ColumnDo we really know how to eat healthy, or do we just think we do?

I saw an image on Pinterest last week, a baking pan full of frozen fruit, being topped off with cake mix. Below it was this caption: “Frozen berries, dry cake mix, and 1 can of sprite. 350 for 35 min, yummy cobbler. I have done this a lot- it is so good and weight watcher friendly!” Whoever had posted it to Pinterest had also commented “I would use diet soda and what about an angel food cake mix?”

I sighed. You want a quick fruit cobbler? Whatever happened to frozen fruit topped with oats and honey? Why are we so quick to jump to products like cake mix and Sprite? And don’t even get me started on the belief that using a diet soda would be better.

I give nutrition and health a lot of thought, not just because I myself want to live a healthy lifestyle, but because I look at the escalating figures of obesity and health related issues in the U.S. and I wonder where we went wrong. And in a world where we think that we are more food conscious – simply because we watch more food television shows and read more food blogs, not because we actually take steps to eat better – I think this question is particularly important. Do we not know how to eat healthy?

We have an unhealthy relationship to food, one that is based on extremes. You’re either overweight and overindulgent, or you’re at the gym 4 hours a day, cutting yourself off from the pleasures of life. There’s rarely a happy medium.

Weight Watchers was founded in 1963, and since then it has built a global empire based on helping people to lose weight. That goal is admirable; there is nothing wrong with inspiring people to live healthier lives. Weight Watchers is one of many businesses that works in this field, and when I see things like the Pinterest comment above, it’s apparent that while there are many diet plans and books out there, we still have don’t have a solid understanding of nutrition.

A cobbler made with dry cake mix and a can of Sprite is far from “healthy,” even if it makes the cut on a diet-oriented point system, not to mention how many additives you are consuming. But that’s the problem about food, we think of eating more as a sum of individual parts than the whole. Which is how we end up in a situation where someone thinks that making something with cake mix and a can of Sprite is a smart weight choice. News flash: it isn’t.

But this isn’t to harp on Weight Watchers, they’re not the problem; our understanding of nutrition is. We don’t know how to eat healthy. We haven’t put a value on real food. We have forgotten how to keep things simple.

Living in France, I am often asked by visitors how it is that the French manage to eat all of their decadent delights yet stay so trim. The answer to that is multi-faceted, it has to do with smaller portion sizes, less time spent sitting in cars and more time walking, and being better in tune with your body to know when you are full, and when you are full, you stop. The French have mastered that one thing that in America we are slow to understand: you can eat real food and not feel guilty about it.

But there’s another component: while France abounds with supermarkets, and more and more people do their shopping in these places, the French diet is still made up of much fewer processed items than the American diet. Consider this: in a study done by U.S. and British researchers on high fructose corn syrup and the correlation to diabetes, it was found that in the U.S., the consumption of high fructose corn syrup per capita is 25 kilograms (55 pounds) per year. In France it’s less than 1 kilogram (2 pounds).

Why do Americans ingest so much high fructose corn syrup? It’s not because every American household has a gallon of it in the pantry and pours it over everything they eat. On the contrary, it’s a product that’s hidden in so many processed foods that have become staples in the average American diet. And it’s not just a problem for adults, kids are affected too. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 70 percent of toddler dinners studied contained too much salt, and most cereal bars, breakfast pastries and snacks aimed at infants and toddlers contained added sugars.

We don’t know how to eat healthy because we’re convinced that a packaged product that says is good for us actually is good for us, when it has been shown that the best diet out there isn’t a diet at all; it’s just a lifestyle based around eating real food.

In fact, it’s as if we are utterly shocked to find out that it’s not huge, decadent meals that are killing us, but instead all that snacking that we love to eat. All those quick, processed items that sneak their way into our diets without us even realizing it. In 1996, the average American consumed around 423 calories worth of snacks per day, compared to 580 calories in 2006, which accounts for 25 percent of the average Americans total calorie intake. Through snacking we have essentially added an entire additional meal’s worth of calories to our day.

