Americans and Food

A vegan restaurant opened on the busy main street in my town. Its menu was amazingly healthy and nutritious, and I was astonished by how good the food looked. Yet the restaurant lasted only six weeks. During that entire time, I rarely saw a customer inside. Just as I was finally about to go in and have my first meal, they closed for good.

A month later, another restaurant opened in the same location. This one was the standard American fare: cheesy burgers, fried foods, and who knows what kind of oils used in the fryers. The place is packed every day. Some days, there's a line outside the door.

That contrast tells you something important about America's eating habits.

Walk through the checkout lines at almost any supermarket and look at what's in people's carts. Far too often, you'll see a mountain of highly processed foods, sugary products, and nutritionally poor choices. Meanwhile, vegetables, beans, berries, nuts, seeds, and other nutrient-dense foods get far less attention than they deserve.

We have an epidemic of obesity, heart disease, and other chronic health problems, yet we routinely choose foods that contribute to those very problems. We prioritize taste, convenience, and immediate gratification over the long-term health of our bodies.

The tragedy is that so much of our health is influenced by what we eat every single day. Better nutrition cannot prevent every disease, but it can dramatically improve our odds of living longer, healthier lives.

It's your body. It's the only one you've got. Why wouldn't you make feeding it exceptionally well a priority?

We need to stop thinking of food merely as something that fills our stomachs or satisfies a craving. Food supplies the raw materials our bodies need to function, repair themselves, and stay healthy.

Eat for pleasure, absolutely. But make that pleasure work for your health, not against it. Make your meals as nutritious as you possibly can while keeping them delicious.

Your future self will thank you.