Supersize the Broccoli; Hold the Fries

I have been laughing at the latest Subway commercials that show someone pulling up to a fast food restaurant drive-thru window and as they are handed their order, their van collapses to one side. Another person breaks their chair as they take a bite of a burger, and so on.

I laugh because in some presentations I've made in the past, I have asked the audience, "If your right arm fell off immediately after eating a bag of french fries, would you ever eat french fries again? Of course not, and there is always lots of nervous laughing. But we're killing ourselves using that same empty-calorie, carcinogenic method - just ever so slowly. Our incredible bodies take a lot of abuse before the results ever start showing up. Lulls us into a false sense of health. Poor nutrition is part of an unhealthy lifestyle. Unhealthy lifestyles stop life early for more than 50 percent of Americans who die every year. Wow, we have control over our lifestyles! Let's take control!

Did you know that the average American eats 200 lbs. of sugar annually? Aaargh! Saturated and trans fat, too much salt, fried everything, preserved everything are all pretty new to our bodies in the grand scheme of things. It takes more than 50 years to evolve our systems to figure out how to handle all that awful stuff and stay alive - try millions of years. We just aren't set up for this diet we're on. So let's get off it!

When you are thinking about what you're going to eat today and tomorrow and twenty years from now, think about eating mostly natural foods, locally produced if possible - food you could picture our ansestors harvesting. There is a good book out called "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan. This book is a real eye opener and will motivate you to make positive changes in your diet. You can get it in book form or as an audiobook. Well worth the read.

Gardeners, you rock! Bring on those veggies.