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Does It Matter Where Your Food Comes From?
By Phil | February 6, 2008
Or for that matter, what you eat?
If you’ve seen Supersize Me, the answer is abundantly clear. So, obvious health concerns aside (red meat/everyday=premature death on a stick), what difference does the matter you force down your gullet truly make?
Almost a year ago, I was diagnosed with diabetes. Coupled with that was an alarming cholesterol level and triglycerides that were off the chart (for the uninitiated, triglycerides are basically the level of fat in your bloodstream– healthy is considered a rating less than 150, I was at 1400). Doctors refer to this as Metabolic Syndrome– a cluster of factors that could lead to a plethora of health issues, not the least of which is the aforementioned early deadsies.
Faced with this news, and the fact that I was 37 and the father of a then 4 month old, I found myself forced to re-evaluate my diet. I like to cook, I like to eat. It was just as easy to whip up a batch of alfredo sauce as it was to call the local pizza joint for a delivery of steak pizza and BBQ wings.
Naturally suspicious of the medical profession and HMO’s in general, I shunned a referral to a dietitian and researched the issue myself. I came across a few studies that suggested a vegan diet was found to help diabetics manage their blood sugar effectively– so I gave it a shot. Within three months, I was off Insulin and just taking pills. I wasn’t by any stretch of the imagination 100% vegan, but probably a good 80%.
Like I said, I like to cook. So I started reading vegetarian and vegan cookbooks and found plenty of recipes that were acceptable– none of them were slow smoked ribs or strip steak, but hey– 80%, right? However, I found that the vegetarian magazines that I was buying at the local co-op were just a little to preachy, a little too extreme: here were people who attached their eating style to their sense of being. They were no longer people, they were vegans. It smacked of the same lemming-like behavior that people who referred to themselves as “goth” or “Republican” flaunted with ironic non-conformity.
Furthermore, I started coming across references to “eating locally”– this seems to have become the current progressive food trend, taking the space that “eating organically” occupied a few years ago. The thinking is that What You Eat is tied intrinsically to the planet itself, an argument popular amongst strict vegetarians and vegans– for example, the land required to raise a single cow could be used to grow enough agriculture to sustain a small town. Proponents of “eating locally” suggest that, given global warning, eating locally would have a profound effect on the levels of emissions in the atmosphere because of the reduction in fuel needed to transport out of season foods into a given area– think strawberries available in Buffalo in winter. Furthermore, if people strictly ate locally, they would support small local farms and companies, thus reducing the stranglehold that a small number of corporate food conglomerates (Nestle, Beatrice, etc) have on our global economy.
It makes sense when you think about it, but it also suggests a certain degree of isolationism and promotes the unfortunate arrogance and elitism that plagues any hippie-driven movement– never mind the personal economics involved; eating strictly organic foods alone downright cost prohibitive. Factor in restricting oneself to local products is downright bankrupting. Keeping my kid in organic milk alone is cleaning out our checking account. To switch to strictly organic, locally farmed chicken would be disastrous.
I like the fact that I can get tomatoes (albeit shitty ones) year round. Restricting our diet to only locally available produce, I’m sorry, would suck in the winter. No cucumbers. No lettuce. No onions or garlic! No fresh herbs– come on!
Ultimately, I don’t suggest to have an answer– I can’t deny the effect eating local, organic foods has had on my health, and in some little way, my family’s little corner of the world. But I’m not maxing out my credit card the next time I want to hold a barbeque.
The wife is bringing home Burger King tonight– haven’t had any in about six months– and I’m looking forward to it.
Topics: Phil, Randomly Useless |
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February 7th, 2008 at 12:31 am
I don’t think I could ever go vegan, as my love of cheese borders on the unnatural. In the last year, however, there has been a definite trend towards vegetarianism within my family. Well, 80% vegetarianism, anyway.
(Also: Phil’s on the blog! Phil’s on the blog! WIN.)