You may have noticed an increase in awareness and education regarding organic foods and superfoods. Organic plant-based foods are plants that are grown naturally without any added synthetic chemicals. Organic meats come from animals that are not fed or inoculated with steroid hormones and who are also raised on organic plants and grain. Superfood is a term that categorizes foods that have a very dense nutrient value, and most people seeking superfoods prefer they also be organic.
I began to notice attention being given to naturally grown foods in the mid ‘90’s when I started seeing “organic” signs hanging over select fresh produce in the local grocery store. Not soon after, I began to notice media clips in newspapers, magazines, online, and on television about specific foods high in antioxidants. Foods like red wine, dark chocolate, and blueberries were getting a lot of attention for their beneficial antioxidants and high nutrient values.
Next, I began observing all of the attention being given to juicing and smoothies. People were cramming as much as they possibly could into one glass of juice. Now, today, you can’t go very far without seeing new terms like “superfoods.” I’m even seeing labels and signs in the large chain grocery stores. There has been an ever-growing increase in creating awareness and education regarding better nutrient-rich foods so much that it has hit mainstream marketing. But why now?
We are looking for answers. For me, it started with desperation to feel better, and I needed to figure out how to do so. I could barely make it through a day without taking a nap. It didn’t matter how much I slept the night before, I still did not have the energy to make it through the day - even if I was having fun! I had heard and I know you have too, “You are what you eat,” from a very young age. So, I began to suspect that part of the problem was directly correlated with my food. So, I began to dig for answers.
We are getting smarter. We are reading the research. Especially with online sharing and an exponential increase in communication among people through social websites, blogs, and forum posts, our education of the food industry and specific foods is expanding. We are teaching each other the negative attributes and effects relevant to non-organic, low-nutrient foods and, conversely, we are teaching each other about the benefits of high-nutrient, non-refined, organic foods. We are discovering there is a difference, and we are becoming displeased. Shouldn’t we have been offered only these foods from the start?
We are getting angry. Poor food growing and animal raising practices have been exposed. With our increased knowledge of how many large food industries operate, we are learning that we’ve been given nutrient-low, stripped, and in many cases, genetically altered foods as our mainstream food choices for decades. We are not happy about this, and we want more.
We are demanding more. For me, I feel as if the big-business-food-industries and our governments have let us down. Not only does it anger me that my government has allowed poor food practices, but it saddens me also. What I hear is, “We don’t care about you or your health and well-being.” Low quality foods should not even be offered for sale.
This is "why now?" We became aware of the differences between low-nutrient and high-nutrient healthy foods. We became aware that the food industry has allowed and continues to allow poor quality food production. We started educating ourselves and started looking for answers. We became smarter. With our increased knowledge, we started getting angry and started demanding more. Everyone deserves to eat well.
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