If we are going to truly focus on how to eat healthy in the U.S., then we need to focus on better nutrition programs that educate people about real food.

Products won’t save your health, but real food will.

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This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Image: U.S. Department of Agriculture

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ColumnSkip the diet and go for the lifestyle change.

Resolution this, resolution that. As we come closer to 2014 everyone is abuzz with good intentions, and that’s all well and good, but here is one thing you should not do in 2014: diet.

Seriously, don’t do it.

We’re diet obsessed, but we don’t need diets, we need lifestyle changes.

Diets have always had a certain appeal – eat a certain thing for a certain amount of time and lose a certain amount of weight. But this isn’t sustainable in any way shape or form; the only way we stay healthy is if we create an eating lifestyle that we can maintain on an everyday basis. Not just for two or three weeks, but every single day.

In 2013 some of the most popular “diets” that were searched on Google were Paleo, the Master Cleanse Diet, the Juice Cleanse diet and the Mediterranean Diet (what I like to call the “real food that you know you should be eating” diet). You know what all of this diet Googling tells me? We are incapable of finding a food policy that works for us individually. Eating is an evolving process, finding out how your body responds to certain things, and adapting as you see fit. It’s about indulging once in awhile and other times not. All good things in moderation as they say.

We’re diet obsessed because we think if we find the “right” one we will magically drop those extra 10 pounds, miraculously be in good enough health to run a marathon and end up with super glowing and radiant skin that everyone around us will comment on. If only we find the right diet, then all will fall into place in our lives.

Reality check. There is no right diet. Some foods work for some people, and others don’t. Some people choose to avoid certain foods for ethical reasons, others for allergy reasons. At the end of the day, we can incorporate certain diet elements into our everyday eating regimen, but when it comes down to it, we don’t need to diet, we need to relearn what it means to eat well.

Instead of a diet to kick off 2014, here’s what you should do instead:

Celebrate the beauty of eating. Food – and the people that make it – is amazing.

Avoid fast food at all costs. No really, at all costs.

Eat in season. Hybridized, imported, picked-before-ripe watery tomatoes never did anyone any good.

Experiment. Play in the kitchen. Enjoy the process of figuring out what makes your body and mind feel good.

Stop drinking soft drinks. Seriously, what is this, the 1990s?

Eat less meat. Go vegan a few days a week. We all could do with a little less meat and dairy in our diets.

Slow down and take the time that real eating deserves. Eating isn’t a task to put on your to-do list.

Eating well is a process, and if you need a week long detox to hit the “reset” button once in awhile, that’s fine. But if we depend on one-off diets to guide our health, we’re missing out on the bigger picture. Here’s to celebrating a good journey of food discovery.

Related on EcoSalon

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This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Image: Dan Zen

The post Why You Should Not Diet in 2014: Foodie Underground appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnPaleo, Clean Eating, raw foods: is our industrial, processed food system forcing us to eliminate?

I can’t go a day without seeing the words “Paleo“, “raw,” “egg-free,” “gluten-free” or “clean eating” show up somewhere. Look at any magazine rack with a couple of food titles and these healthy eating regimes are practically all that pops out at you.

As I am interested in food, I could be on hyper alert to these things, but there’s no denying that health foods and specific diets like Paleo are at an all time high. The question is: why?

First off, let’s address the word “diet.” As defined by Merriam-Webster, it does in fact mean “habitual nourishment,” but thanks to the low-fat and all-grapefruit-all-the-time trends of the ’90s, nowadays it is more commonly used in reference to losing weight. We hear “diet” and we think “weight loss.”

But many of these eating habits aren’t two-week diets that are used to kick start weight loss; they’re lifestyles. They are long-term commitments to eating a certain repertoire of foods.

If you do any reading on people that stick to eating raw food, Paleo, or any other variety of elimination diets, it usually comes down to health reasons; people stick to these food regimes because they make them feel better. I myself am mostly gluten-free, not because I am celiac or gluten intolerant, but because I have found that my body does better when I don’t have gluten as a regular part of my diet. I am not alone. Some people don’t do well with soy, others don’t do well with eggs. The list goes on.

