The Standard American Diet
Consider this: the standard American diet is filled with an excessive amount of highly processed food. Betty Crocker was created by the food industry to sway moms from cooking homemade meals and instead rely on processed options. In 1900, only 2% of meals were eaten outside the home, but now that number has skyrocketed to over 50%. Many people find the idea of cooking at home daunting or believe it to be complicated, time-consuming, and inconvenient. Unfortunately, we have become victims of the food industry’s aggressive tactics, which promote poor-quality, addictive food as convenient, delicious, and easy. As a result, our health and waistlines suffer. In fact, our diets are a major contributor to the chronic diseases we see today.
Cooking is Part of the Solution
Cooking is the solution to breaking free from our addiction to easy, prepackaged foods loaded with additives, sugar, salt, and fat. Learning basic cooking skills, with the help of easy recipes and YouTube videos, is not as difficult as it may seem.
We must remember that food is not just nourishment but also medicine. It has the power to heal illnesses and diseases. The food we consume is one of our most potent weapons in our quest for vibrant health.
Ask Dr. Rao About Real Food
There is much to be said about food, but one simple way to approach it is to focus on real food. Choose items without labels or barcodes, those that don’t come in boxes or contain ingredients you can’t pronounce. Look for colorful plants, good-quality protein (whether from animals or plants), and healthy fats found in nuts, seeds, olive oil, and avocados. These are the staples of the Blue Zone diet.
