Letter to the Editor, Stoney Creek News. Unpublished.

re: 'Eating our way to health crisis', March 10th

I was glad to see the Stoney Creek News taking a position on our national obesity pandemic. I don't agree with the idea of relying on government to provide the impetus for change, but I do believe this ongoing dialogue must be prodded as often as is possible, because so much is at stake. So kudos to the publication. 

Obesity, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, cancer and all manner of associated ailments have been on the rise for the past five decades. And in order to reverse the trends, we need to first acknowledge how we got here. 

-Decreased physical activity. (Both at home and out there in the world.)

-Infinitely available consumable calories. (Previously too expensive or just plain inconvenient.)

-Processed foods, with all their wonderful additives. (Food, Inc and the advertising industry at their most powerful.)

-The immense value placed on 'labour-saving devices' and 'conveniences for the home'. (Begging the question: 'Why aren't actual activities the beneficiaries of all this 'labour saved'...?)

-A general detachment from our physical selves. (Is there anything more powerful that the term 'couch potato'?)

-A general blurring of how we see food, so that instead of being a culture of 'eating', we've become one of 'feeding'. (Big difference.)

This is a huge discussion, perhaps the most important discussion we can have as a society, so I won't endeavour to make this Letter to the Editor into a treatise. Instead, I'll end with a personal motto I formed after reading Michael Pollan's book 'In Defense of Food': 

'Cook fresh food. Be active. Have fun.'