But let’s think about the things that people tend to cut out: dairy, gluten, eggs, meat, etc. At their core, these are not things that are inherently bad for you. Certainly some people have severe, sometimes debilitating allergies, to some of these products, but overall these are standard foods that have been a part of our diets for quite some time. Which begs the question: is it because we live in such a processed society that the things that are supposed to be good for us are not? Are food restrictions the result of the fact that we live in a world where real food isn’t real food anymore?

Not only is there something terribly wrong with the Standard American Diet overall, but individual food items that are supposed to be good for us are so over-processed that ultimately, we don’t know what to choose. Our grains, even the whole ones, have been hybridized to infinity and while you may buy your produce directly from the hands of the farmer, you have no idea the history of the seeds that were used in the first place. So instead of choosing, we’re forced to eliminate.

In fact, there is an entire diet devoted to eliminating and simplifying – it’s called Clean Eating – and the premises are admirable. It’s devoted to food as should food be, “clean” from all the extra additives that have become so commonplace in today’s society. But think about that for a second: has the food industry completely changed how eat, so much so that we need an entire diet to remind us to look at the ingredient list and make sure that it’s short? There are Clean Eating Challenges where you are prompted to eat simple and whole foods. Shouldn’t we just have been doing that in the first place?

Let me break it down for you: all of these diets aren’t diets, they’re just what we should be eating all of the time, and that is a lifestyle. A lifestyles of living well. But when we live in a world of industrialized food production, eating what we should be eating, real food, becomes more and more difficult. It’s not that we’re diet-obsessed, it is that once our bodies have had a taste of what they should have been consuming all along, there’s no turning back.

Making certain eating choices isn’t about restrictions. It is about a celebration of real food. The kind of food that fuels your body and keeps you healthy. So, whether that’s Paleo, raw, vegan, non-dairy, gluten-free, no nightshades, or some combination of all of the above we have to remember that ultimately it’s about feeling good and eating well, no matter how we get there.

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This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Image: Steven Jackson

The post Paleo, Clean Eating and Beyond: Are We Diet Obsessed? Foodie Underground appeared first on EcoSalon.

Carbavores divided on returning to a grain-free Paleo diet, said to yield results more than skin deep.

Imagine a life without any sort of grains – rejecting that nurturing warm basket of sourdough, the doughy Noah’s bagel with smear on Sunday mornings, the tortilla enveloping the rice, beans and meat and the sesame seed bun that makes a hamburger something more satisfying than a lonely patty on a plate.

Psychologically, we have come to embrace our corn, wheat and flour. But physiologically, the new school of thought is that they are the enemies in the ongoing American battle against obesity and degenerative diseases.

Enter The Paleo Solution – The Original Human Diet, a New York Times Best Seller mapped by former research biochemist and amateur kick boxer Robb Wolf.

His program, also referred to as a caveman diet, calls for a simple shift away from foods he claims are at odds with our health (grains, legumes and dairy) and an increase in the natural unprocessed foods of our nomadic ancestors along with supplemental vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

So what do followers eat? Lean proteins that support strong muscles, healthy bones and optimal immune function; fruits and veggies rich in vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients that combat cancer, and healthy fats from nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil, fish oil and grass-fed meat. No crispy cereal. No milk. And yes, the meat sandwiched with iceberg lettuce in place of that dense, beastly yeast – the seductress of all seductresses.

“This Paleo diet concept works, and it’s not a fad, ” argues Wolf, who operates a website with podcasts and forums. “It works with our genetics in synchronicity with the way we are supposed to live instead of antagonistically with the way we are supposed to live. It limits certain foods and that may be a heartache for some people but that’s the way it is. We’ve set out an intervention and make recommendations that are livable.”

