What will you choose?
Every now and then an article or piece of research discussing food or agriculture comes across our screen and we have to address it. Recently we read such an article. The article, “Fat, Sugar, Salt…You’ve Been Thinking About Food All Wrong” by Matt Reynolds was published in Wired. Before you read our thoughts, we highly encourage you to read the actual article.
This article sets up food as a duality. There is “whole food” which is food one step away from it’s natural origin, food such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, cuts of meat, eggs, and milk. Then there is “ultra processed” food, which is food made using industrial processes often containing added flavors or preservatives, food like frozen pizza, cheese, instant soup, margarine, sweetened yogurts, or pre-prepared meat products. It’s no surprise that ultra processed food has increased in our modern diet. But the crux of this article is that food is more than the sum of its parts.
The central trial the article discusses is a 2019 trial that gave two sets of volunteers identical diets as far as nutrients and all of the parts on a nutritional label were concerned. Except one set of volunteers had ultra-processed food and one set of volunteers had whole food. You can see pictures of what both sets of volunteers ate here. The researchers found that the whole food eaters lost weight and felt full sooner than those eating ultra processed food - despite the nutrients being completely equal.
The article continues to discuss how researchers are trying to figure out why ultra processed foods act differently in our body, but we couldn’t help but feel that they lost the thread.
Reynolds discusses how following the 2019 study, researchers are now trying to figure out the difference in brain signals that is sent from ultra processed food vs whole food. But we think the solution is much simpler than this: eat more whole food.
As we pondered this article, we realized that we had three major takeaways:
Food is more than the individual nutrient components
Producing whole food for people to eat is feasible
We can't choose how the overall food system operates, but we can choose whole food for ourselves
Think about the best meal you have ever enjoyed. What were the circumstances of that meal? Were you sharing the meal with people you loved? What were you eating?
One of the best meals I (Kjersten) ever had was years ago in San Diego with my family on vacation. When I think of that meal, I don’t think about the individual parts of the meal, I think about the entire scene; how every part of the meal worked in concert to create a great memory. I think about the picturesque view of the Pacific Ocean at sunset, the funny circumstance that led my family to choosing the restaurant, the jokes we shared during the meal, and how the flavor of my meal was incredible. The actual food I ate was an integral part of the memory, but it wasn't the only part.
In a similar way, we can't boil healthy eating down to food's individual atoms or nutrients. Food is more than the components. Food is designed to nourish our bodies and our wellbeing. To give us energy and help us fight off illness or strengthen muscles. Food is a way to bring people together and celebrate. Every holiday or get together includes food because eating is a social activity. And the way our food is grown or raised is as important as what we eat and who we share meals with. To be reductionist about food is cut one of the aspects - health, social, and food's origins - out of the system.
A critique the article brings up is that there is “no way to feed billions of people without relying on processed food”. This critique is very tired to us farmers. Mostly because, very few people have even tried. In our state of South Dakota, 5.4 million acres of corn are grown and 5.3 million acres of soybeans are grown. Neither of these crops directly feed humans. They might be ground into feed for animals, processed into corn syrup, or used as a protein, but none of the corn or soy grown in South Dakota goes to a grocery store without several industrial steps.
Last year, we grew vegetables on 3/4 of an acre and provided vegetables for 32 households. While we recognize vegetables didn't make up the entirety of those family's calories and a healthy diet also requires grains, fruits, meats, and legumes, growing vegetables for our Farm Share members is an example of keeping the health, social, and origins of food in balance.
It can feel overwhelming to know how to confront a system as massive and chaotic as our food system. Individuals don't have a voice in what the broader system encourages farmers to grow, how food is processed in industrial settings, or what researchers decide is worth the effort studying. But we all have a choice over what we eat. We all can choose to prioritize holistic eating. We can choose food that improves our physical health, our social wellbeing, and the environment.
It may feel like a small choice to choose to eat more holistically. But from the perspective of a vegetable farmer, those choices matter and we feel the benefits when people make a choice to eat holistically.
Other Resources (if you find this topic interesting)
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
This book was required reading for a college class I took over a decade ago, but it had such an impact on my life that I still think about it and feel it has shaped how we view eating and farming.
The Dorito Effect by Mark Schatzker
This book was influential on Dirk. It discusses industrial food processes and how food science has created flavors that trick our bodies into eating more than we need because of powerful flavor added to ultra processed foods (like why it's hard to stop eating Doritos even though you know they're not good for you).
How to Grow More Vegetables... by John Jeavons
This book is more of a farming/gardening manual but it's also describes the philosophy behind the methods. John Jeavons created BioIntensive farming as a way to address the critique that we can't feed the population without industrial food. BioIntensive farming (when done well) can supply all of the food a family needs and the soil fertility the soil needs off of one acre of production. Dirk and I trained on a farm in Texas that used this system of farming so while we don't farm in exactly the same way now, we've been influenced by BioIntensive farming.