* This is part of a year-long series called "52 Weeks to Eating better than Ever". Click on the side bar for more information and to read the previous essays.
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The first rule of good medicine is to “do no harm”, and food is our best medicine.  In general, I want you to minimize the additives and preservatives you consume.  One of our main tasks with this series of essays on eating has been to simplify the approach to eating better.  We are learning to KISS- Keep It Simple & Short. If it’s not natural and if it’s processed, try to avoid it, and this includes additives and preservatives, and pesticides too.  It’s not the end of the world if you have the occasional Diet soda, birthday cake, or Cheetoh’s.  But look at that type of food as a rare thing.  Avoid all the extras most all of the time.  
 
It’s not that every additive and preservative is always harmful, not in the least.  They have both played a key role in survival and in making food taste better.  Where would we be without salt?  But in general, we want to eat for health, and not waste calories and intake on things which are not nutrient dense, on one hand, and may have harmful side effects on the other.  If there is a proven downside, risk, or even a potential risk, why not minimize it? It makes sense.
 
Preservatives and additives have been around forever.  Think about it.  Humans have been using salt, vinegar, and sugar to change and preserve food forever. Food colorings and other chemical substances added to increase the shelf life and taste of food are much newer. That being said, they aren’t all bad. But consider this scenario. You’re in a gas station on a 4-hour trip, and you’re starving.  Gas station food is notoriously unhealthy, so what are you going to choose?
            

• Worst choice: A regular soda and a pack of chips- No nutritional content, high sugar, high sodium, high fat. 

 

• Next worse choice: A regular soda and peanuts- Good fats, but high in sugar, sodium, and preservatives.  

 

• Good choice (tie): A diet soda and a pack of peanuts- High in preservatives, some caffeine, artificial sugar, and sodium.  But healthy fats and no sugar, better than juice for weight loss. 

 

• Good choice (tie):  A regular juice and peanuts- High in sugar and sodium, but low in preservatives, and high in good fat.  Not as good when trying to lose weight.  

 

• Best choice: A bottled water, a banana, and peanuts- Low in calories, low in preservatives, and high in nutrients, hydration, and good fat.  

 

• Possible best choice-  Don’t eat at all.  No calories, no preservatives, but no nutrients.  Wait until you find a healthy place to eat.  *Warning, may cause disorientation and bad driving.  

 
Again, it’s not that you can never have processed food or food containing food coloring or preservatives, but cut way back.  Minimize those things, or if you can eliminate them from what you regularly eat. When you buy fruit or veggies, wash them before you eat them, and buy organic if you can afford it.  
 
In another common example, it’s best to choose breads which are made fresh, or which you buy frozen. Check the ingredients.  If you can’t pronounce it, it may not be the best choice!
 
Here are some other facts about preservatives:

• Food coloring has been inconclusively linked to asthma and hyperactivity. Limit.
• High fructose corn syrup is not necessarily any worse than any other type of sugar, but it’s still sugar, which can cause health problems. Limit your sugar intake.  
• Aspartame has been studied at length and found to be safe, but then again, why push the envelope if you don’t know for certain. Moderation is sound and Stevia is an all-natural substitute, but try to break the addiction to sweet, real or artificial. 
• MSG- a form of glutamate, which occurs naturally, and serves to add flavor.  Some people swear they are allergic to it, but the evidence is slim.  Proceed with caution.  
• Sodium Benzoate- A food additive preservative. Inconclusive findings but avoid if possible.  It may cause hyperactivity in children. 
• Nitrates are preservatives for meat, which are associated with cancer, though the link is inconclusive.  Avoid if possible.
• Trans fats are one of the worst things you can eat.  Avoid at all costs, and check food labels.  Restaurants serve fried foods, baked foods, and deserts which may be high in trans fats.  
• Sulfites are a preservative found in wine, and in certain types of juices.  Probably safe, but may cause allergic reactions.  I have had certain wines cause this.
• Pesticides are made to kill things.  Why would we want to ingest them?

So, the philosophy is simple, when it comes to additives and preservatives:
 
Choose foods that are unrefined and unaltered most all the time because you’ll get more nutrient density and less chance of harm.

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Read next: The Necessary Role of Probiotics
 

I have been teaching a really fun and informative class on stress, called Stress: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly.   I thought you might enjoy seeing a small part of it, the 12 tips to building the stress muscles.  Send me a message to schedule a seminar at your organization.

Coping & Control – 12 Essential Tips to Building the Stress Muscles

1. Maintain positive friendships
2. Stay connected to your deepest core values.
3. Set challenging but achievable goals.
4. Sleep, rest, recover.
5. Exercise daily.
6. Eat a healthy diet.
7. Stay out of consumer debt.
8. Live in community and be part of a tradition.
9. Simplify, and use “Via Negativa” – taking away stressful things.
10. Practice mindfulness and breathing by praying, meditating, walking, and / or just being present in the moment, any moment, without any distractions. 
11. Start small and get control of the little details first, then work bigger.
12. Set healthy boundaries with yourself and others.  

It's really that simple.  Practice these and you will be much healthier when it comes to dealing with stress.  
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Most people who like to read can name a writer that has made a profound impact on them.  I'd like to hear about yours.  

One that comes to mind for me, who I have quoted quite a bit, is Roger Scruton.  

