Peanuts and Cracker Jacks
Take me out to the ball game… as long as I can bring my own food!
You may or may not know, my column is about health and nutrition, which is not always the most attractive topic. But, what’s more important than what you put into your body? Here’s a little perspective for you to munch on that might not be so boring: baseball!
My husband always preaches there are teaching moments in just about everything, so, in light of our recent good fortune of participating in the World Series, I can’t pass up this opportunity for a teaching moment on FOOD QUALITY. From the chili cheese fries, soda, and nachos, to the restaurant ads on television, to the food enjoyed by spectators at home – there is something about baseball culture that allows for all the food rules to go defunct. Baseball, the all-American sport, lives up to its name by remaining the epitome of the all-American diet.
Is that such a bad thing?
Baseball is an American icon. I grew up near the south side of Chicago with a father who was a die-hard White Sox fan. We spent summers at the old Comiskey Park enjoying polish sausage, churros, ice-cream, Cracker Jacks and soda. These are some of my fondest memories of childhood and I would not change them for anything. The very smell of the food when we entered the park made the experience memorable.
Today, what I miss most about my childhood baseball experience is the fact that the parks still had some real food. Food that wasn’t completely chemically processed and synthetic, food that tasted like food. Our country has gotten ultra-efficient at cutting costs by manufacturing foods in ways that are bigger, better, and faster, in order to draw a better bottom line. The result is food that literally makes us ill, food that we inhale without even tasting, food that lacks the taste of real food and tricks our taste buds into wanting more, food that – for the most part – is not food.
So what’s the lesson here? Moderation. Look around. The people in the stands at a game today are much less healthy than in the early 70’s. The so called “ball park” foods are a result of the broken food system in America and we have just come to accept that this is the way that it is. Or do we have to?
I have this thing called the 80/20 rule for healthy living. It is a way of managing your health, in a society where we aren’t educated on food quality and the harmful effects of food on our health. It basically suggests that you eat 80 percent foods that are real, wholesome, minimally processed, and reparative to your body. The 20 percent remains for those moments, like the ball park, where you are opting for the experience over the health benefits. Try it. If you keep a log of everything you eat for a week you will learn to increase the percent of health giving foods to 80 percent over time, while planning ahead for the 20 percent eating for enjoyment and experience. For most Americans, they are lucky if the percentage is 20/80.
We need to let the food be the medicine, not the poison. Every time you eat or drink, ask yourself, is this medicine that is helping to rejuvenate me, or is it poison that is making me ill?
Ball Park food is mostly poison, but you can help repair from the poison by eating 80 percent health-promoting foods the rest of the week.
To learn more about how you can apply the 80/20 rule for healthy living in your life, listen to Body Talk Radio on SunFM 91.3 Tuesdays at 2 p.m. Or email [email protected].
Remember, nothing tastes as good as healthy feels!
