Food Police

A friend of mine from high school is a dietician in the San Francisco area and since we reconnected about two years ago I find myself much more aware of what my family and I put into our mouths. I've given up on listening to the FDA, thanks to my cynical side, and I don't put too much stock into what the doctors on the news say about what is and what isn't good for us...afterall, it changes every week!

But my strong desire to feed my family well can get a bit overwhelming. I'd love to have an abundance of fruit and vegetables, preferrably fresh, on hand for the kids to snack on. In an ideal world that's how it would be on a daily basis. But sometimes money won't allow and sometimes the constant shopping for fresh produce can get tedious. Grapes seem to go bad the minute you put them in the shopping cart, bananas are too brown and mushy, begging to become banana bread, and apples...their bruises make for strange discoloration when cut, good luck feeding that to the kids! But because they are vital to our being, or at least that's what I believe, I continue to put forth the effort.

Then there's the organic debate. At this point, unless I can afford organic fruit and veggies, I don't bother. I'm sure there are plenty of good reasons to buy organic, but feeding a family of 4 with the least bit of health-consciousness is already pricey enough so I do what I can with the old dirty, tainted produce. Eating more fresh produce is a battle in itself, it's probably better to eat the tainted stuff after a good scrubbing than to avoid it all together. So tainted it is.

Meat? There are some days when the issues swirling around meat consumption can just plain make my head hurt. So to have a nice balance we eat less beef and next to no pork. We try to base dinners where meat is included around chicken and fish. After a few months with less animal product we don't miss it, although we all seem to crave a big, juicy hamburger at the same time!

A lot of Americans seem to be trying to find the right combination of diet and exercise in an effort to live a long, healthy and prosperous life, but maybe it's easier than we think. Or not easier, but maybe it's been right there in front of us all along? More food that comes from the ground, less artificial, man-made fare, and making meat an occasional dish and not the main dish at every meal or even every dinner. It's un-American to skimp on beef, but it seems crazy to eat so much meat that we have to make up ways to feed the animals we consume? I just hope to have better balance and moderation in an effort to raise healthy, happy people who know how to enjoy food as it was meant to be.