Day 200, Year 11: The Food Revolution
Date: Monday, May 9, 2016
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Windy, High mid-60’s F (freeze warning for tonight)
Location: At Home in Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA
I mentioned in last night’s log that I was working on a summary of what I learned in the Food Revolution Summit and that I would share that tonight. Well, I started writing and I realized that it is just too complicated and controversial to address in this setting. And besides, who needs one more opinion on what we should be eating to maintain our health? We are all looking for the magic bullet, but I don’t believe that exists. You can go with the Mediterranean diet or you can go Paleo. You can be a vegan or a vegetarian or you can eat the standard American diet. We used to have the food pyramid to guide us, but that no longer exists. The federal government does make the following statements.
A healthy eating pattern includes:
• A variety of vegetables from all of the subgroups—dark green, red and orange, legumes (beans and peas), starchy, and other.
• Fruits, especially whole fruits.
• Grains, at least half of which are whole grains.
• Fat-free or low-fat dairy, including milk, yogurt, cheese, and/or fortified soy beverages.
• A variety of protein foods including seafood, lean meat and poultry, eggs, legumes (beans and peas), and nuts, seeds, and soy products.
• Oils.
A healthy eating pattern limits:
• Saturated and trans fats, added sugars, and sodium.
I agree with some of those recommendations and take issue with others, but what I do believe that I want to share is that no matter what you choose to eat, you might want to consider going organic. And if you eat meat, you might really want to consider buying only meat from 100% pasture-raised, grass fed animals that have never come in contact with feed laced with chemicals, hormones, or antibiotics. And you might want to consider the fact that greenhouse gasses could be cut by two-thirds if we all ate a plant-based diet. That would make a huge step in battling the effects of climate change. Of course, not all of us are going to eat only plant-based foods, but if each of us moved just a little in that direction, it would have a huge impact. There is no one diet that is best for everyone. What you choose to eat depends on your age, the amount of activity in your life, and your individual health needs. So relax and just remember to buy ‘real’ food (not boxed, canned, or processed), eat less of it, and work toward eating more plants than meat. Also, buy organic when you can. I know that doesn’t sound like a revolution, but if each of us did just that, it would have a revolutionary impact. That’s my soapbox plea for tonight.
Lee and Lynda Kaufman continued packing up Windbird today and we helped by pointing out hiding places. As Lynda said, boats have an amazing number of hidden storage areas, but she thinks Windbird has more than most. On Wednesday they will pack as much as they can into a U-Haul rental trailer and on Thursday that trailer will head this direction with Heather and Jon Turgeon. In the meantime, on this end we are moving a few things each day from this condo to my niece’s apartment. By the end of the day on Wednesday, we will have most of the furniture that goes to my niece’s apartment moved there. Then we will start with the smaller items. By the end of the weekend we will have our belongings from Windbird in a new storage unit in Falmouth. And next week, we will make the final assault to get things ready for our move to the Cape on Saturday the 21st. Two weeks from today, we will have made the move and will be living temporarily with Heather, Jed, and boys. Finally my mid-June we will move into our new apartment. I’ll sure be glad when all of this moving ends!
