Your grandmother fried everything in bacon fat. Yet she still ate better than you do (and we are taking into account your kale and chia seed addictions).
To be fair, your grandmother didn't have the food system working against her. Not only do we have to read labels that are increasingly complex, we also have modern-day produce that is lacking in the nutrition department.
We don't want to be negative nellies, but here's why things just ain't what they used to be:
Soil Depletion.
The phrase "nutrient rich soil" may have gone the way of doilies (what is the purpose of those things anyway?). Our agricultural methods are great at producing large amounts of produce, but also great at stripping nutrients from the soil. In the last half-century, we've had major declines in vitamins and minerals like calcium, iron and vitamin C in our soil (and therefore in our produce).
Agricultural Farming Practices.
We don't want to knock farmers, as we love going to their markets like the best of them. However, fertilization and irrigation can significantly impact the minerals in the fruit and vegetables we eat. Your raspberries may look bigger than ever but those smaller ones from the days of yore will have more of the good stuff. Guess good things do come in small packages.
GMOs.
We know that this word is a loaded topic. GMOs have had their DNA tinkered. Would you be the same if that happened to you? A recent study detected a massive difference in the calcium, magnesium and manganese of GMO corn. That could explain why so many of us have deficiencies.
Long-Distance Transportation.
Just as you get jetlagged, so too does your food. Handling, storage and transportation can have such an impact on food that locally grown mangos were found to have 117% more Vitamin C than imported mangos. That's a lot of percent.
Overprocessed Foods.
Colour and artificial flavour are two things, but even those all natural products at the grocery store are a lot less natural than making the recipe yourself. Packaged foods have no enzymes and hence very little nutrition. That's a lot of sacrifice for a little convenience.
This is not meant to make you throw up your hands in defeat. It is empowering information designed to encourage you to get as clean as possible, as organic as possible and as raw as possible.
If your diet is lacking due to factors you can't control, you can control how you supplement.
Grandma would be so proud.
Bad news: there are a lot of reasons why we aren't eating as well as our bacon-fat loving grandmas. Good news: Genuine Health can help us to supplement our diets (but not yet our knitting skills). Check out their good-for-you clean nutrition goods here.
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