Whole Foods - The Importance Of

It's evident we're a society of convenience.  As if 'yesterday' weren't soon enough, we want it now! Those yesteryear's of spending the day cooking in the kitchen and sitting down to a family meal around the dinner table have become a thing of the past.  It's sad really, because those are some of my fondest childhood memories.  Maybe they seemed to be 'good' because we were rather ignorant of food nutrients back then.  Cholesterol, what was that?
Times have certainly changed, and we now have no excuse of not being an informed people, however, most of us are still clinging to the ignorance, perhaps because some of us just never bothered to look at food labels to read what we were getting.
In 1990, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act was passed, and this law is what began to guide Americans to become educated and more in charge of their own health.  No longer were you 'left in the dark' about ingredients in the foods you were purchasing. 
Because the field of nutrition is ever changing, it can become overwhelming and complicated to try to keep up with it.  One day you hear something is bad for you, the next day, not so. 
Grocery store shelves are loaded with processed junk.  It's convenient, so we buy it.  Fresh has gotten lost in the mix.  We tend to flock to the center of the store when we should be shopping the perimeter where the better food choices reside.  Whole foods are advancing in popularity as health issues are gaining more 'air time' on the news.  Diseases such as diabetes, high cholesterol, and cancer are rampant.  We need to realize what we eat directly connects to disease in our bodies.  It is necessary to radically change our diets to what our bodies need, not what is convenient.  Our lives are filled with running here and there, and we just don't slow down...our food choices reflect that, and it has got to change, or we will continue to see an increase in nutrition related disease and illness.  We are a society of food abundance, yet we are malnourished.  We must reverse this trend!
Even our supplements, which have gained popularity over the past couple of decades are lacking.  We buy something off the shelf without knowing if it is complete, just hoping it will cover our nutritional deficiencies.  Let me tell you, I'm starting to learn that since I took my nutrition course back in the early 90's, a lot has changed in the supplement world.  The majority of supplements on the market are just fractions of vitamins, not complete complexes like those found in whole foods.  So where we think we are making up for deficiencies, we are actually adding to them!  Perhaps you may think all is well now...but on down the line you may find out different...then you have something to deal with and turning it around may not be a possibility.
I will be writing many more blogs about whole foods and supplements, as it is very important for our health.  Not only for us, but for our furry companions as well.  Please check out my other blog regarding canine health and nutrition at: http://canineadvocateinindy.blogspot.com
It's the 21st Century...we are very technologically advanced, we should also be very educated and in charge of our own health...nobody else can do it for you.