US Airways - February 2013 - (Page 138)

Must Read might call processed in fact are not. into every corner of American society or has had a long, multibranched At one point during my research, I represents the most dramatic nutrijourney through the nutritionally attended an industry conference where tional shift in human history. If we devastating food-processing industhe keynote discussion sought to tackle really are what we eat, then Americans trial complex. are a different dietary species from what the merits of food processing. The The aging guacamole notwithexample most often cited was pasteurwe were at the turn of the twentieth standing, my mom, who read food ized milk. Thank goodness for food century. As a population, we ingest labels with a discriminating eye long scientists, the argument went, who save double the amount of added fats, half before it was fashionable, still does Americans from countless outbreaks of the fiber, 60 percent more added sugher best to avoid “gooped-up” food. campylobacter and E. coli. Yes, thank ars, three and a half times more soShe cooks most of what she eats and goodness, but pasteurized milk, let’s be dium, and infinitely greater quantities continues to survey ingredients clear, is not a processed food. Nor are of corn and soybean ingredients than (although apparently not if the food frozen peas, canned beans, washed and we did in 1909. is already in the fridge). But her diet boxed spinach, bags of baby carrots, The trouble with this wholesale isn’t one of deprivation. She eats packages of aged cheese, or boxes of remaking of the American meal is that meat and dairy and plenty raw, frozen ground beef shaped into our human biology is ill equipped to of butter. hamburgers. handle it. The way our bodies metaboShe’s never been lactose-free, lize food is stuck somewhere sugar-free, caffeine-free, in total, some 70 perin the Stone Age, long before or fat-free. Nor does she have the age of Cheez Whiz, Frostany plans to go gluten-free: cent of the calories ed Flakes, and Classic The woman eats more bread we consume come Chick’N Crisp fried in vegorgafrom an assortment of than anyone. The only diet is etable oil. Our many novel nizing principle of her (ultra) processed food. that she predominately conand high-tech manipulations of food destroy much of its sumes things she would have At one point in time these products essential geography, resulting in all recognized as food growing up in the undoubtedly would have been heralded sorts of unintended consequences. thirties in Nova Scotia. She doesn’t as newfangled creations. But today they When we start taking food apart and eat fast food; there was none back barely register on the processing conindustrially processing it, it often stops then. And she’s never owned a microtinuum and are not included in that making biological sense. wave; they weren’t available until the 70 percent figure, which comes from a Processed food is even more ubiquiseventies. rigorous analysis done by the Brazilian tous than we think it is, in part because It seems to have worked well nutrition scientist Carlos Montiero. many products are designed to look as for her. In her early eighties, she’s in As a general rule — in a universe of if they’re not really processed at all. near-perfect health, with no chronic tens of thousands of foods, there are Subway’s “fresh” sandwiches and the conditions and no prescriptions to always exceptions — a processed food center aisles at Whole Foods, for infill, something that, if you ask her, is something that could not be made, stance, can both be quite perplexing. she will attribute in no small part with the same ingredients, in a home What are boxes of General Mills’s to what she eats. “What you put kitchen. Your home kitchen. Cascadian Farm’s Fruitful O’s and into your body matters, Melanie,” I’ve written this book with the core Cinnamon Crunch, if not Froot Loops she told me more than once while belief that it’s important to understand and Cinnamon Toast Crunch by other I was in college, eating Pop-Tarts what we’re eating. Some people won’t names? Whole Foods co-founder John and pizza for dinner. “Just because want to know and would rather just Mackey once acknowledged that some it’s edible doesn’t mean it’s good keep eating all their favorite foods in of what his stores sell are a “bunch of for you.” peace, and this book isn’t for them. junk.” And Subway’s bread is not much As hard as it was to acknowlBut for those who believe in the virtues more fresh and its meat no more whole edge at the time, she was on to of a health-promoting diet for themthan the bags of chips sitting up at the something. register. In total, some 70 percent of our selves and their families, few things are more important to understand than calories come from this sort of (ultra) Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed what happens to our food before it processed food. As an industry, this Food Took Over the American Meal gets to our plates — whether it’s amounts to $850 million a year. (Scribner) will become available this arrived from the farm reasonably intact And yet many foods that some month. 138 february 2013 usairwaysmag.com http://www.usairwaysmag.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of US Airways - February 2013

US Airways - February 2013
Table of Contents
CEO Letter
From the Editor
Did You Know?
Making It Happen
Hot Spots: Best Literary Pilgrimages
Wine & Dine: Top Chefs on This Year's Trends
Wine & Dine: Comfort Food
Great Escapes: Secret Mexican Hideaways
Adventure: Best Hikes in the Valley of the Sun
Gear Up: Romantic Gestures
Destination 48: Phoenix
Travel Feature: La Magnifica Costa del Pacifico
US Airways Feature: Sky-High Sips
Best of Living: Scottsdale Saddles Up
Special Section: Chateau on Central
Best of Living: The Reef Residences at Atlantis
Williamsburg: Rediscovering the Revolutionary City
Arts Spotlight: Ovation
Special Section: Kentucky
Riding Lessons: Miller School of Albemarle
The Arts of Orange County
Must Read: Pandora's Lunchbox by Melanie Warner
Great Dates
Puzzles
Readers Resource Index
Your US Airways Guide
Video Entertainment
Audio Entertainment
U.S. and Caribbean Service Map
International Service Map
Airport Terminal Maps
US Airways Fleet/Customs & Immigration
Passenger Info/Contact US Airways
US Airways MarketPlace®
Giving: US Airways' Do Crew
Window or Aisle?

US Airways - February 2013