Written by: Dr. Frannie Koe, MD, MPH
It is both our goal at AgroshareMD and the work of the practitioners at our clinic to help people overcome common barriers to eating better and being healthier. Many of us, if not all, run into these issues often. We will have a brief discussion of each one listed in order to let you know we all struggle and to provide suggestions and solutions.
There are so many things that keep us from eating healthy. Even as a doctor, I struggle with this myself. I am working on learning how to inspire people and to motivate them to eat better! You will see this process going on all over AgroshareMD.
What gets in the way of eating healthy food?
-Beliefs about food, good and bad:
We often have incorrect beliefs about food. This is an enormous problem in the food industry today. We are going to help you separate fact from fiction so that you can make well-informed decisions about the foods you eat.
–Money:
We totally understand that good tasting, healthy foods cost more than foods with very low nutrition. I could not go into a grocery store and buy the fruits and vegetables we ate for many years. My family relied on food stamps and it was too expensive to buy these healthy foods without going to my local produce market. I was so fortunate to have one where I could use the food stamps, and I went there for years. Although I no longer use food stamps, I also no longer have a market close enough to home to buy foods on a daily or weekly basis. So instead, I often grow food.
The idea of self-reliance is a big part of this website. We want to teach people and inspire people to grow as much of their own food as they can, even if it is in pots on their porch! It is beneficial in so many ways, including financial. We also want to encourage the use of farmers who are growing sustainably and regeneratively.
-Time:
One of our goals is to help people have ways to make healthy foods quickly. With the busy lives we lead, it is so important to get meals on the table without laboring for hours. This is not a simple task. But some healthy foods can be quick to make, especially when you consider how much time it takes to go out and buy food or go to a restaurant to eat. We also recommend having everyone in the family pitch in to do part of the meal, so the burden is not on one person. It can be a time to spend together and a learning experience for everyone. We also understand families are busy with ball games and extra-curricular activities, which can make it doubly hard to have time to prepare foods for the game or practice time. We will offer solutions for this as well.
-I don’t cook:
Many people simply have not learned to cook. But we can start out with simple recipes, and we will add techniques for people who are more comfortable in the kitchen, and for those who want to go further and learn to season to make fresh food taste its very best. We want to have something for all those folks who love to cook, as well as for those who never want to cook. We also will offer recommendations for healthy food delivery services out there that can be helpful.
-Travel:
Traveling is one of the largest barriers to healthy eating I have come across. This can be by plane or car or even on boats and trains. Most of these modes of travel don’t offer any healthy foods on the way. That is also the reason we have put together a map of Alabama where one can find healthy foods when traveling. It would be great if this idea bled into the rest of the country! We will talk more about each of these modes of travel and what to do when you are away from home.
-My family hates healthy food:
This can be a very tough barrier to overcome. You cannot force others to make healthy choices. I hear this all the time with many of my patients as they try to eat healthy themselves, but those around them don’t want to join in. This is especially true when a family has been eating processed foods most of their lives. Working with families that hate healthy foods takes a lot of communication, patience and perseverance. I know when unhealthy foods are available, I want to eat them, even though I know they aren’t good for me.
Having a health issue can make it a little easier to get the family on board, but not always. I often tell my husband that I don’t want to dictate to him what to eat. If he wants to eat something that I choose not to eat, I ask him to eat it when I am not around. He is very kind and respectful of my dietary choices, and he does this most of the time. It is also a challenge to teach kids how to try new foods and keep them from being so picky. Older kids are even harder. We all have to make our own choices. We will talk here about some ways to eat better despite our families and how to find options that may appeal to everyone.
-I don’t like healthy food:
If you don’t like healthy foods but you truly want to change your diet, then you can. You will just have to do it a little more slowly. Choose to be healthier for yourself and do whatever it takes.
I often think of people who have absolutely nothing to eat. If they got their hands on something that you and I would never want to put in our mouth like chicken liver or sardines, they would happily gobble it up. When you are truly hungry, it would amaze you what you would eat. I often try to remember this when trying something new. I will try it more than once. If I still do not enjoy it, I will try it cooked or prepared different ways. An example of this is sardines. I dislike them, even though I know they are good for me. However, I found a way to eat them! I even gave them to my granddaughter this way, and she did not even notice! The solution was to put them in a salmon salad mixed with mayo, celery, onions and some hard-boiled eggs. I did two cans of salmon and one can of sardines and neither one of us could even tell the sardines were in the salad. You may do this with tuna salad as well.
-I don’t know which diet is for me:
Confusion over the right diet can also be a barrier to healthy eating. The answer to this question can totally depend on you. There are many ways to eat and live long and prosper. No one way is the end-all, be-all of dietary choices. We are going to dive into the answer to this question in more depth here and in other places on our webpage. The right choice for you will depend on your current health conditions, where you live, what you can afford, and several other factors.
-Visiting family and friends, going to church, or other activities:
This is an issue faced by almost all of us. We all leave the house and need to eat. There are several recommendations we can make here. My first recommendation is eating beforehand and not being starving wherever you are going. I often take a cooler with me when I go to visit my kids. I also buy the foods I want to eat and share them with my kids and their families. If I am taking part in an event where everyone brings a dish, I will make more than one food I can eat and eat only the foods I’ve prepared and brought. Most of the time, there is something else I can eat that someone else has made.
–Eating out:
Many people find themselves stuck needing to eat out. I have done this in the past very often when I was traveling. Sometimes we cannot always plan ahead. Some tips I have tried that worked include asking for a steak to be cooked in butter and not in the processed oils on the grill. I have taken my own olive oil in my purse for salads. There is usually something healthy you can order in most restaurants, even fast food. Fast food, however, is much more of a challenge, so I try to avoid these places as much as possible. I rarely eat out. In fact, the more progress I make in my personal health journey, the more I avoid eating out. But you’ll find suggestions to eat nutritionally sound meals on the go here.
–Big Food and Big Ag
Big Food and Big Agriculture are huge topics. But I will touch on some ideas here. Understanding the multiple ways in which the modern agricultural and food industries impact our lives on a daily basis helps us be able to make different choices. I will also recommend a book about how Big Food and Big Ag are the driving forces behind many of our current health issues.
Food Fix by Dr. Mark Hyman is the best place to start. Often, we just go to the store, purchase what is available or familiar, and prepare food for our families without thinking about where it comes from or how it’s produced. We don’t really understand the true cost of our food. He explains the many ways our food system is hurting us.
In the United States, we lean heavily on chemical-laden farming methods where profit is emphasized over quality. This has lasting negative effects over many areas of our lives. Some of these costs include chronic disease, loss of biodiversity, shortages of fresh water, loss of soil, pollution, and dangerous and underpaid conditions for farm workers. Other issues include both health and environmental consequences of pesticides, decreased property values near some farming operations, antibiotic resistance and hazardous manure clean-up on animal feed lots. We want to educate you so that you may understand how important it is to know where your food comes from.
