October 4, 2023 • 22 mins
Have you ever thought about the power of your kitchen? This episode of The Kitchen Activist is about to shatter your preconceptions and reveal the shocking truth about ultra-processed foods. I'm going far beyond the well-trodden path of health concerns and delving into the environmental havoc these food products can wreak - from climate change and water scarcity to deforestation and pollution. But it's not all gloom. I'm also arming you with the knowledge you need to fight back. Get ready to redefine your grocery shopping strategy, navigate the maze of ingredient labels, and embrace the benefits of organic and plant-based meals.
Transform your kitchen into a hub of environmental activism. Minimizing ultra-processed food in your diet boosts your health and significantly contributes to the planet. Discover how home-cooked meals are often more resource-efficient than the so-called 'food waste reducing' ultra-processed options. The episode also challenges the popular notion that ultra-processed foods are cheaper, shedding light on the actual cost of these products.
Join me, Florencia Ramirez, as we re-imagine food systems and make choices that benefit our health and collective well-being. You're not just a consumer; you're a Kitchen Activist. Tune in and take a stand!
I refer to the following interview/study:
Packaged Foods Labeled as Organic Have a More Healthful Profile Than Their Conventional Counterparts, According to Analysis of Products Sold in the U.S. in 2019–2020
Start Meal Planning to Save the Planet and Money! Click Here to get started.
Join us inside the Kitchen Activist Collective. Learn more here.
Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book.
Reach me at info@eatlesswater.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome, I'm glad you're here.
Together, we will turn ourshared concern about the state
of our environment into a forcefor change.
It will require you toreimagine the role of your home
kitchen as more than a warehouseof food or a room where we cook
and gather to eat.
The time has come to enter yourkitchen with eyes open to the
(00:24):
transformative power itharnesses for the planet and you
.
The home kitchen has alwaysbeen ground zero for positive
environmental and social change,waiting for you to take your
position as a kitchen activist.
Now that you arrived, you willchange the world with what you
(00:45):
eat.
Welcome, I'm so glad you'rehere.
(01:11):
This is Florentia Ramirez andI'm the host of this podcast,
which I call the KitchenActivist, and I hope you're here
because you are a kitchenactivist and you want to make a
difference with your food,starting with your next meal.
And I am really fired up todayabout this particular topic.
(01:33):
I was just listening to an NPRinterview with an author who
wrote a book called UltraProcessed People.
I will link the interview inthe show notes because it is
absolutely worth a listen.
Currently, anywhere between 60to 80% of our intake of calories
(01:54):
is based on ultra processedfoods.
Before I go any further.
Let me just spend a moment onwhat is the difference between
processed foods and ultraprocessed foods, because the
distinction is important andoftentimes we are confused by
the difference on purpose.
So, for example, yesterday Imade a pot of beans because I
(02:18):
cooked dry beans and into a beanthat we can eat.
That is a processed food, butclearly that's good for you,
right?
Processed foods is justchanging the nature of that food
by roasting, cooking, canning,fermenting right, that's fine.
(02:39):
What is ultra processed foods iswhat's connected to all the
things that are causing suchdestruction on this planet
Extractive, big agriculture thatrelies on petroleum based
products, like chemicals andpetroleum based fertilizers.
(03:01):
It's not our fault that this iswhat we find as the choice in
the grocery store.
Young people, like teenagers,they're finding that 80% of
their diet is coming from ultraprocessed foods.
So it just gets me mad becauseit's making us sick.
They're finding this type offood is a link to cancer.
(03:25):
They're finding that it'schanging the microbiomes of our
guts, which totally makes senseto me when I look at soil health
, for example, when soil isalive with that microbiology
which I'd like to talk about,because that is exactly what we
(03:45):
need thriving around this planetbecause it produces more
nutritious food.
The food or the plants that aregrowing in that soil require
less water up to 10,000 timesless water because the soil acts
like a sponge and is able todraw water down instead of water
(04:06):
sliding off or evaporatingbefore it can replenish aquifers
, those groundwater lakes thatwe can't see but are so critical
.
And healthy soil alive withmicrobiology.
Those microbes are also able toscrub carbon, which is a
(04:30):
greenhouse gas, from the sky andput it in the ground Well, our
guts.
When they're healthy and alivealso with that good bacteria, it
keeps us healthy.
But when we eat thisultra-processed food, it is
stripping away the microbiologyin our guts and soil.