Hiker and biker Edwin Bradley reports improved health benefits from the Paleo Solution

So livable, that it’s catching on, especially in experimental California where many will quickly step to the plate and try anything rumored to make you drop ten pounds in a hurry. But for 54-year-old San Francisco lawyer Edwin Bradley, an avid hiker and biker, the weight loss was not a motive but an added benefit along with visible improvements in his skin after a couple of months of following the plan.

“My psoriasis lesions don’t scale as much and my skin is smoother and more pliable and I’m getting unsolicited feedback from people who ask if I’m doing Botox because my skin looks so good,” he reports. “I’ve had the condition for 30 years and I don’t expect it to go away in two months but I’m satisfied it will continue to improve drastically over time.”

Not only that, he has found sticking to the diet has significantly boosted his energy. “In a practical performance matter, I ride my bike long distances and no longer have the blood sugar drop off I used to get,” he explains. “My energy descends very gradually and I think it’s because grain energy is kind of a sugar energy that comes on quickly and goes away quickly and when you are getting your carbs from vegetables and proteins, you don’t have that drop off. I can be feeling hungry and still be able to ride for two to three hours without getting the shakes or the feeling I need an emergency food fix.”

Bradley, like many Bay Area foodies who opted for organic and grass-fed back in the day when Alice Waters burst on the scene, has recommended the book to colleagues and friends, sharing the philosophy that our digestive systems are designed for the way we ate before the age of agriculture: wild game, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds.

“I stumbled upon the book and it was the first time I saw someone make the connection between modern grains and chronic low level and auto immune diseases such as Crones, psoriasis, diabetes and arthritis,” he says. “If you understand the basic Paleo tenants, you will understand that what makes cows sick from eating corn is what makes humans sick from grains, which we’ve been consuming for only about 8,000 years. We were hunters and gatherers long before that, and look at the lean bodies of our ancestors who never had the same sicknesses.”

Sarah J. says Paleo improved her Celiac symptoms and curbed addiction to sugar and starches

Testimonials on the Paleo Solution website validate both the weight loss and health improvements from Colitis to Fibromyalgia to Type I Diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Celiac Disease and female hormonal imbalance. Among those testifying, Sarah J., who says she suffered for years from Celiac Disease and finally her joint and throat pain is gone and she can now lift her kids with renewed strength.

“One of the biggest things so far in terms of my quality of life is that for the last three months I have been more emotionally stable than I have been for a long, long time, and I don’t feel so depressed,” she says, adding she now craves salad and has been weened off of sugar. “My tastes have actually changed and I’m listening to what my body really wants instead of what my cravings demand. And I’m not hungry all of the time. I actually feel full.”

Critics Dismissing it as a Fad

While health experts readily link our industrial food era diet and lifestyles to modern cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes and hypertension, the American Dietetic Association, many food writers and anthropologists have dismissed the Paleolithic path as just another fad diet.

They argue even if cave dwellers did exist without processed cereals, dairy products, refined sugars, oil and alcohol, that doesn’t mean modern humans are genetically adapted to follow the same rigid course. And in terms of converting to healthier grass fed meats, even California’s premier steak houses and restaurants are clinging to flavorful marbleized prime arguing it’s what’s for dinner because customers still demand it.

Consuming grains and grain-fed meat are habits proving hard to break after 8,000 years – at least without more compelling evidence. Some diet bloggers have even voiced out that breaking the habit can also be expensive since free range, grass-fed and organic produce often cost more than less healthy foods.

The Problem With Too Much Protein and the Exclusion of Carbs

A high protein diet can run the risk of placing undue stress on the kidneys which filter waste products from the breakdown of protein and this is why you are urged to get your kidney function tested before doing such a high protein diet.

Recent Harvard University research shows the popular low-carb, high protein approach may promote rapid weight loss but significantly increase atherosclerosis, a build up of plaque in the heart and a leading cause of heart attack and stroke. Feeding mice such a diet also resulted in an impaired ability to form new blood vessels in the tissues deprived of blood flow, which might occur in a heart attack.

