Every time I spend the holidays (or any other meals) with my extended family, I get to thinking about eating habits. I grew up on TV dinners and frozen pizza – not the healthiest upbringing, to say the least. But, we got by. My mom raised three of us by herself while working and going to school, so money was tight. Still, now that I look at the rest of my family, I can see that nutrition is not high up on the list of priorities. My grandfather suffers from heart disease and diabetes. My mother and my aunt already have sugar-control problems and high cholesterol. Now that I’ve learned more about nutrition, these conditions kind of baffle me. Heart disease and diabetes (type 2) are two of the most preventable diseases, yet they’re wreaking havoc on our nation.
Experts estimate that the generation of kids growing up today will be the first generation ever not to outlive their parents. That means we’re becoming less healthy, generation to generation. We’re bypassing all of the healthy eating habits and passing on only the toxic patterns to our children. I remember watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution last year and seeing elementary school students who couldn’t properly identify a fresh tomato. Now, the USDA has essentially declared pizza as a vegetable for our school children. We are a nation in crisis.
One thing that desperately needs to be curbed, in my opinion, is our appetite for cholesterol. Most people don’t know this, but our bodies actually make cholesterol. There is some debate over whether we need to ingest cholesterol at all, but there is no doubt that as a society, we are eating too darn much of the stuff. The foods we love to overindulge in are rich, like meat and dairy, are high in cholesterol and low in vitamins. At the same time, we forgo the cholesterol-free foods that are very rich in nutrients our bodies need to function. I think if there is one New Year’s resolution that would be good for our country as a whole, it is this: Resolve to eat less cholesterol. We will all be healthier for it.