Dharma Feast Cookbook (54 page)
Read Dharma Feast Cookbook Online
Authors: Theresa Rodgers
Fruit juice sweetened/concentrate
Some are nothing more than highly refined, concentrated white grape juice, apple juice, pineapple juice, etc., and are closer to refined white sugar than the fruits they come from. These cause the same ups and downs as sugar. “Slightly refined” or “unrefined” are still processed, but better choices.
Molasses (Treacle)
The other syrup, besides Golden syrup (see Golden syrup in this section), left over from processing sugar. Many brands add sulfur to kill bacteria, which is not healthy. Blackstrap molasses has some vitamins, minerals, and iron.
Microwaves
Research about the effects of microwaves on food and health is controversial but how they work is known. Microwaves bombard the ions (electrically-charged molecules) in food with low-energy electromagnetic waves. This makes the ions switch polarity up to 100 billion times a second. The friction this causes is what heats up the food. This is not a natural way to cook.
We don’t recommend the use of microwaves not only because of the above, but because they represent a way of life that is about moving faster and faster. A microwave’s reason for existing is to hurry up and give instant gratification.
Plastic
Many plastics originally thought safe have been found not to be. Plastic is made from petroleum, which remains toxic at some level no matter how it’s processed.
It is becoming more widely known that minute amounts of plastic and chemicals seep from plastic containers into whatever food or beverage is inside them. We also absorb plastic through the skin when we touch soft and squishy plastic toys, dolls, sandbox and bathtub toys, some lunchboxes, plastic swimming pools, plastic tablecloths, yoga mats, gymnastic balls, plastic plates and cups, and bendable and flexible plastic products in general.
Those of us born in the last thirty years have been ingesting plastic our entire lives. While some of these particles are eliminated through digestion, some of them remain stored in body fat tissue.
The latest plastic to make headlines is Bisphenol-A (BPA). BPA is linked to a variety of health issues. It mimics the hormone estrogen which alters hormone levels in men and has been suspected of causing an increase in the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Most metal cans are lined with BPA. The high heat used in commercial canning releases BPA into the food. The highest concentrations of this plastic were found in canned meats, soups, and pastas.
Our recommendations are as follows:
| • | Never store food in plastic or cans. Never reheat food in plastic or under plastic wrap. You can cover foods with a paper towel instead if they are in a bowl. |
| • | If we must buy water in plastic bottles while in transit, don’t use them more than once. They are designed to break down after one or two uses. |
| • | Drink from a stainless steel or glass water bottle. |
| • | Buy as little food as possible that comes in plastic containers and Tetra Paks, which are lined in plastic. Replace plastic food-storage containers with glass ones, especially if they are scratched. Large wholesale stores often offer sets of glass containers with lids at a reasonable price. Another option is to buy canning jars. Most jar lids are lined in plastic so make sure food doesn’t touch the lid. Or buy Weck jars, whose glass lids seal with rubber rings ( www.weckcanning.com). If price is an issue save the glass containers foods come in. |
| • | To avoid BPA, buy as little canned food and drink as possible. If buying canned foods the following have BPA-free cans—Native Forest/ Native Factor (all cans), Eden Foods (beans), Trader Joe’s (corn and beans), and Pomi foods (made by Boschi Food and Beverage of Italy. Pomi can be bought on Amazon.com.) All cans holding acidic foods like tomatoes are lined with BPA. For an extensive list of who offers BPA-free cans as of December 2009, go to www.willystreet.coop/BPA. |
| • | Store bulk foods in reusable cotton or silk bags ( www.etsy.com) instead of plastic bags. |
| • | Instead of zip lock bags use stainless steel containers for lunches ( www.reuseit.com; also see recommendations in Ideas for Healthy School Lunches, Chapter 9 ). |
To completely eliminate plastic from our lives requires a huge commitment of time and attention, but we can make the choice to significantly reduce exposure.
Labeling
Foods come with all sorts of labeling—Fair Trade Certified, Dolphin safe, cage-free, to name a few. It’s difficult to know which labels to trust. The most reliable labels are overseen by third-party, independent organizations, which guarantee that the label is meeting the standards it claims.
The most reliable labels internationally are—Bird Friendly (for coffee), Marine Stewardship Council (sustainable seafood—can’t deplete fish stocks, harm environment or diversity, or go against local or international laws or standards), Fair Trade Certified (guarantees farmers and farm worker are paid above-market prices and ensures socioeconomic development), and Rainforest Alliance Certified (enforces strict guidelines protecting the environment, wildlife, workers and local communities). In the U.S.—Certified Humane Raised and Handled (for humane treatment of farm animals from birth through slaughter), Demeter Certified Biodynamic (a program for organically produced foods and sustainable agriculture), Food Alliance (production, processing, and distribution of sustainable foods), Salmon-Safe (reduces agriculture’s impact on endangered salmon and steel-head habitats), and USDA Organic (regulates organic farming standards).
Somewhat reliable, meaning they may or may not be overseen by a third-party, independent source: In the U.S. Dolphin safe (for tuna), Grass-fed or Pastured, No Hormones Administered, Wild-caught.
