I believe we have lost an art form that is essential to our health & survival here in America. And other countries are starting to follow down this dark path as well.

If we don’t turn this problem around, heart disease will continue to rise & we will doom generations to come.

Today, I’m going to inform you of the problem and teach you how we can reverse this train wreck; it’s really quite simple.

What is the problem?

We have nearly lost the art form of cooking & preparing meals from home.

We are cooking less & ordering more.

On top of that, we have been shifting away from enjoying meals around the dinner table with our loved ones.

How did this happen?

In the 1950s, Americans started working more. The stay-at-home mom was starting to phase out with more families having two working spouses.

We got busier, we started working more, so we needed a solution to replace the monotony of cooking.

Thus emerged the invention & creation of processed & imitation “foods”.

And I selected those words wisely- “invention” & “creation” because these were no longer real foods grown & found on the earth. No, these were synthetically & industrially produced food products.

And I put the word “foods” in quotations because what has been created is not real food; it’s an imitation.

Real food is not created in a lab- it’s grown or found on the earth.

Real food provides nutrients- vitamins, minerals, macronutrients, phytonutrients- all things essential not only for survival but for growth & regeneration.

Fake foods have synthetic ingredients & additives to increase their shelf life, make them taste good, & change their color & chemical makeup; amongst many other things.

Quick tip-

Notice if your “food” item has a food label. Better if it doesn't because whole foods usually do not have one. But if it does look out for:

• A long list of ingredients

  • 5 or more is not a good sign

• Ingredients that are hard to pronounce

• Anything that has the word “preservative” on it

Look out for things on the front of the package such as:

• Making health claims: “Heart-healthy”, “low fat”, “reduced-fat” or “reduces cholesterol”

  • These claims are purchased by the rich food companies and don’t actually mean anything but trouble so lookout. These claims could also indicate harmful food additives. They have to add harmful chemicals to remove or reduce fat for example.

• Saying it contains artificial flavors or colors

  • These can hurt your brain!

• Or you notice it is produced by a large recognizable company

  • These companies have the most marketing dollars so we are programmed to recognize their names and brands but they nearly always have the worst ingredients at one of the lowest prices. Kraft, Heinz, Kellogg, Tyson, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, etc.

Look out for ingredients such as:

• High fructose corn syrup or any corn additive

  • Most are genetically modified

• Other sweeteners such as sucralose, aspartame, and acesulfame potassium

  • These can cause headaches & hurt your brain

• Artificial colors such as red #40, blue #1, yellow #6, etc

  • These can also hurt your head & slow development in young children

• Hydrogenated oils

  • These are trans fats and are the worst type of fat. They are banned in other countries

• Canola, corn, or vegetable oil

• Monosodium glutamate

• Sodium nitrates/nitrites

  • Found in processed meats

• BHT/BHA

  • Found in chips, sausages, & cereals. They cause all sorts of problems involving the thyroid, liver, & kidney to name a few. These are also banned in many other countries

• Bleached &/or enriched flour

  • Found in baking goods

• Modified anything

There are several more but I want you to get a good idea of the basics. If you want to learn how to memorize a list like this read Jim Kwik’s book: Limitless. It’s phenomenal.

Here are good things to see on the front of a food item:

• Organic

• Non-GMO

• Grass-fed

  • For anything coming from cows

• Free from “X” number of artificial colors & flavors

• No artificial colors/flavors

• No high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, or anything else listed on the “look out for” category

Know that this list of “good things” is different from the health claims such as “low fat, reduces cholesterol, etc”. Remember- we want to avoid health claims because they really don’t mean anything. The good list above is also informing us of what is NOT in the food &/or HOW it was produced better.

The idea here is to eat more whole foods (foods found & grown on earth) & less processed & imitation foods (foods made in a lab, not naturally created by earth).

Moving on…

Alright, so with the birth of imitation food products we started cooking less & eating more processed foods. Along with that, we starting spending less time eating at the dinner table as a family and more time eating on the go, at a desk, or in our car.

It’s estimated that 20% of our meals are consumed in a car.

So now we are eating less real foods, replacing them with imitation foods, and scarfing our meals down in between meetings and errands.

Sitting down to eat dinner used to be a communal event. A time to enjoy a good meal with good company. We would make things by hand and savor the flavors.

Now don’t get me wrong, this is still happening at dinner tables across America and if your household is one of them God bless you. And even if yours doesn’t look exactly like this, there’s still hope.

how can we reverse the problem?

My overarching advice here is this-

If you want to live a healthier lifestyle then eat more home-cooked meals around the dinner table with those closest to you.

THIS is the health plan that will save America.

This approach is going to take more effort & preparation but it will lead to better health & longevity in the long run.

I want to encourage you with this challenge-

Replace one take-out/fast food/frozen dinner with one home-cooked meal this week. And if you’re already cooking, great, I encourage you to try a new healthy recipe & enjoy it with the company of somebody you don’t mind being around.

Closing

Here in America, we have started losing the art form of cooking at home. We have been joining together around the dinner table less & ordering out more.

But there’s still hope. We can still turn this around.

We can reverse this & become a healthier nation again.

Will you accept my challenge & cook more this week?

Let’s get back to our roots- our grandparents would be proud.

This post was inspired by the Netflix series: Cooked by Michael Pollen.