We need to consider the food choices that match the regions we live in, when the food is grown, and to learn about the balance with nature that we are losing by deprecating our lands with mass monocultural practices. When we eat unseasonal food, it will be expensive. If your piece of fruit or vegetable has travelled 1000s of kilometres to arrive on your plate, we really need to take a long hard look at how we make food choices. Just look at the ever-increasing prices of fuel. Many of us don’t think about the distance the food has travelled to end up on our plates or the seasonality of food and the demand that drives suppliers to provide common staples all year round. Plus, they often gain government subsidies to bring down the cost of the food produced. Many large-scale farms focus on one crop to supply large distributors to our giant supermarket chains. To put this into context, good food can be expensive as it is often not mass produced using intensive, monoculture farming. But when you scrutinise what is driving the costs, you often find that the farmer is not the one receiving the extra money for production loss or production induced costs. And yes, these impact on the cost of food. The media tells us it is due to the recent floods, another year of fires, or another drought. Just looking at the news and social media, it is easy to believe that good food is expensive, especially when we see the price of iceberg lettuce skyrocketing to nearly $12 each or a whole watermelon costing over $100. Furthermore, we are conditioned into thinking that healthy food is expensive. You can see why food choices and healthy eating get pushed aside. We live incredibly busy lives juggling many things and feel constantly stressed about finances that seem to be ever increasing, the state of the world, and other things. It all seems like far too much work! And often it is. Yes, it is easier to buy a box of chicken nuggets on the way home from a busy day at work, especially after picking the kids up from school, rather than spending the time on planning and cooking a meal, and then serving it to yourself and the family.

I proclaim to be a supporter of the body positive movement, looking at lifestyle and mental wellbeing and that it is okay to be who you are, however I have never sat down to think that by promoting this way of thinking, are we allowing ourselves the easy way out of doing things to make ourselves healthy through good food choices and healthy eating. “We are in a world where we have become comfortable in our appearance and body, which is great, however, we have also become comfortable with being sick.” I recently heard a quote from Dr Garth Davis, bariatric surgeon, physician, and author, which got me really thinking:

With the increased food availability and choices, surely, we should be getting healthier, not sicker? Over the past few decades, we have seen an enormous increase in food choices, but a decline in health as obesity, diabetes, coronary heart disease and cancer rise in increasing numbers. Food provides our bodies with fuel as well as sustaining life. Looking at all the different ways to obtain energy has me thinking about the necessity of food. We can get energy from food which gives us calories to burn, sleep which restores our mental and physical wellbeing so we have energy to do things throughout the day, and from doing things we enjoy. How we obtain it however can come from a variety of sources.

By Barb Cook M.Aut.(Edu), Dip.HSc.(Nut), Developmental Educator, Integrative Neurodivergent Nutritionist & Adult ADHD Coach

Spectra wellness