The least reliable labeling, meaning there is no consistent approved definition, and these definitions are not overseen by a third-party, independent source are: Antibiotic-free, Environmentally Safe, Free-range or Free-roaming, Cage-free, and Natural.
1
He is also the author of the #1 international bestselling book on GMOs, titled
Seeds of Deception,
and of
Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods.
2
www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Safety/gmo/dangerous_ toxins_from_genetically_modified_plants_0527110452.html
3
www.envirocancer.cornell.edu/Factsheet/Diet/fs37.hormones.cfm
4
www.seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2002658491_ healthsyrup04.htmll
5
www.ajcn.org/content/79/4/537.full
| T AKING C HARGE: F OOD AND O UR C HILGREN | 9 |
I (Theresa) taught English in a public high school. One of the first things I encountered when I walked onto campus every morning was a row of vending machines. The first were filled with drinks, mostly sodas and energy drinks. Next to them were the machines with chips, cookies, and candy bars, all lined up in neat rows in wire spirals, waiting to drop down behind glass and present themselves to me. Or to the huge line of students crowded in front of them, buying their breakfast. One of my students, knowing my proclivity for healthier foods, held up what she had bought. “I know it’s not good to have just sugar in the morning. So I balance it with this.” In one hand she had a soda. In the other was a bag of potato chips.
Many of my students also ate lunch in my classroom. I watched them eat fat- and preservative-filled burritos, pizza, French fries, and other nutrition-lacking foods bought from the school cafeteria. One student pointed to my lunch one day and asked, “What’s that?” I told him it was an avocado.
"You’re going to eat it like that?” he looked incredulous. “Aren’t you going to put something on it to make it taste good?"
I asked him what he thought I should add. He held up his burrito. “Refried beans and cheese!"
Obesity: the Norm?
The fact is, our children are bombarded with invitations to form unhealthy eating habits. The effects of these habits can follow them into adulthood. In the U.S., as of 2011, about a third of children aged 2 to 19 are obese. ("Obese” is defined as weighing more than 20 percent higher than the recommended body weight for a particular height, age, build, and gender. It is a measure of body fat, not of how much someone weighs.) To give a perspective, in 2002, only around 10 percent of children in the same age group were obese. In 2009, the American Medical Association listed obesity as the most common medical condition in children. Overweight children are significantly more at risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, and fatty liver disease, which, if it continues over time, can cause permanent liver damage.
Obesity is considered an epidemic in this country and it’s getting worse instead of better. It is “fed” by the proliferation of unhealthy food choices made not only by children but by the adults responsible for them. But even if your child is not obese, there is reason to be concerned about what they are eating, both at and away from school.
Trends
One area of concern is the shift in the American diet. According to a study published in the August 2011 issue of the
Journal of the American Dietetic Association,
instead of eating homemade meals, a third of families now are eating prepared foods for the majority of their meals, whether that be fast food, sit-down restaurant meals, or pre-made foods like frozen dinners, and this trend is growing fast. These foods are of lesser nutritional quality than homemade meals—they contain more fat, salt, and sweeteners than the same foods made at home, not to mention preservatives and other chemical additives. The Caesar salad we order in a restaurant or buy pre-made is no comparison, nutrition-wise, to the one we make with our own hands.
Along with eating out, many families are no longer eating meals together. The children grab something from a fast food restaurant with their friends and busy parents pick up To-Go items on the way home from a long day at work so meals can happen as quickly and conveniently as possible. There is little supervision of what children eat and, given that most children know little about what their growing bodies need, this lack of supervision leads to choices made based on what’s easily available in a fast food restaurant or convenience store. It doesn’t take long for such eating choices to become a habit— one that can be very difficult to break. After all, without all the excess sodium, sweeteners, and fat, homemade food truly doesn’t “taste good” to overstimulated taste buds.
When families fragment this way, the nutritional knowledge the parents hold is not passed down to the children. An uninformed eater is at the mercy of whatever big corporations want to feed them and, as we will see in this section, commercial foods do not in general support a healthy body.
This trend of eating out has another component—portion size. Dr. George Bray, a research professor and former director of the Pennington Center at Louisiana State University (the largest nutritional research center in the world), as well as founding president of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, states that among other factors, larger portions, less exercise of any kind, irregular sleep patterns, and more high-fat fast foods go a long way toward explaining the obesity epidemic.
1
Restaurants serve portions that go far beyond any nutritionist’s recommended serving sizes. Even children’s meals are large. It is easy to overeat under such circumstances, and the more a family eats out and is subjected to huge servings, the more “normal” such servings will feel even when they are eating at home.
Let’s take a closer look at one of the most dangerous food trends in this diet shift— namely, fast food, and the link it has to what is served in school lunch programs.
School Lunches: Part of the Problem
In the 2004 American documentary
Super Size Me,
Morgan Spurlock was curious what would happen if someone ate nothing but fast food for a month. His experiment consisted, in part, of eating at McDonald’s for every meal. Nutritionists recommend eating fast food no more than once a month. Although initially skeptical that this diet would have any significant impact on his health, by day 21 his supervising doctor asked him to stop because he was having heart palpitations. By day 30 he had gained almost 25 pounds, which took him
14 months
to lose.