Ep. 3 FOOD POLITICS, HOME COOKING
Hello everyone and welcome to the launch of my newest podcast. This year, 2018, I have committed to a one-year course to become a certified Health Coach. The podcast, with episodes released weekly, will cover the material we are learning, my own personal growth, and hopefully some other students on as guests.
Please let me know what you think of the podcast or if you are also interested in becoming a Health Coach!
In what ways is food political? What are the leverage points for political change related to food? How have politics influenced the development of the food system at large? How can we expect these issues to change as our population becomes larger, more diverse, and less economically stable?
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Hello and welcome to the podcast all about becoming a health coach. I'm Megan McCrory, an aspiring Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, and an avid knitter!
If this is your first time tuning in, I'm happy you've found the podcast and a very special welcome to you. You may want to go back and listen from the beginning to hear more about my health coaching journey.
Let's dive right into Week 3/Module 3
This week's lesson focused on food politics and cooking.
Let me just say wow, I am just in awe sometimes watching lectures by people who really know their stuff.
The best part of the lesson this week was listening to Marion Nestle present on the topic of food politics. She presented in such a clear way with content that was easy to understand.
She presented information and data that correlates the climbing obesity rates starting in the 80's alongside deregulation of the agriculture industry and wall street, to portion sizes increasing and cost of whole foods on the rise.
It makes me a bit angry to think about how much money is wasted by big companies for lobbying. Making processed foods cheaper and more accessible hurts more of the lower economic band causing then long-term health consequences. People, just like water, will always take the path of least resistance. That's why it's so important to make healthy choices the easiest choice. I've never heard of a drive-thru for just salads and healthy alternatives. No, usually you have to stop, get out of your car and go into a grocery store or health food store. That's not as easy as driving thru and paying a buck for a burger.
Marion Nestle has authored and co-authored several books on the subject of politics and food Food Politics, What to Eat, Safe Food, Why Calories Count
Some of the top points from her lecture were to look at the food system as a whole from production to consumption. From agriculture to food to nutrition to public health. We have to look at the whole system.
Also, the cost of healthy eating has actually risen, while items like beer and soda the prices have dropped. So to the consumer who might have made the healthier choice in the 1980’s now sees drastically lower cost unhealthy foods more widely available.
She talked about the school lunch proposals and how again big company money was able to sway Congress to pass a bill that pizza is a vegetable. Wow!
I’m not going to go on any more about her presentation because I was able to find the same lecture on youtube so I will link to that for you to watch on your own. I really encourage you to take the time to hear her information.
In what ways is food political? What are the leverage points for political change related to food? How have politics influenced the development of the food system at large? How can we expect these issues to change as our population becomes larger, more diverse, and less economically stable?
After getting our dose of reality from Marion the course turned attention to whole foods and cooking. The IIN teacher went through Joshua’s 17 keys to healthy cooking, things like local fresh foods are the best but frozen is actually okay too since it’s usually frozen right after harvesting. Keep cooking simple, cook larger meals so you don’t have to cook every night. Experiment with new foods and use spices!
One of the hand-outs they gave us were all different kinds of spices. Salty, sour, sweet, nutty, and spicy. It’s really great to have a list like this handy, it’s also nice to see how many of these items I already have on hand!
We had a new guest speaker, Andrea Beaman, who presented the types of kitchen equipment you need and then prepared several recipes.
Joshua showed up at the end of the module with a few presentations on cooking with love and experimenting in the kitchen.
