a society we have become so dependent on the qualifications of others. While it's important to recognize your limits and ask for help when you really need it, so often we sell ourselves short when it comes to our own capabilities. I could write a book about the evils of self-doubt and how many it robs of how much, but for now I want to address it as it relates to food(big shock, I know). Michael Pollan writes extensively on the subject of how paradoxical it is that a nation as unhealthy as America is seemingly so obsessed with healthy eating. If you want a good, approachable overview of our current food system and the effects it's having on our health, I'd highly recommend his book In Defense of Food, the subtitle of which is "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." It's good advice. For those who don't want to invest the time it takes to read an entire book, I propose a condensed version of Michael Pollan's common sense approach. Think about a food, any food, and the process it goes through to get from origin to grocery store. For most foods, there are way too many steps involved beginning with the genetic modification of the seeds for fruits and vegetables, the chemicals used in growing those fruits and vegetables, chemicals used to preserve and increase the shelf-life of fruits and vegetables...it's a daunting list. The process of how meat is raised and brought to market is even more complicated and disheartening. Michael Pollan points out that the way American food research works is inherently flawed. This is because of what he calls the "single nutrient" approach. In science it is often helpful and necessary to reduce the number of variables in a given experiment. Where food is concerned, this often ends up being a useless approach. For example, beta carotene. Michael discusses research based on observing how beta carotene is utilized in the body by subjects who either consumed it within a carrot, or took it in supplement form and did not eat carrots. The subjects who ate whole carrots were much more efficient at using beta carotene to its fullest advantage than those who merely took a supplement. This is true of ALL nutrients; science has yet to provide a superior source of nutrition than that provided by Nature. Pollan suggests that this may be because of non-nutrient substances found in whole foods that research has failed to identify, substances that may assist in the body's absorption of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. Either way, it doesn't take a genius to realize that a carrot tastes better than a pill. Likewise, you don't have to be a doctor, chef or nutritionist to make healthy food choices. Simply put, try to choose foods that haven't been messed with. Animals that haven't been given drugs; fruits and vegetables that haven't been genetically modified; eggs from chickens who ate grass and bugs, beef from cows who grazed on grass and not corn. What all the research points to is that food is best the way Nature makes it. The good news is, you don't even have to know all the research to benefit from it, you just have to have common sense and a little bit of awareness in the supermarket. If you're interested in further reading, I highly recommend the following books. Unlike this post, they were extensively researched and are professionally cited. And just so I don't get myself into trouble, I feel compelled to state that I am not a professional nutritionist nor do I have a degree which would qualify me to advise anyone on what or how to eat. I just really love food. Good food. In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver