Food and Sustenance, or...

Sadly our country is ranked as one of the worst in the world, at least health wise. Obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, gluten intolerance, lactose intolerance, and of course the worst, cancer.
Cancer has been on the rise for decades, and not many of us actually question why. Now 1 in 3 will have some form of cancer. It used to be 1 in 33 and before that 1 in 100. What has changed so drastically? Our diet.

I have not eaten 'deli' (lunch meat) meats for several years, but my oldest son is visiting, and wanted some for sandwiches. Thinking nothing of it, I threw some in the cart when we were shopping. Now, when you purchase lunch meat, you know it is processed, so you think "If I get the more expensive one, it will be better.", maybe taste better, maybe better for me. After all we have always learned,  'you get what you pay for'. For the most part, when it comes to food this is true. After all, eggs from chickens that are cage free, hormone free, antibiotic free cost a fortune. And on the not so political level, even ground sirloin as opposed to regular ground beef is quite a bit higher.

So we picked up Hillshire Farm Deli Select Roast Beef. I made sandwiches yesterday for him, and when I opened it I gagged. Literally. I asked him, "Is it supposed to smell like that?", he sniffed it and said, " Yea, it's fine." I told him, that food that smells like chemicals cannot possibly be good for him.

So when I looked at the label it says, "with up to 15% of a flavoring solution browned with caramel color." I was astounded, like they were proud of that fact. It does not look anything like roast beef, and certainly doesn't smell like it. Sadly, when I was younger I never thought about it and my oldest learned poor eating habits. We have slowly, and now more quickly, drifted away from actual food. You look at the carts of other shoppers, and all you see are cereals loaded with sugar, you think "No wonder all the kids have ADD now days". You see chips, and quick easy meals, processed foods, but you hardly see real food. If children do not learn proper nutrition at home, they will grow up to make poor food choices, and have health problems because of it. Coca Cola or Pepsi do not substitute for water, purchased precooked stuff you throw in a microwave does not provide enough nutrition. We have to start taking care of our bodies.

Food should delight our senses, awaken something inside of us. It should do a lot of things, but not gag us. No wonder everyone is sick. If we don't care for ourselves, who will?