Healthy Food Does Not Come In A Box, Or Can, Or Jar.

By TLS

The average American diet is probably one of the most unhealthy diets in the whole world (where food is actually available I mean). It consists primarily of highly processed foods, boxed foods, packaged foods, canned foods, or restaurant food.

Back in a previous job I would visit people in their homes and attempt to educate them on various health issues. Diet, meaning the foods we eat, was a common problem area. High calorie and salt content food overwhelmingly dominated which also tends to have a low nutrition value as well.

The people I saw often had out of control blood pressure with abdominal and or extremity swelling. Or they had off the charts blood sugar levels with significant neuropathy and or missing toes, feet, or lower extremities. These homes were always filled with high sodium/sugar processed foods.

Most people would give grudging acceptance of the poor quality of foods they were eating. However, very few would actually make any significant change to their diet. Most was token effort at best, as well as temporary.

Much of my effort was spent in attempting to educate why high sodium is bad for the cardiac patient and why candy and pastries are bad for the diabetic.

Water follows salt, so the more sodium a person consumes the more water their body hangs onto. Add several other health comorbidities and this becomes a serious health concern. Excessive water volume is one of the major contributors to elevated blood pressure. Additionally, high blood sugar levels literally dissolve and destroy capillaries and micro tissues leading to neuropathy, amputation, and all the other complimentary gifts of poor nutrition and circulation.

Cost is unfortunately always a factor with most of us. In the distant past calories were difficult to come by. Unfortunately today calories are cheap but nutrition is expensive. Most people buy cheap calorie dense food rather than fresh nutritious food. I would often advise people anything that comes out of a box or a can should be avoided. The foods they should be looking for should still have dirt on them because they recently came out of the ground or blood still dripping off of it because it’s fresh and hasn’t been processed yet. This is a simplistic statement but it was often helpful in conveying the types of foods that would make for better nutrition choices.

The poor American diet is unfortunately far too common. It is also far too easily accessible as well. Eating a healthy fresh food diet requires time and effort. It also often costs more. But my guess is those with legs too swollen to walk, or feet to numb to walk, or who no longer have feet to walk with, would look back and find fresh foods a bargain.