Whole Foods for Health, To Eat or Not to Eat? That is the Question - Essay #4

This essay is a persuasive essay. I chose a topic that is important to me. Eating wholesome, healthy food for your overall good health. My teacher gave me a score of 94 because she thought I needed more facts.  The woman in the essay, Jacqueline, is my daughter-in-law. She is a great example to me of eating healthy and having courage.

Whole Foods for Health, To Eat or Not to Eat? That is the Question

       Jacqueline Johnson was 24 when her life changed forever. She was young, and she had plans for her future that abruptly got side tracked when she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Follicular Lymphoma. This type of cancer she was told had no cure, but was treatable with chemotherapy. At that moment she began to fight for her life.  Jacqueline began chemo, and during the series of treatments she was introduced to a naturopathic doctor. She tried many things to battle the cancer, extra vitamins, B-12 shots, drinking natural juices to detoxify her body from the chemo, and acupuncture. She searched for others who had incurable cancer and discovered a woman who thrives with cancer, which means she has found a balance within her body that the cancer had stopped growing. She found that balance by what she ate. In that moment, Jacqueline made the decision to change her diet by eating whole organic food and eliminating processed food.  Eating whole food is healthier for our bodies than processed food. We as a people need to prioritize eating the kinds of food that contribute to our overall good health.

       In an online blog, Food and Nutrition, Brittany Chin, RD, LD explains, “Whole food are nutrient dense food and processed food is energy dense.” The difference being that whole foods provide nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and fiber for your body. The sources of which keep your body running smoothly. Processed food has high empty calories that fill your stomach but is not beneficial for your health.

     Whole food is simple food. Chin explains, “A whole food would be considered ideally, as a food with only one ingredient i.e. corn on the cob, apple, chicken or a cucumber. These foods will assist you in reducing your cholesterol, regulating your blood sugars and reducing risk for diabetes while also assisting you in maintaining your weight.” There are many cancer fighting whole foods available. On the American Institute for Cancer Research blog it says, “No single food or food component can protect you against cancer by itself. However, strong evidence does show that a diet filled with a variety of plant foods such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains and beans helps lower risk for many cancers.”

       The simplicity of preparing processed food has many families addicted to that diet. The grocery store aisles are filled with heat and eat foods. I read a post on Facebook of a young mother putting together a lasagna for dinner. Her husband walked in the kitchen and asked in amazement if it was his birthday. A meal made from scratch is rare in that family. Families are so busy with everyone seeming to be involved in after school sports, music, jobs and other activities, that they feel it is out of necessity to use already prepared processed food.  Is food filled with ingredients that contribute to heart disease, diabetes and cancer a good tradeoff for food that fight against these diseases?

     I know that life style and diet contribute to the kind of health you have. My mother died of liver cancer, and my father died of lung cancer. They suffered agonizing, painful deaths. Both of these cancers may have been prevented if they had taken better care of themselves.  Instead, they died a death that they may have helped contribute to.  When we go to the grocery store, we can choose to pick up a box of Instant Potato Flakes with ingredients like sodium bisulfate, BHA, citric acid, and monoglycerides or we can pick up an orange, firm sweet potato.  The choice is to eat sticky, colorless, bland white mash or deep orange sweet potato fries seasoned with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. The sweet potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C, manganese, vitamin B6, potassium, dietary fiber and niacin to name a few of the vegetable’s health benefits.  Shop for and eat the best for your good health because life is valuable.

     Shop around the perimeter of the grocery store to find where the whole foods are. Buy the vegetables and fruit that are in season. The price will be better. Plan your meals with the seasonal food in mind. Make the time to plan your menu. When you have a plan, you will more likely stick to it.

       An economical way to obtain whole food for your table is to grow your own. If you have a place for a flower bed, you have a spot to plant some vegetables. A patio or deck can hold potted tomato plants or strawberries. There is nothing like walking out your door into the garden and picking a huge red ripe, sweet strawberry. I have never tasted a better strawberry than the ones I’ve picked from my garden. Later in the day realization comes that lettuce and spinach is needed for a salad. The walk to the garden begins again to pick vibrant green spinach and mottled burgundy green lettuce. That is real honest from garden to table whole food. It’s a sense of accomplishment, and of gratitude that the work it takes to garden benefits the health of those I love.

       Whole food is not always the easy way, but it’s the best way to fuel your body over processed, chemically filled food. Let me tell you more of Jacqueline’s story.  She was diagnosed in 2008 with incurable cancer. It is 8 years later and she is cancer free. She feels empowered that she can make lifestyle choices which include the foods she eats and the foods she will not eat to have beat the cancer.  Individually, we each have that choice. We each can be empowered to choose food that will contribute to our overall good health.