Back to Nature

We live in an age of processed foods - right from morning breakfast cereals to dinner deserts if any. We like the choices we have (sometimes needlessly many) when we shop for groceries. Atleast in the US, the FDA mandates the disclosure of nutrition information in the food products. Any food item with such a label, even though it got FDA's approval, should have my wife's approval to find its way to our shopping cart. However, I have always been troubled by the needlessly lengthy ingredients list accompanying the nutrition facts. What do you expect to be inside a bag of potato chips - potato, oil, salt, some spices may be for flavor. Try a bag of Lays Potato chips ingredients list next time if you want to be surprised. 

The list of edible chemicals listed among the ingredients of such processed food has often made me wonder whether we are injecting too many unnecessary chemicals and synthetics just to afford the convenience of fast/processed foods - the chemicals mostly intended to keep the food from spoiling for a prolonged time and sometimes even touted to maintain "freshness" of an otherwise-month-old-stale food. Is that worth it ?

The concept of "Organic" food has captured my attention for while now but nothing like in recent times. Of late, they seem to strike a chord with my aforesaid suspicious nature to a great extent. I decided to explore it and give it a try. For the past few months, I have been opting for "organic" options in milk, yogurt, buttermilk, eggs, vegetables (as much as possible). Of course, the other staple items of Indian diet like rice, lentils are not yet available in bulk in organic variety. I would not say that organic switch is not costly. Nor would I be satisfied that all we are eating ever since is healthy. But a satisfaction that some key consumptions of the day like milk is to some extent (as claimed) chemical free. 

I should give my wife credit in this regard. She was the one who grew skeptical of such things even before I started seeing the point in her argument. She has moved away from non-stick cookware altogether (despite the labor intensive cleaning needed for stainless steel vessels). She makes it a point to cut down on processed food for our son (despite the occasional candy or so). She makes fresh rotis for his lunch daily (no frozen).  These initiatives from my wife and the move towards organics for few of our daily needs has given a glimmer of hope. But still a long way to go to get back to nature.....