In addition, giving up carbs entirely can be a problem for big fuel burners such as athletes and cultures incorporating certain grains and boasting longevity: Asians eat rice as a staple and legumes and grains are features of the highly emulated Mediterranean diet.

And despite Bradley’s experience of a lower blood sugar drop, studies show beans and grains in their whole and unprocessed form and a lower glycemic index than most fruit – perhaps the banana being an exception. The American Diabetes Association calls for a diet of 50 percent veggies, 25 percent proteins and 25 percent grains or starches to manage blood sugar levels, along with increasing exercise – arguably the real solution to modern chronic health issues even more than counting calories.

Senior author of the study, Anthony Rosenzweig, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, notes that doctors need to consider such rigid diet effects in counteracting vascular disease when advising their patients. “This issue is particularly important given the epidemic of obesity and its adverse consequences,” he says. “For now, it appears  that a moderate and balanced diet, coupled with regular exercise, is probably best for most people.”

Even Bradley admits to emerging from his cave from time to time and succumbing to an urge.

“I eat ice cream and candy and occasionally a small amount of baked things like a chocolate hazelnut croissant,” he confesses, “But I’m consistent about not including grains in my formal nutrition and have ordered sandwiches on the golf course where I ate everything and threw the bread away. I have a naughty splurge but I don’t cook for it or shop or plan for it.”

Naughty perhaps by Paleo standards but less harmful than most splurges. He says it’s important to remember that even if he strays it is still with real food: ice cream and not imitation ice milk; real baked goods with pure butter, sugar and chocolate; a bit of real soda at the movies rather than diet drinks with Splenda or synthetic sweeteners containing  the same molecules as embalming fluid. According to Bradley, you would be hard pressed to find Paleo followers who haven’t eliminated the proven poisons from their diets.

Wolf  stresses how these poisons have become highly addictive since processed sweet and salty, crunchy and doughy goodies are more accessible than his prescribed nutritional fare. His Paleo Solution informs us it is normal for man to be seduced by momentary pleasure over what might promote longevity. As he sees it, we are only human, and a few things haven’t changed.

Images: ispeakpaleo

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10 diets that should make you want to run (for your life).

It’s okay to be a little freaked out by the prospect of stuffing your pale, corduroy-shielded backside into a bathing suit in just a few short weeks. It’s also okay to cut back on the pasta and do a few extra squats or lunges at the gym in preparation for the yearly “unveiling.” It’s even okay to learn a few new toning moves from women’s magazine articles with titles like, “6 Weeks to Your Best Bikini Body Ever!”

What’s not okay, however, is undertaking a faddish, questionable, and gimmicky diet in order to drop pounds as quickly as possible. If you want to lose weight, eat veggies and lean protein, avoiding processed foods, carbs, and alcohol. Skip these shams, along with any “doctor” who tells you that you can lose weight by eating cookies all day. (Hint: Not true.)

Any [Single-Ingredient] Diet

These have been around for decades, employed by high-school girls desperate to look skinny for prom. The cabbage soup diet. The grapefruit diet. The anchovy diet. Most of these schemes promise unlimited amounts of the magic ingredient (“You can have all the cabbage soup you want!”), as if consuming 900 percent of your daily allowance of beta-carotene makes up for not consuming any other vitamins or nutrients.

The Feeding-Tube Diet

For the busy woman who simply has no time to think about eating, a feeding-tube diet (technically called the K-E Diet, short for ketogenic enteral nutrition) may be the perfect solution. Pioneered in Europe, this ten-day regimen involves inserting a nasogastric tube to deliver liquefied nutrition, and promises that patients can lose up to ten percent of their body weight in only ten days. This diet is popular with self-obsessed brides-to-be and women who contemplate ingesting tapeworms.