(04:53):
And people who are advocatingfor this type of food and
studies that are funded bybusinesses and institutions
profiting from this type of foodare suggesting that by
extending the shelf life withthese food additives, they're
doing us a favor because it isreducing food waste.
(05:15):
I certainly am a huge advocateof reducing food waste.
We have to reduce food wastebecause that rotting food is
emitting methane gas, which iscontributing to climate change.
So I get it and it takes waterand we don't want to waste food,
but it's confusing us andconfusing the kitchen activists,
(05:39):
because the problem with thatreasoning is the same food
that's in the box that can lasta year or even longer on the
shelf required much more water.
It required petroleum basedingredients, like chemicals,
from the seed all the way to thebox, very extractive methods
(06:02):
that are contributors to climatechange, to water scarcity,
deforestation and waterpollution.
But then you can tell me thatI'm doing a good thing for the
environment or that they'redoing a good thing for the
environment because, even thoughit required all of those
practices that are devastatingto the environment and to our
(06:25):
human health, at least at thevery least, it's not
contributing to food wastebecause it can last on your
shelf, because of all of theadditives, for one year.
That makes no sense, but itdoes absolutely confuse the
(06:46):
consumer to think that it's okaythat these food additives are
okay, that this ultra-processedfood is the way forward, right,
and it's not.
This is part of how we need toreimagine our food systems.
We need to take back our foodsystems so that they are in
(07:08):
alignment with nature.
They're in alignment withproducing healthy outcomes for
people in the planet and ultraprocessed foods that our kids,
especially, are eating not justat home, but that's also what
they're getting fed in manycafeterias around our country.
(07:31):
I remember when I used tosubstitute teach and I would go
into the cafeteria from to getlunch, and I remember some days
they would give, at thisparticular in this particular
district near me, these peanutbutter well, what they call
peanut butter and jellysandwiches that were like
(07:51):
smushed ultra processed breads,because there's processed breads
and there's ultra processedbreads, and the breads that we
get from the baker and from thefarmer's market are not using
all of these differentingredients that we would not
find in our cupboards.
That really is the differencebetween processed and ultra
(08:13):
processed foods.
But is there ingredients thatwe wouldn't find in a normal
kitchen?
So things like I'm just gonnaread off some of the ingredients
that you may see on a box ofultra processed foods an ore bag
like high fructose, corn syrup,invert sugar, modified starches
(08:33):
like modified corn starches,hibernated oils and colorings,
de-foaming, bulking, bleachingagents, hydrolyzed protein.
Those are substances that youwould not find in a kitchen for
your cooking.
That's like an easy way to makethe distinction between a
(08:54):
processed food and an ultraprocessed food and not to let
the big food industryindustrialized food complex to
confuse us on the two, becausethey are very different.
Processed foods A nice bowl ofbeans or a delicious bowl of
(09:17):
rice with vegetables is notultra processed food.
It is processed because you hadto steam it or roast it and
it's also building the goodbacteria in your guts that help
keep us healthy, because we aremirrors of this planet.
Again and again there's justexamples of our guts that keep
(09:40):
us healthy and the microbiologyof soil that keeps the planet
healthy, and both are sufferingbecause of a food system that is
based on profit, profit, profitfor some, but not the mid.
As a kitchen activist, we areopening our eyes, paying
(10:05):
attention to the ingredientsgoing into our food, into the
agricultural methods that areproducing that food and then
bringing it into our kitchensand working on ways to extend
its shelf life.
That's not based on foodadditives, but rather on
organizational methods that cankeep food for as long as we can,
(10:29):
and it's also planning howwe're utilizing those
ingredients once we bring theminto our kitchen.
So we're not reliant on foodadditives to keep food from
rotting, but rather we're usingold ways of thinking and
planning for food.
Let's go into the action stepsof how we can build more real
(10:54):
foods into our diet, how we canpare down the ultra process
foods.
I certainly have some ultraprocess foods in my pantry if
you were to open it up right now, because I have kids too who
are asking for bags of chips,and this is not about perfection
.
But what can we do to lower ourultra process foods in our
(11:16):
kitchens because of thedestruction it's doing to the
planet and also the destructionit's doing to our bodies.
If it's not good for a river,it's not good for our bodies,
and if it's not good for thesoil, then it's not good for our
guts, our microbiomes that wehave going on in our own body.
