As I wrote about previously sugar can have negative impacts on health. The New York Times Magazine, just came out with a wonderful article about the state of sugar research and what the findings can and can’t tell us. The article ends with a line that sums up much of how I feel about diet and health in general, “Officially I’m not supposed to worry because the evidence isn’t conclusive, but I do.” It’s that sentiment that I gets me in trouble. When talking to people who aren’t sympathetic to my concerns I get upturned eyebrows and sideways stares, clearly I’m the crazy person in the room. But it’s long been known that experts aren’t always honest. Although it’s generally acknowledged that eating fast food isn’t healthy it’s much harder to find people who are willing to admit that EVERYTHING about their way of living is bad for their health and the health of the planet. Any given episode of “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” offers ample evidence that American’s either through ignorance or laziness eat horribly.
What’s a person to do? I propose that, like most things, we have to start with ourselves. I think the wikipedia page about the adage “pot calling the kettle black” offers a lot of useful ways to think about it. In short, clean-up your mess before you start criticizing someone else. In searching for a sustainable diet I’ve found these month long experiments to be helpful, even if they are crazy-making. Lately I’ve looked at the cookies in my freezer as if they held the answers to all of life’s problems.
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