Die Fat or Get Tough

Are you fat? If so, it’s your fault. As the book’s website says, “Get ready for a 2,000-volt cattle prod to your consciousness.” You think like a fat person, therefore, you’re probably going to die. Sorry. You’re not fat because of portion sizes, cortisol, or your thyroid – you’re fat because you’re weak and pathetic. Doesn’t that make you feel better? Get tough like Steve Siebold, the writer, so you can be an awesome winner like he is. (Note: The website doesn’t specify exactly what a fat person “thinks like,” but it’s safe to say that his diet plan probably involves yelling at your thighs until they disintegrate in submission.)

The Paleo Diet

Also called the “Caveman Diet,” because it’s modeled on how cavemen ate. (Supposedly.) No wheat, no carbs, no sugar, no alcohol, no beans, no corn, no dairy. Sounds reasonable, right? Except that you replace bread and milk with meat. Lots and lots of meat. Bacon, sausage, beef, ham, meat three times a day. Meat as snacks. Meat for dessert. Meat. Meat. Meat. Avoid this diet for the sake of your cholesterol and the environment.

The Cookie Diet

What’s not to love about a diet that allows you to eat cookies? The fact that these aren’t so much “cookies” as they are “low-cal bran clumps,” for one. Also the fact that this diet only allows you to consume about 1000 calories a day, which is far too few for any healthy adult.

The Apple Cider Vinegar Diet

Can drinking pure apple cider vinegar with every meal help increase your metabolism, curb your appetite, and decrease bloating? Well, the jury’s still out on those claims, but apple cider vinegar definitely reduces your appetite. Drink a shot of it before meals and you will find that you’re not as hungry as you thought you were. In fact, you’re downright nauseated. Weight loss achieved! But the vinegar rotted your teeth away, so there’s that.

The Texas Firefighter Diet

Texas currently has the twelfth-highest obesity rate in the country, so the author of this book will pardon us if mentioning Texas firefighters doesn’t instantly conjure up images of svelte, manly fitness. The secret to this diet, created to curb obesity among firefighters, is eating fewer barbecued ribs and more vegetables. Shocking.

The Sleep Diet

Sleep – your doing it wrong. Lucky for you, author Michael Breus has the answer. If you sleep better, you’ll lose weight. Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Sleep more.
Step 2: ??
Step 3: Your metabolism is raised, burning fat and decreasing cravings. Congrats! You’re skinny!

The Hot Diet

After carefully studying 104,000 people, the author of this book noticed that fat people tended to drink beverages with ice while they ate. Thus, ice is the enemy. Science has spoken – only consume warm things.

The Jesus Diet

What Would Jesus Eat? Well, He would probably have eaten a lot of fish, whole grains, fruit, vegetables, red wine, and olive oil. Nothing processed and not too much red meat (saved for special occasions) or pork (unkosher). Actually, this one makes a lot of sense, so go for it. Just remember that once you reach your goal weight, you’ll have to cover up at the beach, because He demands modesty.

Image: isox4, edkohler, uberculture, deansouglass, Kyle May , Rich 701, mccun934

The post 10 Fad Diets to Steer Clear of This Bathing Suit Season appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnNormalizing food consciousness.

“What is that?”

I was pulling out ingredients for dinner from the refrigerator and my friend was visibly squirming looking at the quart glass bottle of green sludge that was on the first shelf.

“It’s just a kale smoothie.”

She looked at me and rolled her eyes.

“I know, I know… who has kale smoothies in their refrigerator?” I responded. I paused for dramatic effect in order to underline the absurdity of my next statement. “It has chia seeds in it too.”

More eye rolling.

Telling someone you ate a bowl of chard sauteed in sesame oil because you hadn’t been grocery shopping lately and it was the only thing you had on hand will most likely get you a “who are you?” type response, but tell someone you snagged a piece of pizza for lunch at the corner joint because you were in a rush, and no one bats an eye. Eating good food has turned from a regular habit into an elitist activity. Ever seen anyone roll their eyes because your refrigerator was full of Chinese leftovers, even though you know perfectly well that those leftovers are soaked in MSG and you have know idea what kind of meat particles they used in the orange chicken?

