Eco-Logical Eating

Many people I have talked to about my May Term classes seemed interested. I thought what better way to share what I'm learning than to blog it? So this post will focus on my class called "Eco-Logical Eating."

The class is taught by two theatre teachers, Michael and Nina Vought. They are interested in being "green" and conscious of how our lives affect the earth. They built their house to be sustainable and it is gorgeous. Big but gorgeous. Their backyard is amazing too. They are modern upper class hippies and passionate about the politics of eating. Both are naturally beautiful and quirky. I am enchanted. But enough of my adoration, let's get to the substance of the class.



The book we are reading over the course of the month is The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollon. If you want to know the details of what I'll be summarizing, I suggest getting a copy. Or borrowing mine when the class is over.

The class starts at the Vought's house where Nina cooks us something that is both healthy for us the planet. Not to mention fabulously delicious (Nina says, "A diet isn't sustatainable unless it's fabulously delicious"). The first day of class we had smooties and sandwhiches. The next day we met we were given a taste of almond milk (which I helped make - it was so much fun), which we later had in the form of strawberry bannana smoothies, and cashew french toast with a garden burger sausage. The Vought's are essentially vegans though Michael says he likes to avoid the label. So that's where the cashew comes in. Instead of using milk and eggs to make the batter for the toast, Nina makes a batter from blended cashews.

For the information part of the class, we learned about nutrition. Well, sort of. A nutritionist who owns a hollistic health business in Park City talked to us about how eating to keep the environment healthy is more nutritious and healthy for ourselves and society as well. She used another of Michael Pollon's books to structure our discussion, In Defense of Food.

The first thing we talked about is how the Western diet has lead to Western diseases. Osteoporosis (sp?), diabetes, some heart diseases, and more are unique to Western society. Crazy. We think our health is so great here but compared to other developed countries, we are actually near the bottom.

We need to eat diets that come mainly from our landscape. Local whole foods are the most healthy and suited for us. The nutritionist gave us some pointers from Michael Pollan.
She talked about eating food (not food products) and gave us some tips to help:

• Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. We expanded this into also asking whether or not she could make it.
• Don't eat things with unfamiliar ingredients, unpronounceable ingredients, more than 5 ingredients (I think this one's a little strict), or high fructose corn syrup (very bad for you despite what the commercial say)
• Avoid products that make health claims (ie. high in omega 3s or contains fish oil)
• Shop on the edges of the supermarket. (think produce department, deli, etc. where the whole foods are)
• Pay more and eat less. If you eat nutrient dense meals, you won't feel as hungry and will eat less but still get what you need. So while you may pay more for your food, you get better quality.
• Don't eat things that won't rot. (Think Twinkies)
• Try to shop outside of supermarkets. Go to the farmer's market, join a community supported agriculture group, or buy at local farms. They are usually more healthy and organic and have more diversity as far as whole food choices go.
• Eat mostly plants. It actually lowers your risk for cancer.
• You are what you eat eats. Think about what is in the meat that you eat. If you are looking for more healthy chicken or eggs, go with the "pasturized" label. For beef, look for "grass finished" or "grass fed." Fish is a tricky issue. Michael says some species are farmed sustainably. Others aren't, Salmon for example. He said to look into it on our own if that is an issue for us.

Next we talked about some guidlines about how to eat.

• Eat less (we talked about this above. Also, it prevents obesity)
• Eat meals. I have heard that snacking throughout the day is good but the nutritionist said that meals are better because they require you to sit down and make time for eating. A related point was to eat at a table. Not your desk or in your car.
• Don't eat alone. Eating is a good time to commune and connect with your loved ones.
• Eat slowly. (Take that Blake! Always making fun of me for eating slow!) And take time to relax and slow down before you begin eating.

The way we eat can affect ourselves (obviously), but it also affects our society and the environment. When we know who and where our food comes from, we value those who grow it. We gain a connection with them. We also can expand our relationships with our family and friends when we cook and eat with them. As for the environment, I have learned so much in Pollan's book about corn that I don't want to cram it into this already gigantic post, but it really does affect the environment in drastic ways. Maybe I'll talk about that in a later post.

I will mention a couple other books. Michael and Nina started their raw diet after reading Diet for a New America by John Robbins (he is actually tied to Baskin Robbins ice cream, he was going to inherit the company but chose not to). Nina's favorite cookbook, which is where she learned to make almond milk and inspired her to create her cashew french toast, is the American Vegetarian Cookbook by Maralyn Diamond (sp?).

I hope you will keep following my class and I would love to talk about it with you anytime. If you have questions, objections, or comments, I'd love to hear them.