(11:37):
So the action steps the firstis to meal plan.
We eat healthier, naturally,when you meal plan, because if
there's a plan for dinner plusthe already purchased
ingredients waiting in thekitchen, you will cook more
often, you will eat out less,you will eat less prepackaged
(12:00):
foods, and this is not just ifyou have a family.
Sometimes I'm by myself when I'min Santa Fe and sometimes I'll
start to think well, I don'tneed to meal plan, because it's
just me.
Why am I not enough to mealplan and to feed myself
nutritious foods?
Or if it's Michael and I justthe two of us there we still
(12:26):
have to meal plan because we'reeating and if we find that if we
don't meal plan, we are eatingout a whole lot more, or we're
snacking more because you'regoing through your cupboards and
your refrigerator and just likepulling out stuff when you cook
more dinners, then you findthat you have more leftovers
(12:49):
that are also nutritious foodsfor you to eat for your lunches
throughout the week, like if youopen my refrigerator now,
you'll see a homemade pesto thatI can make with some pasta.
I have rice with stir-friedvegetables that was left over
from a meal.
I have veggie pozole that wasleft over.
(13:10):
There I have three meals that Ican easily reheat and turn into
a lunch.
So instead of reaching into thefreezer for some ultra
processed package food or intoour snack containers and start
munching on chips or crackersthat are also ultra processed,
(13:33):
then I can minimize thatsnacking because I've had a
really good meal for lunch aswell as my dinner.
It just naturally happens and,according to researchers at John
Hopkins Bloomberg School ofPublic Health, people who
frequently cook meals at homeconsume fewer calories,
(13:55):
carbohydrates, sugar and fatthan those who cook less often.
The second would be look atlabels.
Pay attention to thoseingredients that you would not
have in your kitchen, that youwould not normally cook with,
because that is a red flag tosay this is ultra processed food
, irregardless of what thepackaging is telling you.
(14:17):
But it could say it's allnatural, which means nothing.
What really tells you what isinside of that box or bag of
food is what is listed in theingredients, and you really want
to just pick things that havevery few ingredients.
Pasta, I want it just to saysemolina, flour and water, and
(14:40):
that's it.
I don't need it to have anyother ingredients.
If I am picking up salt, forexample, I want it just to have
salt, not an anti-caking agent,which many salts do have.
We want to make sure we'remindful of the foods that we're
putting into our grocery carts.
(15:01):
The third is to buy more organicfoods, and this is a little
tricky because it's not to saythat organic foods cannot be
ultra processed, but they dohave fewer synthetic additives
that are permitted in theprocessing of organic foods.
If I buy a Twinkie, whetherit's conventional or organic,
(15:25):
it's still not good for you,right?
There is a study I'm going tolink that talks more about it.
It's called Package.
Foods Labeled as Organic have amore helpful profile than their
conventional counterparts,according to analysis of
products sold in the US, andthey looked at 8,240 organic
products and 72,000 conventionalfood products sold in the US
(15:49):
and then they compared thingslike sugar, added sugar,
saturated fat, sodium contentbetween these different labels.
It is a really interestingstudy, so I will have that in
the show notes for you, as wellas the link for that NPR
interview that got me going onthis topic today.
(16:10):
The last point I want to make oraddress is the cost, because
the food industry that advocatesultra-processed foods will say
that it extends shelf life, sothen that's good for the
environment and it also ischeaper.
It's producing cheaper food forpeople, which is good.
(16:32):
We want cheaper food becausenot everybody has food budgets
that can go out and buy organicfood.
So that is the argument.
The cost of food is going up,but ultra processed foods is
also not cheap.
When you buy a bag of chips, itis not cheap food, and then the
(16:56):
overall negative health impactsthat come with it is costly for
the individual and also for usas a collective society.
Oftentimes we'll hear certainthings and we believe them to be
true because we hear them somany times like organic food or
real food is too costly.
(17:16):
So what does that mean?
So that means people of coloror people who are under resource
then are stuck with this lowquality food that's causing some
serious health issues, likecancers, and when you start to
break it down.
So what I did this morning is Ispent some time looking at what
(17:37):
would be the cost of ingredientsif I were to make a lasagna a
beef lasagna, a serving size of12, using organic ingredients
like organic pasta, organicValley mozzarella and ricotta,
cans of organic tomatoes,organic Parmesan cheese and
(17:58):
organic ground beef.
