On Food
Took over a month off from this blog. Not intentionally. I have my “I’ve been busy” excuses, but I am glad I did.
I realized it was starting to feel a bit like a chore. Something I absolutely needed to accomplish every other week, rather than something fun I made with creative and expressive intent, but with so much media consumption happening in our everyday life now, I have become very irritable, and writing is one of the only ways for me to express all of that pent-up anger without taking it out on the world, HAH.
And speaking of consumption, I want to talk about food.
I am very passionate about this, overwhelmingly so.
Seeing people partake the way they do, and with plenty of personal experience myself, I have begun to get a little fired up about this subject, so I apologize now. But more of you need to be educated about this topic, so sit your ass back.
We all heard it growing up — you are what you eat — from our teachers and in our favorite movies, but never knew what they actually meant.
Unless that was your study or something you grew up educated about, you assumed anything with color that wasn’t candy was just something your parents forced, and you certainly never gave a second thought to the endless list of oils, colored dyes, and the thesis long ingredient list that is impossible to pronounce on every store-bought product.
So here is an entire country hanging from a processed consumption noose, strategically placed by “them” with every intent to slowly and painfully pull at our feet, all while setting the scene to make it look like you stepped right up to it.
And ya did, we all did.
The door to opportunity, to be in control of your own health, is wide open, but instead, you continuously live drained and sluggish day in and day out.
They may be placing that rope around your neck, but you decided to kick the chair out from underneath.
It will always be difficult to avoid; they're strategic about it.
A “healthy” new product hits the Costco shelves, you’ve gotten your first and ONLY glance at the ingredient list, sales start pouring in from a generation who's trying to change the health crisis that the last one caused, and that’s when they add the chemicals, dyes, and preservatives — hidden behind misleading names designed to sound harmless — that slowly destroy your gut lining with every bite.
So, then there we are again, the healthier option becoming just as bad as a bag of Skittles.
But picking the lesser of two evils is better than not trying at all; there is a way to enjoy your guilty pleasures without letting them exist at every point of your diet
There is only so much we can avoid; to have a shelf life, they unfortunately will always add those awful preservatives. But it is not hard to try, seriously, the processed food we are surrounded by is not only annihilating your insides and eroding your bones, but also causing so much “brain fog” that it has begun to alter your brain chemistry.
Food will consume every part of your mind, bad or good.
It will either destroy creativity and memory or invoke it, weaken your capacity to learn or encourage it, it will make you easy to manipulate, or it will inspire you to think for yourself, etc., etc., etc.
You're complaining about your breakouts, hair loss, anxiety, mood swings, and stress and so quickly jump online for a new product, blame it on others, or run to your doctor to up the dose but refuse to just take a second to look in your fridge and pantry and really think about what's fueling you and your loved ones.
Food, REAL food, is the medicine we were given. And instead, we choose processed man-made sweeteners and sugary treats; man-made carbs, fats, and proteins; man-made drinks, dairy, and energy boosters; choosing to load our bodies with pills, prescriptions, and injections instead of simply modifying the grocery list.
Turning every one of us into a well-regulated robot that they’ve been programming for decades.
God gave us dates, honey, herbs, and maple, and we created Splenda and corn syrups. Even taking it one step further and making processed honeys and maple syrups that contain nothing from the natural ingredient.
God gave us real fruit containing real sugars, and we decided to create Sweetish Fish. God gave us cocoa beans to create real chocolate, but the Oreos and Hershey bars sounded better.
God gave us potatoes, nuts, wheat, and oats, and we created cereals, instant noodles, bleached flours, and breads loaded with chemicals.
God gave us avocados, coconut/olive oil, and butter for protective fat, and we made canola/vegetable oil and fake butter.
God gave us animals that produce eggs, milk, and meat, and we choose to get our protein from a glorified chocolate bar, whey, Fairlife, Chobani, and McDonald’s… (IFYKYK) along with every other million-dollar company that is now injecting protein into its products.
God gave us coconut water, aloe, fruits so simple to juice, plants and herbs for tea, coffee plants, and dairy, and we created “electrolyte drinks” such as Gatorade, sodas, and Dutch Bros, and then we turned real espresso into something containing more sugar than you should consume in a week.
God gave us a coffee bean, honey, lemons, bananas, and ginger for natural energy, and we chose Monster Energy drinks and 5-hour energy.
Am I guilty of ALL of these? Absolutely, more than I would like to admit, but the key isn't about quitting completely; it's about finding a balance between these “comfort” foods and without it substituting the real food.
The moment I started educating myself about what I'm putting inside my body, everything drastically changed; from my skin and hair health to my anxiety, frustration, depression levels, creativity, body/mind capability, stress, and energy.
It is time to take control because we have BECOME what we’ve eaten —malnourished.
Stop normalizing a grocery cart full of ingredients that were created in a lab. And start taking responsibility for your health, and others will begin to follow.
Thank you:)
Image: At the Fountain by Bartolomeo Giuliano, via Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain).
