Nutrition for Families

I have worked with many families who have a regular diet of fast foods and highly processed packaged foods. From a nutritional perspective, the less a food is tampered with, the more nutritional value remains. I have never liked the idea of being at the mercy of the big food businesses which control much of what is presented to us in the food aisles.

In New Jersey, we have an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables from May through November and I encourage my clients to buy locally whenever possible. Buying locally grown (or even from within the same state if not from around the corner) fruits and vegetables means less time on the road losing nutrients, less truck time expending gas and pollution, supporting small farmers instead of agribusiness, and the quality and taste are unbeatable.

In many European cities, farmers' markets are held a few times a week; Europeans wouldn't think of buying their produce at an impersonal market when there was fresher, tastier fare available. And consider the satisfaction quotient of home prepared versus packaged and processed. One really good homemade chocolate chip cookie is far more satisfying than four processed, packaged, store-bought chocolate chip cookies. I believe that is why many of us cannot stop eating after we've had a reasonable portion; our food has become so unsatisfying with too much salt, too much sugar, and lots of chemicals.

Personally, I feel that good nutrition should be a priority for individuals and families; we are given one body to abuse or take great care of and feeding that body is something we do at least three times a day for a lifetime, potentially 87,600 feedings! So why are we more concerned with the time we reserve for watching TV than the time we spend preparing to feed our one and only body? Eating healthfully absolutely takes more time and planning than the grab-n-go culture but there are many ways to make it fit into our busy lives.