What would that cost versusgoing to target in purchasing
ultra process family sizelasagna that serves seven?
So in order to make thiscomparison, I assumed that I
would need to buy two boxes ofthe lasagna from the freezer
(18:22):
section.
To compare that to one homemadepasta, the cost for the
homemade pasta with the organicingredients is $30, is about $30
.
If I were to buy two boxes ofthe ultra process lasagna from
Target, it would cost me $28.60.
(18:45):
So the difference in cost isnot very much.
You have to spend the time tomake the homemade organic pasta
versus purchasing somethingthat's convenient, convenient.
There are the trade-offs forthat convenience right, a
trade-off in our health and thehealth of our planet, and that
(19:07):
is where I draw the line.
As a kitchen activist, I amunwilling to make that trade-off
.
I am empowered to makedifferent choices in my own
kitchen that are climatesolutions, saving water, that
are contributing to the healthof the planet, my individual
(19:30):
health and the health of thepeople around, and to me that
feels really good.
I'm not going to believe themarketing of many of these
brands that have a lot to gainin our disinformation.
In summary, the things we cando one meal plan, meal plan meal
(19:51):
plan to eat healthier food andto cook more food from scratch
more often in your kitchen.
Two, look at labels.
If there's anything on thatlabel that you would not have in
your own kitchen or is not in astandard kitchen, then leave it
(20:12):
on the shelf.
And three, buy more organicfoods.
And again, while this is animperfect system because there
are organic foods that are older, processed and pushing back
against corporations that havetheir hand in organic and are
trying to water down thatorganic label, and us, as
(20:34):
consumers, need to push back andleave some of those organic
labeled foods on the shelf tosay, hey, wait a minute, we're
not interested in ultraprocessed foods, whether it's
organic or not organic, butthere are regulations and
standards around that, unlikethe conventional counterpart of
(20:57):
those foods.
It is a simple way to know thatyou are minimizing
automatically ultra processedfood in your diet if you're
purchasing organic labeled foods.
And the fourth thing I wouldadd to it is just eat more
plants.
If we just eat more plants,instead of reaching for chips,
(21:19):
why not reach for grapes orslices of melon, whatever fruits
and vegetables that are inseason, and you can find that
easily at your farmers market.
Those are the action steps mealplan.
Look at labels, more organicfoods and eat more plants.
Thank you so much for joining me.
(21:41):
Please reach out.
I would love to hear whatyou're doing in your kitchen and
ideas on how we can strengthenour kitchen activism together.
Be well, let's stay connected.
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(22:06):
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(22:29):
Together, we will write thestory of wellbeing for this
planet we have the privilege tocall home.
Meet you back here everyWednesday.
There is power in thecollective.
Welcome, I'm glad you're here.
Together, we will turn ourshared concern about the state
of our environment into a forcefor change.
It will require you toreimagine the role of your home
kitchen as more than a warehouseof food or a room where we cook
and gather to eat.
The time has come to enter yourkitchen with eyes open to the
(00:24):
transformative power itharnesses for the planet and you
.
The home kitchen has alwaysbeen ground zero for positive
environmental and social change,waiting for you to take your
position as a kitchen activist.
Now that you arrived, you willchange the world with what you
(00:45):
eat.
Welcome, I'm so glad you'rehere.
(01:11):
This is Florentia Ramirez andI'm the host of this podcast,
which I call the KitchenActivist, and I hope you're here
because you are a kitchenactivist and you want to make a
difference with your food,starting with your next meal.
And I am really fired up todayabout this particular topic.
(01:33):
I was just listening to an NPRinterview with an author who
wrote a book called UltraProcessed People.
I will link the interview inthe show notes because it is
absolutely worth a listen.
Currently, anywhere between 60to 80% of our intake of calories
(01:54):
is based on ultra processedfoods.
Before I go any further.
Let me just spend a moment onwhat is the difference between
processed foods and ultraprocessed foods, because the
distinction is important andoftentimes we are confused by
the difference on purpose.
So, for example, yesterday Imade a pot of beans because I
(02:18):
cooked dry beans and into a beanthat we can eat.
That is a processed food, butclearly that's good for you,
right?
Processed foods is justchanging the nature of that food
by roasting, cooking, canning,fermenting right, that's fine.
