Is Your Plate Better than Most of America?
life is hard; food doesn't have to be #60 [vol2, 8.2]
One of my favorite things to do is watch people. When we go on dates my husband often mentions that I’m distracted by checking out fashion choices or worse - eavesdropping.
I consider myself in tune with my environment.
When I was an elementary student, the ‘fat’ kids were the ones who had a bit of pudge hanging over their belts or extra chubby cheeks.
Today the definition of being overweight is a bit, ahem, more. What was considered a “fat kid” in the 80’s is very much normal today. But also, I know many malnourished skinny kids too. Body type isn’t indicative of how well someone eats.
A study released two days ago by the Journal of American Medicine was a brilliant flash of the obvious: American children eat lots of processed food. The precise title is Trends in Consumption of Ultraprocessed Foods Among US Youths Aged 2-19 Years, 1999-2018.
It found that 67% of American calories (that’s ⅔ of all we eat) are from ultra-processed, non-nutritive food. No wonder we are all sick and fat!
Before continuing with observations from the study, I want to be clear: my goal is not to shame anyone. My family eats processed food. We live in a modern society and the pace sometimes demands fast food and snacks on the go.
My intention in every newsletter is to help us think of ways to steer away from processed foods. Food can be medicine. It doesn’t have to be hard but sometimes it will take thought and planning.
Now for a few statistics from the study:
There were 33,795 participants ages 2-19.
Examples of ultraprocessed foods include sweet or savory packaged snacks, sugar-sweetened beverages, candy, industrial bread, industrial breakfast cereal, ready-to-heat and -eat pasta dishes and pizza, and sausages and other reconstituted meat products.
Estimated percentage of energy consumed from ultraprocesed foods increased from 61%-67%.
Whereas energy from unprocessed or minimally processed food decreased from 29% to 24%.
Good news: calories from sugar-sweetened drinks dropped from 10.8% to 5.3%. But I wonder did they simply start drinking artificial sweeteners?
Most Surprising to Me
The biggest shock to me was there’s no significant difference in the findings by parental education and/or family income. Rich and poor, college educated or not - we all enjoy the taste and convenience of ultra-processed foods.
Baby Steps for Leaving Ultra-Processed Food
We’re all on a health journey and some of these steps will seem more extreme than others. I don’t know where you are on your food journey. On any given day or week I have different priorities. Our goal should be to choose better when we can. First step is to be aware of the situation: the American AVERAGE = 67% of calories are from crap. I want to be above average.
It Starts in the Cart
Just don’t buy it. There, I said it. For me, I know I cannot buy potato chips because I love them too much and have zero self control. For the most part, I don’t buy desserts. If I want a dessert, I make it with real ingredients. Believe it or not, this rule has kept me from eating more sugar than I already eat. If the family “expects” certain “treats” I challenge you to “forget” to buy something packaged this week. Maybe be more up front with your family. Tell them about this study at dinner. Ask for their opinions where you can cut back on processed foods.
Make Exchanges
Instead of sugary peanut butter with unhealthy oils, try natural peanut butter - or mix the two together for a while. Learn to make salad dressing - here are my favs. Instead of boxed cereal for breakfast, make a casserole on Sunday night to last the week (ask Google for recipes). Instead of a sandwich for lunch, omit the bread one day a week and make “roll ups” with meat and cheese. Instead of a granola bar, hand them a piece of fruit. Instead of driving through a fast-food window, consider grabbing a rotisserie chicken.
Remember, You’re the Adult
When it comes to food choices, ultimately as the parent, I am responsible for what my children eat. Of course as they get older we loosen the reigns and let them make more decisions. It’s easier to regulate what my 8 year old eats and I’ve released control to my 16 year old. Don’t give up. Keep offering fruits and veggies. Keep insisting they take a bite or three.
Consider the Entire Day
If you find yourself in the category where 67% of your calories are from a package, what is one meal you could eat that is “from scratch”? And by scratch, I mean in the closest form that it was created. Maybe at breakfast, you choose eggs and fruit (skip the bread and highly processed bacon or ham). Maybe for kid lunches they’re limited to “one package”. Dinner is the meal that our family strives to sit and catch up face to face. Dinner is a big priority for me.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Baby steps are the most lasting for long-term change. Take 30 seconds and think of one change to implement this week.
Kiwi Pudding Cake
On a whim I made my first Pudding Cake last night...apparently very popular in New Zealand (thus the Kiwi in the paragraph title). The last step is to pour boiling water over the top. It creates a pudding in the bottom that is lovely with ice cream. This was the recipe I used from Instagram. If you’re not on Instagram, here’s a similar recipe (just use ½ cup brown sugar in the fudge sauce. The additional ½ c white sugar is too much.)
Life is hard, food doesn’t have to be -- and I’m cheering for you!
Julie