As I sit here eating a honey bran muffin and drinking some greenish-brown sludge that looks like an entrance exam to the next season of Survivor, I can’t help but think of the mistaken assumptions we make about eating and our health, and how they end up keeping us sick.
Falsehood #1: Green sludge is gross. This green sludge is, in fact, Green Plant, a juice from Trader Joe’s. I have avoided drinking this, and any other grass colored beverage for years. Even an ingratiation to wheat grass juice at Jamba Juice, couldn’t change my mind. When I finally gave in because I felt so run down and desperate, I was also surprised. Although I have stated this lesson many times, I fell victim to it: Until you’ve tried it, the taste is only in your mind (where it’s most likely worse than reality).
Falsehood #2: If it isn’t fried in butter, it doesn’t taste as good. Although I’m a little girl from California I love southern home cooking, especially soul food. It is truly comforting. I was a “butter believer” (even secretly, deep down) until I went to Lindo Michoacan in Las Vegas, NV. It was the best mexican food I’ve ever had…and it’s all cooked in olive oil.
Falsehood #3: It takes too much time/money to prepare healthy meals and snacks ahead. I maintain we have simply forgotten how little time it takes. I’m pretty sure you can make an excellent, far healthier burger than McDonald’s, at home. 1…2…3….go! Your spouse drives for a burger. You pull the burger patties out of the freezer, turn on the grill, cut fresh tomato, and onions. By the time, your significant other gets out of a drive through rush hour, you have a better burger waiting at home. It probably didn’t even cost as much. Oh, you don’t have buns? Toast bread for a patty melt.
Simple and frugal tips for at home can include:
- Pre-chop a bag of carrots or celery. Stave off the munchies with fresh vegetables and ranch dressing.
- Keep granola bars around that you’ll actually eat. Nutritional snacks you won’t eat waste your pocketbook and cabinet space.
- Try new things to find what you like in small portions, that way you don’t feel like you have to eat the five pound Costco bag you despise.
- Meals don’t have to be complicated to be healthy. Have a sandwich night, or a chopped salad. You don’t win home cook of the year by exhausting yourself and making meals drudgery…. for everyone.
- Whole grains don’t taste bad, but they may taste bland without assistance. I add a little chicken broth. I know some people add boullion, but MSG and I don’t get along.
- Get fresh fruits and vegetables when they’re in season, hopefully from local or farmer’s markets and they will taste spectacular. I had someone tell me they didn’t like vegetables once, only to find out they had never had them outside of a can.
- Make your own lemonade. It is cheaper to squeeze a couple lemons into a pitcher and fill it with water and sugar, than it is to buy it. It also alerts you to the real amounts going into your body.
The biggest falsehood I encounter is the concept of bad foods among those with zero real dietary issues. It’s like WebMD and google exploded on seemingly healthy, normal people, restricting their diets further than the cardiologist they’re twenty years away from would dare. Yes, sodium is bad, in excess. Coffee is bad, in excess; I’ve also used it beneficially as a vaso-dilator when having a migraine. Unless you are on a doctor-regulated diet, you should ask yourself how much of your food opinions are based simply on things you’ve been told? And don’t get me started on Atkins. The thought process behind eliminating a vital part of a diet so that people can temporarily lose weight and potentially incur a host of other problems makes me wretchedly angry. Diets like Atkins work for some people, but there is only one thing that works well for all people…eating a proportionate, balanced diet that includes the nutrients we need.
I know everyone was waiting for a healthy “Hail Mary” in frugal dieting, but it doesn’t exist. Granted, I don’t like canned food except for an emergency food stash (in case of earthquakes or zombie attack). I don’t like genetically modified foods. I don’t like foods that are overpackaged, overprocessed, overtransported, and their nutritional value under-utilized. I don’t feel I get what I pay for, and I can tell my body doesn’t get what it needs.
Most of us are fortunate enough that some aspects of our health is a choice. We owe it to ourselves and our loved ones to make the right ones, including choosing the most nutritious food possible, regardless of our fears and pre-conceived notions.
Photo Courtesy of Tawheed Manzoor
