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.