Are we careful enough about what we're putting into our bodies? Yes, we live in the real world, and we can't always eat perfectly. We sure don't do so here either; we still shoot for the 80/20 plan as I started talking to you about years ago in my dark secrets post. But I do think that we have to be reeeeeally good about that 80%, and stretch it to 90% whenever possible. There are just so many unknowns in our food supply!
Not long ago I heard about this movie called, “Unacceptable Levels” (Watch it here):
“Almost all of our consumer products are made up of chemicals, and a lot of those chemicals are harmful.”
“Companies are free to put a chemical on the market with ZERO information about its health or safety properties.”
“Somehow we have industrial chemicals floating around in our bodies, and you'd think ONE of them would be scary enough, but with 232, it's kind of hard to say what's going on.”
“Do you know when people starting wanting to know about this stuff? When somebody in their family has cancer, or a learning disability…”
“There are choices that we can make, there are things we can do about it. Each one of us can be that beginning today.”
“The difference between some chance and no chance, the difference between some hope and no hope, is a huge difference.”
(Watch the trailer below.)
What does all of this mean for us, though?
Just be as diligent as you can about knowing WHAT you are eating. It starts as simple as that. Know what's in your food and where it came from. Whenever possible, know who grew it or raised it. (If you need more help, get my Real Food for Rookies book!) If you've been a real foodie for a while, recommit to this, because it's easy to slip back isn't it? (Read: How I got lazy and the 5 ways I've recommitted to real food.)
As Sally Fallon Morell says in the film, “To be healthy requires an effort.”
Can we do this all of the time?
Probably not, but let's keep our goal in mind so we can improve each day. Even if we did keep on top of every bite that went into our mouths, would it prevent every illness? No, but I'll bet it would prevent most.
Do you agree? Or no?
Watch the ‘Unacceptable Levels' Trailer below, then click here to watch the whole movie.)
This Woman Writes -- Carolyn Henderson says
Can you imagine what it would be like if there were little dyes or thingies floating around in the food, to represent the chemicals and additives? Say, little green dots for one pesticide; wriggling white wormies for another pesticide — we’d pick up this stuff and go, EWWWW! and put it right down again.
So, in my mind, I make up those little floaties and wormies and thingies, and when I pick up a box and read the ingredients, I tell myself, “Just visualize what’s floating around in this box.” And I pretty much rapidly put it down.
Doesn’t work all the time — some days you’re hungry and insistent upon whatever it is you’re holding, but it works a lot of the time.
KitchenKop says
How true, if the toxic stuff could be visualized more easily. Although looking around at how sick everyone is usually (not always) helps me.
Kel
Soli says
Yes indeed, this. I’ve been eating a more traditional diet for almost five years now and it’s hard in some ways. Mostly when I have to make compromises. My personality is such that I do not enjoy making them, and I tend to be an all or nothing sort of woman. But even the small changes can prove to be a big help.
It’s sad to see how toxic this world has become, and how disconnected people are in so many ways.
Margaret says
I agree completely. We will never live in a world entirely devoid of risk, but we can minimize it by paying attention to what we eat, what we put on our skin, what we drink, and what we let into our lives. Our bodies have amazing restorative capacity, if we treat them kindly.
Janice says
We try to follow the 80/20 rule too but it can be a challenge with kids. I started my real food journey a few years ago because doctors would only tell me that stress was the cause of my symptoms. I then got a thyroid cancer scare and that really made me rethink the food we ate, beauty products, cleaning products, etc…My thyroid is fine and I completely credit the changes that I made.
And in my child’s first grade class last year there were 4 women either diagnosed with breast cancer or had preventive surgery. That’s 4 that I know of in one class. I have never had a mammogram (I’m 43) but I have had thermograms. That did show an elevated level of estrogen dominance but I worked with a holistic nurse and the last thermogram showed an improvement.
Sorry this is long, but I wanted to THANK YOU KELLY. I was in a bad place a few years ago and I just started searching online and your blog was one the first that I had found. You, Cheeseslave, Nourishing Gourmet and Nourished Kitchen were the first ones I had found. I found many other wonderful blogs since and am just so thankful that all of you take the time to post online because without it I have no idea where I would be today.
KitchenKop says
How sweet, I’m so glad my blog has helped you, hearing that is what keeps me going!!!
Kel