He has had a significant influence on me because for years I tried to fit together the pieces of the puzzle on some seemingly contradictory things:

• The US and UK are two of the wealthiest countries in the world.
• The US and UK are billed as the most "modern" and "progressive" in the world.
• The US and UK have the highest rates of mental illness in the world.
• The US and UK are the most individualistic, alienating, and atomized modern places in the world.
• There is a connection between culture and mental health.
• Scruton writes about love of home and about making a place in the world, and how this is necessary for a healthy society, including mental health.
• His work invokes many themes- art, science, music, architecture, sports, religion, sex, family, agriculture, philosophy, friendship, and politics.  
• All of these subjects are connected, just as all subjects are connected.

These are some quotes I wrote down from a series of essays I read of his, in a book format called "The Roger Scruton Reader." Enjoy:

10 Quotes from One of My Favorite Writers, Roger Scruton
 
“Without tradition, originality cannot exist: for it is only against a tradition that it becomes perceivable.  Tradition and originality are 2 components of a single process, whereby the individual makes himself known through his membership in the historical group.”
 
“There is an iron law of domination. Society requires organization and organization breeds control.”
 
(On modernity) “We are emphasizing the contract, but disregarding the membership.”
 
“We can, at any moment, turn away from desecration and ask ourselves instead what inspires us and what we should revere…We can turn our attention to things we love- the woods and streams of our native country, friends, and family, the ‘starry heavens above’ – and ask ourselves what they tell us about our lives on earth, and how that life should be lived.  And then we can look on the world of art, poetry, and music and know that there is a real difference between the sacrireligious, with which we are alone and troubled, and the beautiful with which we are in company and at home.”
 
“Aesthetic judgement matters, that it is not merely a subjective opinion…And, so it seemed to me, the aesthetics of modernism, with its denial of the past, its vandalization of the landscape and townscape, and its attempt to purge the world of history, was also a denial of community, home, and settlement.  Modernism in architecture was an attempt to remake the world as though it contained nothing save atomic individuals, disinfected of the past, and living like ants within their metallic and functional shells.”
 
“Real freedom, concrete freedom, the freedom that can actually be defined, claimed, and granted, was not the opposite of obedience but its other side.  The abstract, unreal freedom of the liberal intellect was really nothing more than childish disobedience, amplified into anarchy.” (commenting on the French riots of 1968 of which he was an observer)
 
“It was to observe, to know, to understand. And so I acquired the consciousness of death and dying, without which the world cannon be loved for what it is.”
 
“We should aim, not for a world without power, but for a world where power is peacefully exercised and where conflicts are resolved according to a conception of justice acceptable to those engaged in them.”
 
“Freedom consists, not in the absence of domination, but in the presence of a domination congenial to those contained by it.”
 
“To speak of coercion where there is need is to render freedom unobtainable.”
 
Philosophy isn't for everyone, but if you like reading about the intersection of everything, I recommend his work.

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Read Next: Walking is Meditation 
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* This is part of a year-long series called "52 Weeks to Eating better than Ever". Click on the side bar for more information and to read the previous essays.
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This one is going to make me a lot of enemies, I’m sure.  Everyone loves to go out to eat, including me, and some people even do it multiple times per day. The problems are many with this habit when it comes to healthy eating:

• Addiction- Restaurants serve a large dose of convenience (or laziness), fat, salt, and sugar, because that’s what stimulates your survival instincts and is addictive in food and what keeps you coming back for more.  

 

• Expense- Eating out is expensive! $10 per meal, 1 meal per day, is $3650 per year, which most people don’t have, and most meals cost much more than that. 

 

• Calories - Restaurant food is much higher in calories than eating at home, because you have control over portion sizes at home. 

All this considered….

Eating out is definitely for special occasions.  

Just following this one rule would allow many people to lose 10-20 pounds in one year and save thousands of dollars. The first restaurant in the world supposedly opened in Paris in 1765, and since then the business of eating has slowly expanded, and now exploded into an everyday thing.  But humans managed to survive for millions of years without eating out!  It’s become rare for families to eat dinner together every night at home, which is not good for our health, or our culture.  

Some have compared the devolution of cooking at home to the disappearance of sewing. Many people used to sew their own clothing, but once clothing became so inexpensive, people stopped sewing.  The problem with this theory is that eating out has not become inexpensive.  If anything, food prices and restaurant prices keep outpacing the inflation rate. Plus, there is nothing like hand made goods, or home-cooked foods. 

The average restaurant serves portions sizes 2-3 times the recommended amount.  As Americans, if we don’t get huge portions we feel cheated.  Trust me, I know, because I’ve felt this way!  Eating at home can correct our skewed ideas of what a healthy portion size is. Many people also falsely believe that eating out is faster.  Eating at home is much faster if you consider wait times, driving times, and factor in the time saved by preparing foods in bulk ahead of time.  

Let’s start a revolution.  Like many things which have declined in our culture, and been degraded, the great meal at home is one of them.  What happened to setting the table?  The dinner party? The blessing?  Taking the time to sit down and eat a home-cooked meal is one of the greatest pleasures of life, and it also helps us to slow down and reconnect with each other. The is a joyous occasion to commune, and to think about the things we are grateful for.

In the culture of “me”, where all “I” want and believe is all that really matters (in my own mind at least), we have been brainwashed into feeling guilty or “oppressed” about cooking for others, or even for ourselves.  Heaven forbid, we should serve others or something larger than ourselves!  Let’s change all that.  Let’s pick the ingredients, plan, execute, set the table, and serve.  Let’s linger at the table and enjoy.  We’ll be saving money, eating less, eating healthier, and enjoying each other’s company.
And on special occasions, we will go out to eat.  

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