My mother instilled a healthy eating habit in me at an early age – I was making crackers out of flax seeds over the weekend after all – but it has never been about fitness or physique. It’s just what you do. Which is why when I recently received a press pamphlet in the mail about the latest and greatest diet that was “taking the world by storm” and whose central, revolutionary food was chestnuts and chestnut flour, I had the same response as my friend staring at the kale smoothie.

But wait, why was I rolling my eyes at a diet that was made up of all the things most people should be eating? The whole thing was after all comprised of whole grains, fruits, olive oil, nuts, herbs, honey, Omega-3’s and beyond, the kind of stuff that fills my pantry shelves. Because I realized that we have put ourselves in a place where we need world-renowned fitness coaches to tell us those things are healthy, and in turn, we have turned eating well into a trendy, elitist activity.

Love kale? You probably listen to NPR.

Start your day off with a bowl of yogurt doused in flax seed oil? You obviously are making six figures a year.

Get excited about a meal of wild salmon and steamed asparagus when it’s in season? Speaking of seasons, you probably have season tickets to the opera, don’t you?

When did eating healthy, and having a holistic approach to food become an activity of the 1%? If people have access to good food, and it’s fairly priced, no matter what the socio-economic background is, they will eat it. Junk food isn’t always cheaper than real food, and yet roast a chicken, boil potatoes and serve a salad with an olive oil vinaigrette and you’re immediately on the verge of breaking into the “foodie” category.

I blame marketing.

We’re obsessed with the marketing of food. Instead of taking a holistic approach to what we eat, and buying simple ingredients, we opt for making bad food sound healthy, focused more on the vitamins, phytonutrients and all the other flashy beneficial elements that sound like they’re good for us. Remember the pomegranate craze? Were people downing pomegranate juice because it was truly good for them, or was it just that it’s what they thought they should be drinking? You can argue both sides, but keep in mind that there is an official Pomegranate Council. Ultimately, we don’t need pomegranate drinks. We need fresh fruits and vegetables.

In this unhealthy society, we’re obsessed with trendy health foods. Walk into any large supermarket and there is probably a health food section (hint: it’s where you buy your Kombucha). Almond flour, chestnut paste and sunflower butter? Check, check and check; I want all of those things. But imagine seeing them in someone else’s basket, and you can immediately cue the “who does that person think they are?” comment. Health craze? Maybe, but at least all of those things are 100% natural and not infused with a grab bag of preservatives and corn-based elements you can’t pronounce.

The mere use of the phrase “health food” implies that we know that the other options aren’t all that good for us. At its core, shouldn’t food be healthy? And if you’re committed to buying real food, ones that come from places that you know shouldn’t that just be normal? Going back to the land after all is just as economical as it is on trend, but talk about having your own patch of arugula that you water everyday and people might make certain assumptions about who you are, what you make and your political preferences.

We know what we should be eating. Fast food, and even commercial baked goods (yes, we’re talking croissants, doughnuts and pizza), aren’t just unhealthy for your physical state, they have also been linked to depression. Find me a real ingredient that has the same negative effects and I’ll stop my rant, but until then, we better start checking ourselves when we begin with the eye rolls.

Like coconut water? Great. But are you drinking it because it has less sugar and chemicals that your average sport drink or because the hipster in the drink aisle at the food co-op was buying it or the latest health blog told you it was super good for you?

In the food world, we need to recommit to talking about food in a way that doesn’t just focus on trends. We have to normalize consciousness.

Roll your eyes all you want at the fact that as I wrote this column I ate a bowl of yogurt with flax, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and then I followed it up with a glass of lemon water (don’t worry, there was coffee later), but isn’t that better than high fructose corn syrup-injected cereal out of a box, even though the box is covered in bold text reminding you how many vitamins, minerals and whole grains the stuff contains?

It’s an understatement to say that the acronym for the Standard American Diet (S.A.D) is ironic. But as long as we keep making good foods trendy, and in a way elitist, people won’t eat them and pizza and hamburgers will get a lot less judgement than a kale smoothie. And that is a very risky path.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to independent markets to the culinary avant garde.

