Food fuels more than your body

During my trip to the Midwest last week, where I grew up, I was reminded how unhealthy the food environment can be. I went to a “farmer’s market” in Michigan that had no fresh produce or anything from a farm except flowers. Half the vendors sold baked goods: cookies, cupcakes, breads, etc. These foods are probably better than the Big Food counterparts in grocery stores, but where were all the farm-fresh offerings?

Thankfully, Indiana offered better choices, especially since my family lives in a rural area among an Amish population. One morning, my brother Ed picked up some eggs from a neighbor to cook a tasty breakfast on his Blackstone. He watched as the neighbor gathered eggs as the hens laid them. It doesn’t get any more farm fresh than that. He complained that the neighbor raised the price to $4 for a dozen eggs. I told him I buy organic, pastured eggs at my local grocery store for $9 a dozen. As I wrote in a previous newsletter, pastured eggs are the best for you and the chickens.

Even having access to farm-fresh, organic whole foods doesn’t mean that’s what’s on the dinner table. While scanning the pantries and refrigerators in my family’s kitchens, I felt like I had the computer vision from The Terminator. The Standard American Diet is in full force in the Midwest, as I’m sure it is in most parts of the country. I kept my observations to myself so I wouldn’t…