Developing A Personal Food Policy

What is your Personal Food Policy? New York times food columnist and the author of Food matters, Mark Bittman speaking at the second day of the IIN conference urged everyone to take time to learn about the food that we put into our bodies and develop a personal roadmap that moves us in a healthy direction that is right for us.

The dictionary definition of “food” is “material consisting essentially of protein, carbohydrate, and fat used in the body of an organism to sustain growth, repair, and vital processes and to furnish energy”. 

Does what you eat fit that definition, or is it a UFO (Unidentified Food Product)?

Developing a Personal Food Policy might include such things eating more fruits and vegetables, eating organically and locally, becoming a vegetarian, eating more whole foods and fewer processed foods, reducing or eliminating refined carbohydrates, reducing or eliminating sugar, only eating pasture-raised animal products and wild-caught fish.  Designating certain meals as “family meals” where the family eats together, eliminating late night snacking, and eating more consistently throughout the day are things that would also figure in a personal food policy.

Food and where it comes from becomes more than about what we eat.  The growth of Agribusiness has meant food in abundance, but at a high cost to the environment and to the nutritional quality of the food it produces.  The animal cruelty found in Consolidated Feed Lot Operations  (CFLO’s) and poultry and commercial dairy operations, as well as the pesticides, chemical fertilizers and GMO’s now prevalent in our food supply are things everyone should be aware and mindful of when developing their Food Policy.  Political activism, such as re-vamping the school lunch program, getting rid of vending machines in schools, supporting the soda tax, demanding the labeling of GMO products, petitioning to limit the amount of food advertising to children and campaigning to have congress subsidize fruit and vegetable farming to the same extent as meat and dairy might also figure in your Policy. (Fresh fruits and vegetables are considered a “Specialty Food by the FDA).

Diseases of lifestyle (diabetes, heart disease, cancer) now cause more deaths than contagious diseases. As the population ages, these diseases of lifestyle will be a major drain on our economy, our communities and our families. The sad thing they are very, very preventable.  Developing a Personal Food Policy with the goal of improving your health and well-being and that of your community and the planet is a personal responsibility we all must take.