The post Foodie Underground: Can I Have a Kale Smoothie With That? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Looking to relocate? Start here.

Each year, the healthiest and happiest cities in America are named by public agencies, private consultancies, magazines, blogs and now even Foursquare. These lists consider key indicators like fitness, diet and emotional well-being, as well as more concrete factors like number of farmer’s markets and ratio of sunny days. In honor of National Nutrition Month, here’s a rundown of the best of the best.

San Francisco, California (Top Image)

Early adventurers seeking the Fountain of Youth should have stuck flowers in their hair and headed for San Francisco, which was recently named the best city for staying young by the RealAge 2012 Youngest and Oldest Cities report. Certainly San Francisco’s top billing on Prevention Magazine‘s list of America’s best walking cities helps. Add a strong emphasis on local and organic food and a low incidence of smoking, and you have the best anti-aging recipe in the country.

Honolulu, Hawaii

Honolulu residents are among the country’s slimmest people, according to Self magazine. One contributor is diet; Honolulu reports the highest number of Foursquare check-ins to healthy eating establishments, like farmers markets, fish markets, salad shops and juice bars, as a percentage of total check-ins to restaurants and shops. It’s a winning combination for mental health too: Honolulu leads the nation in Emotional Health according to last year’s Gallup Well-Being Index.

Raleigh, North Carolina

A focus on preventative medicine earned Raleigh the title of Healthiest City for Women in Men’s and Women’s Health‘s annual survey, which ranks metropolitan cities in 30 areas ranging from fitness to diet to disease. Life expectancy is high, especially since the vast majority of women stay on top of regular health examinations like mammograms and pap smears.

Minneapolis, Minnesota

The American Fitness Index from the American College of Sports Medicine ranked Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington the best metropolitan area for healthy, fit and active lifestyles. The Twin Cities boast high numbers of public recreation areas, which likely contributes to their low levels of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Low poverty and unemployment levels are just the cherry on top.

Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Lancaster residents certainly have something to smile about. The city scored highest in 2011 on the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which examines life evaluation, emotional health, work environment, physical health, healthy behaviors and access to basic necessities. Lancaster also boasts one of the highest per-capita rates of green roof space in the country.

Phoenix, Arizona

Blue skies are the norm in Phoenix, which made Self magazine’s list of the Healthiest Cities for Women because of its high sunny day ratio. Retirees flock there for the pleasant weather and easy lifestyle.

San Jose, California

Residents of San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara reported the highest well-being among metropolitan areas with a million or more inhabitants, according to the Gallup Well-Being Index. San Jose also leads America in Foursquare check-ins for physical fitness.

Burlington, Vermont

Burlington topped this year’s list of the Healthiest Cities for Men from Men’s and Women’s Health, and it was ranked the healthiest city in America by the Centers for Disease Control in 2008. Burlington also has the most farmer’s markets in the country according to Self magazine’s listing, which confirms our theory that healthy eating can solve all manners of maladies.

Boulder, Colorado

Boulder’s wide array of outdoor pursuits make it the best U.S. city for weight loss, according to Prevention magazine. Not only are its residents active hikers, bikers, and yogis, but the city also offers loads of fresh, local cuisine. The endorphins seem to be having an impact; Boulder made the top of the Gallup Well-Being Index in 2009.

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Residents of Ann Arbor reported the best overall life evaluation in 2011, according to the Gallup Well-Being Index. This may be thanks to an emphasis on education and innovation. In the past year, Ann Arbor has been ranked among America’s Geekiest Cities by Forbes, Most Educated Cities by U.S. News and World Report, and Most Well-Read Cities by Amazon.com. The city certainly proves that enlightenment is a key to health and happiness.

Images: Beto Ruiz Alonso, Gsgeorge, Bob Jagendorf, Church Street Marketplace, messycupcakes, Ludovic Hirlimann, North Carolina National Guard, Victoria Garcia, Tim Wilson, the_tahoe_guy

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