(02:39):
What is ultra processed foods iswhat's connected to all the
things that are causing suchdestruction on this planet
Extractive, big agriculture thatrelies on petroleum based
products, like chemicals andpetroleum based fertilizers.
(03:01):
It's not our fault that this iswhat we find as the choice in
the grocery store.
Young people, like teenagers,they're finding that 80% of
their diet is coming from ultraprocessed foods.
So it just gets me mad becauseit's making us sick.
They're finding this type offood is a link to cancer.
(03:25):
They're finding that it'schanging the microbiomes of our
guts, which totally makes senseto me when I look at soil health
, for example, when soil isalive with that microbiology
which I'd like to talk about,because that is exactly what we
(03:45):
need thriving around this planetbecause it produces more
nutritious food.
The food or the plants that aregrowing in that soil require
less water up to 10,000 timesless water because the soil acts
like a sponge and is able todraw water down instead of water
(04:06):
sliding off or evaporatingbefore it can replenish aquifers
, those groundwater lakes thatwe can't see but are so critical
.
And healthy soil alive withmicrobiology.
Those microbes are also able toscrub carbon, which is a
(04:30):
greenhouse gas, from the sky andput it in the ground Well, our
guts.
When they're healthy and alivealso with that good bacteria, it
keeps us healthy.
But when we eat thisultra-processed food, it is
stripping away the microbiologyin our guts and soil.
(04:53):
And people who are advocatingfor this type of food and
studies that are funded bybusinesses and institutions
profiting from this type of foodare suggesting that by
extending the shelf life withthese food additives, they're
doing us a favor because it isreducing food waste.
(05:15):
I certainly am a huge advocateof reducing food waste.
We have to reduce food wastebecause that rotting food is
emitting methane gas, which iscontributing to climate change.
So I get it and it takes waterand we don't want to waste food,
but it's confusing us andconfusing the kitchen activists,
(05:39):
because the problem with thatreasoning is the same food
that's in the box that can lasta year or even longer on the
shelf required much more water.
It required petroleum basedingredients, like chemicals,
from the seed all the way to thebox, very extractive methods
(06:02):
that are contributors to climatechange, to water scarcity,
deforestation and waterpollution.
But then you can tell me thatI'm doing a good thing for the
environment or that they'redoing a good thing for the
environment because, even thoughit required all of those
practices that are devastatingto the environment and to our
(06:25):
human health, at least at thevery least, it's not
contributing to food wastebecause it can last on your
shelf, because of all of theadditives, for one year.
That makes no sense, but itdoes absolutely confuse the
(06:46):
consumer to think that it's okaythat these food additives are
okay, that this ultra-processedfood is the way forward, right,
and it's not.
This is part of how we need toreimagine our food systems.
We need to take back our foodsystems so that they are in
(07:08):
alignment with nature.
They're in alignment withproducing healthy outcomes for
people in the planet and ultraprocessed foods that our kids,
especially, are eating not justat home, but that's also what
they're getting fed in manycafeterias around our country.
(07:31):
I remember when I used tosubstitute teach and I would go
into the cafeteria from to getlunch, and I remember some days
they would give, at thisparticular in this particular
district near me, these peanutbutter well, what they call
peanut butter and jellysandwiches that were like
(07:51):
smushed ultra processed breads,because there's processed breads
and there's ultra processedbreads, and the breads that we
get from the baker and from thefarmer's market are not using
all of these differentingredients that we would not
find in our cupboards.
That really is the differencebetween processed and ultra
(08:13):
processed foods.
But is there ingredients thatwe wouldn't find in a normal
kitchen?
So things like I'm just gonnaread off some of the ingredients
that you may see on a box ofultra processed foods an ore bag
like high fructose, corn syrup,invert sugar, modified starches
(08:33):
like modified corn starches,hibernated oils and colorings,
de-foaming, bulking, bleachingagents, hydrolyzed protein.
Those are substances that youwould not find in a kitchen for
your cooking.
That's like an easy way to makethe distinction between a
(08:54):
processed food and an ultraprocessed food and not to let
the big food industryindustrialized food complex to
confuse us on the two, becausethey are very different.
Processed foods A nice bowl ofbeans or a delicious bowl of
(09:17):
rice with vegetables is notultra processed food.
It is processed because you hadto steam it or roast it and
it's also building the goodbacteria in your guts that help
keep us healthy, because we aremirrors of this planet.
