Today I am focusing on mindful eating. I am not here to tell you that you’re not allowed to eat processed food, or that you’re cruel for eating steaks and hamburgers. I simply want to share how making healthy dietary decisions and clean eating can help your own body as well as the environment. Clean eating involves being mindful about the processes your food goes through prior to ingestion. Many people who are mindful about what they eat follow diets that include mostly fruits and vegetables, no processed food, no added sugar, coloring or preservatives, fewer animal products, as well as non-gmo and organically grown options.
Dangers to the Body
I became a vegetarian seven years ago, and due to my dietary change, I decided to do more research on how eating better could help my body. I read articles and watched documentaries and discovered how amazing the human body is, and how it needs to be cared for. Our bodies need fuel to keep going, which comes in the form of calories and more precisely calories from complex carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates take longer to breakdown in the body, therefore providing us with more energy, however, in today’s society too many carbohydrates come in the form of simple sugars which are added in abundance to processed food. This would be all of the high fructose corn syrup you see on your food labels. According to Medical News Today, processed food and drink are the biggest sources of added sugar, which can increase the risk of heart disease, obesity, and cancer. They additionally are high in bad fats, like trans-fat and saturated fats (that come primarily from animal products), which clog arteries and increase risk of various diseases and high cholesterol and blood pressure as well. Processed foods also have negative effects on the mind, as the high sugar and fat contents can become addictive. Processed foods are a source of instant gratification. The quick rush of happiness that comes with a bite of a food that tastes good has created a nation of junk food addicts, and guarantees that consumers will be back to buy that product again.
Environmental Concerns and the Food Industry
Why do you think the United States is one of the most obese nations? Well, there are many reasons that factor into this, but most importantly, I think it is the ease of which we can get foods that aren’t good for us. Companies in the food industry use cheap products in their processed food, which are usually very low in nutrients and fiber, but people will buy them because they taste good and are easy on the wallet. Unfortunately, buying a hamburger from a fast food joint is usually more filling and cost effective than buying a head of lettuce. This is because the hamburger will contain numerous preservatives that will increase its shelf life, meat that was factory farmed and pumped full of hormones to get more out of it, and a lot of fat to make it taste good, covering up the fact that its ingredients are actually foul. However, it’s cheap to make and cheap to buy, so it is popular. This hamburger brings up the issue of factory farming, which is cruel to animals as well as people. Animals in factory farms are raised in dirty, crowded conditions and given hormones to make them grow in unnatural ways. And yes, when you consume the meat from that animal, you will consume everything that they did. Factory farming is also a huge contributor to air pollution, with over 37 percent of methane emissions coming from it according to onegreenplanet.org. Therefore, our diets do have an impact on something even so big as global warming.
An End Note
I’m not encouraging anyone to do a 360 turn in their diet, because that’s just not sustainable. Gradual changes have to be implemented in order to create a lasting dietary change. Turning to cleaner eating is a process that may start out simply by trying to fill half your plate up with vegetables, or eating fruit for breakfast instead of a processed granola bar. It might be helpful to only eat meat 3 days a week instead of all seven, or to only get meat raised on local, grass-fed farms. The biggest part of clean eating that I want to emphasize is to simply be mindful about what you consume, and really consider each bite you take. I, personally, do not eat 100 percent clean food. I still eat pizza and cake and enjoy in foods I know aren’t the absolute best for myself, but I have created a diet for myself that I can work with. I have incorporated some fish into my otherwise vegetarian diet, because I researched it and found it might be a good change for my body. Mindful eating is about eating clean foods that improve health and have little environmental impact, but it’s also a journey to a diet that makes your brain and body feel good. Never let the food industry or society tell you that you are wrong for eating what makes you feel good about yourself and your environmental footprint.
Sources
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318630.php