What’s Wrong with the American Diet?
I was talking with a doctor a while back about food in America and the standard American Diet (SAD). He touted that of course we’re so unhealthy…. “McDonald’s and too many calories are the problem.”
While I don’t disagree that McDonald’s and too many calories are a bad thing, it’s definitely a lot more complicated than that. If you simply say that not eating fast food and tracking calories is going to fix the ever growing problems we’re seeing in the health of our country today, I would actually disagree with you.What is the Standard American Diet?
It’s so much more than just fast food and calorie tracking. A lot of healthcare professionals would tell you that the evergrowing problems of heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic conditions are due to sugar, saturated fat, and lots of salt. While these foods can all come in too-large of quantities that can be damaging to our health, the real problem is less about these foods and more about the quality of the food. The real culprit is processed foods like highly refined oils (canola, vegetable, etc.), animals being raised in unhealthy environments like feed lots and crowded barns, not being allowed to roam and eat as they please, nutrient depletion in our soil, and chemically processed food.
We even see it when we compare our food quality to other countries. There are many food items that are allowed in the U.S. that have been banned or are rarely used in Europe. The European Union regulates food additives, preservatives, and food labeling, which are much stricter than in the United States. This means that European consumers can have a greater sense of confidence in both the quality and the safety of the food they purchase. When we traveled to Spain last year, I was able to eat gluten and drink dairy without having any digestive issues or bloating. I unfortunately do not have the same freedom with food or restaurants in America.
So what happened?
A couple of hundred years ago, while there were various other health conditions, things like heart disease, diabetes, and hormone issues weren’t seen very often. So where did it all go wrong? When the Industrial Revolution took place, that’s when we started seeing a decline in the quality of food. While we saw a lot of cool advancements from it, there were also a lot of setbacks.
Mass production: The Industrial Revolution introduced mass production techniques to agriculture, allowing for higher yields and lower costs. While this led to increased food availability and affordability for many people, it also facilitated the rise of large-scale monoculture farming, which can deplete soil fertility and increase susceptibility to pests and diseases. Because of the increase of pests, we also saw the development of pesticides.
Chemical inputs: The development of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides during the Industrial Revolution enabled farmers to boost crop yields and control pests more effectively. However, the widespread use of these chemicals has led to environmental degradation, soil erosion, water pollution, and concerns about the long-term impacts on human health.
Mechanization: The introduction of machinery and mechanical innovations revolutionized farming practices, increasing efficiency and reducing the need for manual labor. However, mechanization also led to the consolidation of land ownership and the displacement of small-scale farmers, contributing to rural depopulation and socioeconomic inequalities. This resulted in much lower quality conditions for animals - they went from being allowed to free roam to being confined to small barns, feed lots, and being forced to eat foods that do not physiologically support them. Sick animals = sick food.
Food processing: The Industrial Revolution spurred the growth of the food processing industry, leading to the mass production of processed and packaged foods. While these products offer convenience and longer shelf life, many are high in unhealthy additives, preservatives, and refined ingredients, contributing to poor dietary habits and related health problems.
Globalization: The Industrial Revolution facilitated the globalization of the food system, enabling the long-distance transportation of food and the expansion of international trade. While this has increased access to a wider variety of foods year-round, it has also led to concerns about food miles, environmental sustainability, and the displacement of local food systems. It is actually so physiologically important that we eat locally and seasonally whenever possible, and we saw a huge decrease in people being able to prioritize local.
What do we do?
While making better food choices can feel daunting, here are some general guidelines to help you make more informed decisions while choosing food for you and your family.
Look for local, high-quality eggs such as pasture-raised with no corn or soy. Have you ever wondered what all of the different labels on eggs mean? You can read more about that in my blog post here.
Look for grass-fed and finished ruminant animals such as beef, buffalo bison and goat. Look for pasture-raised for poultry. These labels mean they were allowed to spend most of their time outside and eating foods that they were intended to like grass for ruminant animals and insects for chickens. Cows fed an exclusively grass diet actually have much higher omega-6 to omega-3 fats than others raised on corn and grains.
When eating seafood, opt for wild-caught over farm-raised. Just like it sounds, wild-caught seafood has grown up in its natural habitat, allowed to freely eat the food God intended for them. Farm-raised seafood are bred in small enclosures and fed unnatural diets, and are often treated with antibiotics.
Follow the EWG’s Clean Fifteen and Dirty Dozen list when searching for produce. Organic labels means the produce is raised without fertilizers, GMOs, and pesticides. These are highly carcinogenic and cause many long-term health conditions. The EWG creates a yearly report of the fifteen least-sprayed with pesticides produce, and the top twelve most heavily sprayed produce. I understand that it can be expensive to buy organic 100% of the time, so I stick to these two lists to help cut down on the grocery budget when possible.
If you would like additional guidance and direction, or would like 1:1 coaching for learning how to properly nourish your body, you can also book a discovery call to get started working together!
Let me know if you incorporate any of these practices in your home!
