Food Day!

Today is Food Day!  When I first heard about it this morning on the news, my initial (greedy) thought was ‘Isn’t that every day?’.  

Food Day is “a nationwide celebration and a movement for healthy, affordable, and sustainable food”. 

In the US, obesity and related conditions (diabetes, hypertension, heart disease) are ever-increasing. We have all heard reports about how terrible the contemporary American diet is.  The key word is contemporary. As we moved from an agricultural to an industrial economy, it seems the link between ourselves and the food we eat was lost.

When I think about the foods my grandparents grew up preparing and eating, they aren’t radically different from some of what we find popular today.  But the source of the food, many times the backyard without pesticides/antibiotics, and the preparation of the food, at home instead of prepackaged and processed, is different.

Food Day aims to change the American diet.  From cheap, salty, processed packaged foods and sugary drinks to foods with healthy, whole ingredients. Food that’s sustainable and provides essential nutrients for human health, accessible to all.

That is why I have joined a CSA (community supported agricultural).  Why I try to buy local.  Why I tend to buy organic items, especially when it comes to the dirty dozen.  And try to encourage others to do the same. This is a cause I plan on becoming more active about because unfortunately is not a day everyone has daily, weekly or even monthly.

Be sure to check out more about Food Day at http://www.foodday.org/.

Also, these are links to and interesting article http://www.ijsaf.org/archive/10/1/fonte.pdf and a statement from the American Public Health Association about a healthy, sustainable food system.  http://www.apha.org/advocacy/policy/policysearch/default.htm?id=1361

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