Ghinis French Cafe

What is good nutrition, anyway?

By Maya E. Nahra, RD, LD

I recently saw the movie Food, Inc. A memorable scene featured a family of four, plagued with diabetes, the risk of obesity and financial woes. They eat fast food three or more times a week because it feeds the entire family for under $10. They buy chips and soda at the grocery store because, ounce for ounce, they can get more for their money than buying fresh fruits and vegetables. They are forced to choose between diabetes medication and healing foods. Their children are at risk for obesity, heart disease, and diabetes, all before the age of 21. Watching this brought me to tears. It truly saddens me to think that today in America, grocery items with zero nutritional value are cheaper to buy than fresh fruits and vegetables - foods that are completely unprocessed and homegrown. Do we truly believe money is more important than health, than the Earth, than each other?

Now the question becomes, how do we supply ourselves and our families with good nutrition in a junk food saturated society? Medical studies do supply us with good general guidelines; they test hypotheses raised by scientists or by popular belief. Nevertheless, taking all your healthy-living cues from these studies is unrealistic and impractical.

I believe good nutrition is a learning experience, one I have observed with my friends, family and clients. They live happy, healthy lives, supported not by prescription drugs or clinical studies, but by their own powers of observation. They eat unadulterated food including pure oils, clean meats, real butter, lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh fish and whole eggs. They get fresh air and sunshine, learn ways to de-stress, exercise and even fit in red wine and chocolate. So what is good nutrition? Practice awareness; you already have the answer.