Again and again there's justexamples of our guts that keep
(09:40):
us healthy and the microbiologyof soil that keeps the planet
healthy, and both are sufferingbecause of a food system that is
based on profit, profit, profitfor some, but not the mid.
As a kitchen activist, we areopening our eyes, paying
(10:05):
attention to the ingredientsgoing into our food, into the
agricultural methods that areproducing that food and then
bringing it into our kitchensand working on ways to extend
its shelf life.
That's not based on foodadditives, but rather on
organizational methods that cankeep food for as long as we can,
(10:29):
and it's also planning howwe're utilizing those
ingredients once we bring theminto our kitchen.
So we're not reliant on foodadditives to keep food from
rotting, but rather we're usingold ways of thinking and
planning for food.
Let's go into the action stepsof how we can build more real
(10:54):
foods into our diet, how we canpare down the ultra process
foods.
I certainly have some ultraprocess foods in my pantry if
you were to open it up right now, because I have kids too who
are asking for bags of chips,and this is not about perfection
.
But what can we do to lower ourultra process foods in our
(11:16):
kitchens because of thedestruction it's doing to the
planet and also the destructionit's doing to our bodies.
If it's not good for a river,it's not good for our bodies,
and if it's not good for thesoil, then it's not good for our
guts, our microbiomes that wehave going on in our own body.
(11:37):
So the action steps the firstis to meal plan.
We eat healthier, naturally,when you meal plan, because if
there's a plan for dinner plusthe already purchased
ingredients waiting in thekitchen, you will cook more
often, you will eat out less,you will eat less prepackaged
(12:00):
foods, and this is not just ifyou have a family.
Sometimes I'm by myself when I'min Santa Fe and sometimes I'll
start to think well, I don'tneed to meal plan, because it's
just me.
Why am I not enough to mealplan and to feed myself
nutritious foods?
Or if it's Michael and I justthe two of us there we still
(12:26):
have to meal plan because we'reeating and if we find that if we
don't meal plan, we are eatingout a whole lot more, or we're
snacking more because you'regoing through your cupboards and
your refrigerator and just likepulling out stuff when you cook
more dinners, then you findthat you have more leftovers
(12:49):
that are also nutritious foodsfor you to eat for your lunches
throughout the week, like if youopen my refrigerator now,
you'll see a homemade pesto thatI can make with some pasta.
I have rice with stir-friedvegetables that was left over
from a meal.
I have veggie pozole that wasleft over.
(13:10):
There I have three meals that Ican easily reheat and turn into
a lunch.
So instead of reaching into thefreezer for some ultra
processed package food or intoour snack containers and start
munching on chips or crackersthat are also ultra processed,
(13:33):
then I can minimize thatsnacking because I've had a
really good meal for lunch aswell as my dinner.
It just naturally happens and,according to researchers at John
Hopkins Bloomberg School ofPublic Health, people who
frequently cook meals at homeconsume fewer calories,
(13:55):
carbohydrates, sugar and fatthan those who cook less often.
The second would be look atlabels.
Pay attention to thoseingredients that you would not
have in your kitchen, that youwould not normally cook with,
because that is a red flag tosay this is ultra processed food
, irregardless of what thepackaging is telling you.
(14:17):
But it could say it's allnatural, which means nothing.
What really tells you what isinside of that box or bag of
food is what is listed in theingredients, and you really want
to just pick things that havevery few ingredients.
Pasta, I want it just to saysemolina, flour and water, and
(14:40):
that's it.
I don't need it to have anyother ingredients.
If I am picking up salt, forexample, I want it just to have
salt, not an anti-caking agent,which many salts do have.
We want to make sure we'remindful of the foods that we're
putting into our grocery carts.
(15:01):
The third is to buy more organicfoods, and this is a little
tricky because it's not to saythat organic foods cannot be
ultra processed, but they dohave fewer synthetic additives
that are permitted in theprocessing of organic foods.
If I buy a Twinkie, whetherit's conventional or organic,
(15:25):
it's still not good for you,right?
There is a study I'm going tolink that talks more about it.
It's called Package.
Foods Labeled as Organic have amore helpful profile than their
conventional counterparts,according to analysis of
products sold in the US, andthey looked at 8,240 organic
products and 72,000 conventionalfood products sold in the US
(15:49):
and then they compared thingslike sugar, added sugar,
saturated fat, sodium contentbetween these different labels.
