What We Talk About When We Talk About Food

I don't know about you, but lately I've been feeling bombarded with information about food and discouraged because it seems like everything I eat or feed my family is somehow bad.  I care about the health of my family (I have probably spent more time researching health concerns on the Internet than I spent studying for the bar exam), and I totally agree with the idea that health and food are intimately related.  Yet somehow, all this food hype makes me want to bury my head in the sand.  Food information is easily (overly?) available via numerous documentaries, books, articles, Buzzfeed lists, etc.  So, armed with all this information, why do I not conform better to best food practices?  Here are the two main reasons:

1.  Informational Confusion:  It's hard to sort between health concerns, environmental concerns, ethical concerns, and taste concerns, since these things often get lumped together in the "bad food" category.  It's hard to tell what's really crazy scary bad v. what's maybe not the best.  It's hard to tell what's based on fear of unknown future consequences (such as GMOs) v. science.  It's hard to know what's being called a good food today, until a new study labels it a bad food.  (Ie butter, coffee, wine, eggs.)  It's hard to weigh competing concerns - like, is it better to eat 5 daily servings of non-organic produce, or to eat half as much produce but have it be organic?  But information is not the main thing.  The basics of how to eat better aren't that hard:  less sugar, less salt, less processing; more produce (especially greens, preferably organic) and whole grains; less and better meat; less and more wholesome snack foods and dessert.  The main thing is...

2.  Practical Concerns:  there are limits to what i can afford, what kind of products are available in my local grocery store, how much time i can spend on food prep, and what my family members are willing to eat.  There's also the issue, let's just be honest, that while I want to prolong the length and quality of my life, I also want to enjoy it, and this involves eating the occasional milk shake.  (Okay, more than occasional.)

So, in light of these concerns, here are my "eat better food" resolutions.  I'm hoping these things will be more helpful than watching another documentary about how Monsanto is evil or reading a viral article about what really goes into a Chicken McNugget:

• Find real food recipes that are affordable and manageable - I used to think the affordable and manageable part was impossible, but i recently bought Mark Bittman's cookbook, "How to Cook Everything", and he has all sorts of real food recipes that are not more expensive and barely take more time than heating up processed food.  So I'm reading up and trying to incorporate some of these in my repertoire.  
• Find more information about "intermediate foods" - I know about super foods like broccoli and almonds, but my kids won't eat these things. I want to learn about the alternatives that are better than Cheetos, Skittles, and soda, but that kids will actually eat.
• Drop the all or nothing attitude.  I am trying to slowly move away from processed food where it's practical, but it's not something that happens overnight.  Sometimes cooking real food seem like an all or nothing lifestyle, when in fact cooking a few real food meals a week, or cooking meals that combine homemade elements and pre-packaged elements, or eating a few more servings of veggies would all be a lot better than doing nothing.   
• Stay away from food articles that are guilt inducing but not otherwise helpful.  Self explanatory.  
• End goal:  be more intentional about food.  I'm definitely not going to be giving up all frozen pizzas or pre-baked cookies, but I'm going to try not to have them be my default so often.  I would like to learn more "real food" recipes and keep ample food on hand so that when we're eating frozen pizza, it's because we're really craving it, not because it's the only dinner option in the house.