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Thy food shall be thy medicine. – Hippocrates
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Our eating habit is more or less cultural and depends on
what we ate growing up. I grew up in
Japan eating meals made from scratch and cooked with whole foods as most Japanese
families did.*1 We
hardly ever used canned/jar food and ate little processed food except Tofu. We ate a small amount of meat always cooked with
vegetables. We typically bought fish,
vegetables and fruit available in that season. We know we should eat in-season food because they are the best (and
cheaper) only during that time. The
food was normally braised, sautéed, grilled (mostly fish), and very
occasionally deep fried. We drank green tea or brown tea (hoji-cha – roasted green tea) after meal. We ate fruit as a dessert, or
small-sized sweets (Japanese or Western).
I don’t remember what we ate for snacks, but definitely not a bag of
potato chips or ice cream, and didn’t drink soda except on our birthdays. I am aware that younger generations
probably eat more fast food, chips and soda, but there are a lot of other
alternatives, so they don’t have to eat fatty, sweet food all the time.
I almost always cook from scratch using organic ingredients as much as I can. If I cook something with a packaged/canned sauce even though
I use fresh vegetables and meat, I feel like I am not making a proper meal. If I use a frozen package meal and just
heat it up (always adding more vegetables), I don’t consider it “cooking.” I now make spice mix myself even for
ethnic food such as Mexican and Indian, that I usually bought packaged/canned
sauce or mix. I just want to use
the ingredients I know, and more importantly, it tastes much, much better (also cheaper). In the same sense, I never used a boxed
cake mix or a frozen pie crust in my life. If I make cookies, cake or pie, it must be from scratch. I also occasionally bake bread and make
fresh pasta. Even with all this, I
doubt I am considered a great cook in Japan because other Japanese women do as
much as I do.
I do have a high standard for what I eat,
and a high expectation for how I prepare meals. I place such importance on cooking with fresh whole foods because I believe we are what we eat. That’s why I find the popularity
of “supplements” and “superfoods” too excessive. It is great that
people try to be healthier, and I am not against buying dietary supplements. However,
I can’t help thinking why not eat whole foods as this country is abundant in
them. Some people seem to want a magic
pill, or a short-cut skipping eating a variety of vegetables and fruit everyday
and doing exercises regularly to have healthy life. “Supplements” are called supplements for a reason. I believe you need a good foundation of diet first to add supplements to see results. If we only need a collection of
nutrients, do we want to live in the world where everybody has to take just one
pill to survive?*2
What about “superfoods”? I believe ALL whole
foods are “superfoods” and more beneficial than multiple supplements. The bottom line is to eat a variety of whole foods, not just
ones publicized in the media. Whole foods consist of numerous nutrients
(including more complex micronutrients), minerals, fiber, and maybe something
else we don’t know yet that is good for us. Why abandoning the natural gift of Mother Earth? Above all, eating fresh food would bring us the joy of life.
*1 Just for fun, you might want to read “Japanese
Women Don’t Get Old or Fat.”
*2 I highly recommend a science fiction movie “Soylent Green.” Made back in the early 70’s, it seemed to have
predicted the current course of future already. It is very profound.