Happy OM Chronicles: What to EAT

Once I finished grad school, I got to work on a LONG book list that I had made. For more than 3 years I had basically only read things that were (very interesting but) required. What to Eat was actually recommended in my Food, Stress, & Health class but was not mandatory. It is so great! I highly recommend it. And I bring it up now because I got to spend the morning at the Hilton in Portland listening to Marion Nestle, the author, give a very interesting lecture about food politics, personal responsibility versus social responsibility, food safety, obesity etc. I wish I could attach the lecture notes. I'm so inspired.

The entire lecture was educational, but one thing I'd like to stress is our over-consumption of highly processed foods and, I think it's intuitive, but they are really bad for us. And it gets confusing because of all the health claims on processed foods that the food companies use to make us feel good about purchasing them (you know, "lowers blood pressure and cholesterol, 'good' source of fiber, no trans fats" etc. but the nutrition label lists seven different sources of added sugar). We really need to be scrupulous label readers and if you don't have time for that than don't buy it. It was amusing when she pointed out that brands like Frito Lay, well, all the Big Food companies, use self-endorsements where they'll print big green check marks on a bag/box of chips stating it's a good choice but it's all based on self-selected criteria. (See below).

Oh, and did you know that the American Heart Association (AHA) gets paid for putting their endorsement on cereal boxes? Not good.

And the marketing (of junk) to kids is really out of control. Kellogg spent 33 million dollars last year just on marketing for cheez-its.

OM deserve better, all kids do. Social change around food is happening but it's slow so I hope you can check this book out at the library, see what you think, and make the world a better place:)

Here's her website and another website she recommends. Happy reading:)

Okay, and on to our day. After the lecture I raced home to see the two sweetest, cutest kids in America walking down the stairs in front of our house to get in the car to go to the library to watch a puppet show. Owen loved it. Maya was a bit indifferent but she's not even two so she sat quietly and looked at the other kids and some books we had picked up. The place was packed and it was so funny to Woody and I how hilarious the kids thought the show was. They laughed hysterically at the antics on display..so sweet.

We were kind of sitting in front so this doesn't show very well how many people were there...there were a lot.

Woody (not Maya:) enjoying the show.

Afterwards we walked across the street to the Farmer's Market. I bought these lovely petunias and two organic heirloom tomato plants and treated myself to a very tasty crepe filled with lots of fresh basil, juicy red tomatoes and feta and mozarella cheese...mmmm. OM shared a strawberry gelato.