It is a really interestingstudy, so I will have that in
the show notes for you, as wellas the link for that NPR
interview that got me going onthis topic today.
(16:10):
The last point I want to make oraddress is the cost, because
the food industry that advocatesultra-processed foods will say
that it extends shelf life, sothen that's good for the
environment and it also ischeaper.
It's producing cheaper food forpeople, which is good.
(16:32):
We want cheaper food becausenot everybody has food budgets
that can go out and buy organicfood.
So that is the argument.
The cost of food is going up,but ultra processed foods is
also not cheap.
When you buy a bag of chips, itis not cheap food, and then the
(16:56):
overall negative health impactsthat come with it is costly for
the individual and also for usas a collective society.
Oftentimes we'll hear certainthings and we believe them to be
true because we hear them somany times like organic food or
real food is too costly.
(17:16):
So what does that mean?
So that means people of coloror people who are under resource
then are stuck with this lowquality food that's causing some
serious health issues, likecancers, and when you start to
break it down.
So what I did this morning is Ispent some time looking at what
(17:37):
would be the cost of ingredientsif I were to make a lasagna a
beef lasagna, a serving size of12, using organic ingredients
like organic pasta, organicValley mozzarella and ricotta,
cans of organic tomatoes,organic Parmesan cheese and
(17:58):
organic ground beef.
What would that cost versusgoing to target in purchasing
ultra process family sizelasagna that serves seven?
So in order to make thiscomparison, I assumed that I
would need to buy two boxes ofthe lasagna from the freezer
(18:22):
section.
To compare that to one homemadepasta, the cost for the
homemade pasta with the organicingredients is $30, is about $30
.
If I were to buy two boxes ofthe ultra process lasagna from
Target, it would cost me $28.60.
(18:45):
So the difference in cost isnot very much.
You have to spend the time tomake the homemade organic pasta
versus purchasing somethingthat's convenient, convenient.
There are the trade-offs forthat convenience right, a
trade-off in our health and thehealth of our planet, and that
(19:07):
is where I draw the line.
As a kitchen activist, I amunwilling to make that trade-off
.
I am empowered to makedifferent choices in my own
kitchen that are climatesolutions, saving water, that
are contributing to the healthof the planet, my individual
(19:30):
health and the health of thepeople around, and to me that
feels really good.
I'm not going to believe themarketing of many of these
brands that have a lot to gainin our disinformation.
In summary, the things we cando one meal plan, meal plan meal
(19:51):
plan to eat healthier food andto cook more food from scratch
more often in your kitchen.
Two, look at labels.
If there's anything on thatlabel that you would not have in
your own kitchen or is not in astandard kitchen, then leave it
(20:12):
on the shelf.
And three, buy more organicfoods.
And again, while this is animperfect system because there
are organic foods that are older, processed and pushing back
against corporations that havetheir hand in organic and are
trying to water down thatorganic label, and us, as
(20:34):
consumers, need to push back andleave some of those organic
labeled foods on the shelf tosay, hey, wait a minute, we're
not interested in ultraprocessed foods, whether it's
organic or not organic, butthere are regulations and
standards around that, unlikethe conventional counterpart of
(20:57):
those foods.
It is a simple way to know thatyou are minimizing
automatically ultra processedfood in your diet if you're
purchasing organic labeled foods.
And the fourth thing I wouldadd to it is just eat more
plants.
If we just eat more plants,instead of reaching for chips,
(21:19):
why not reach for grapes orslices of melon, whatever fruits
and vegetables that are inseason, and you can find that
easily at your farmers market.
Those are the action steps mealplan.
Look at labels, more organicfoods and eat more plants.
Thank you so much for joining me.
(21:41):
Please reach out.
I would love to hear whatyou're doing in your kitchen and
ideas on how we can strengthenour kitchen activism together.
Be well, let's stay connected.
Sign up for my newsletter andreceive more tips in your inbox
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(22:06):
Shop.
You can also find me on yourfavorite social media space.
At Eat Less Water.
Please remember to hitsubscribe and leave a review,
even if it's only the starrating, because every one of
them will increase the chancesof other like-minded folks to
find us.
Thank you for joining me onthis journey to Eat Less Water.
(22:29):
Together, we will write thestory of wellbeing for this
planet we have the privilege tocall home.
Meet you back here everyWednesday.
There is power in thecollective.
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