Fed Up

Have you heard the buzz about the film Fed Up?  The film takes a hard look at America’s diet and draws some pretty strong conclusions. In a nutshell, the film points an accusing finger at the food industry and stirs a big ole pot about how what we eat is making us sick.

Dark Chocolate Dairy-Free Ice Cream
3 Star Dark Chocolate Dairy-Free Ice Cream is fruit-focused alternative to treats laden with sugar and fat.

The film is full of staggering statistics and predictions from leading public health authorities about the perils of continuing along the path we’re on. For me, the most compelling part of the film was the personal stories of children struggling to be healthy. In many cases, they felt that they were making the right choices – eating better food and exercising – but it wasn’t working. The pounds kept coming and their health was deteriorating.

It became apparent that the “better for you” food they were eating wasn’t necessarily better. Fat is being replaced by sugar. The ingredient lists on packaged food are growing. The environmental pressures were huge too. Food cravings could be met any time of day. It didn’t matter if the kids were home, at school or on the go. Making the bad choice was almost always the easy choice. How can we do better? We must do better.

That’s one of the reasons I love Guiding Stars. It cuts through all the clutter on shelf and helps provide some guidance in the areas of the store where things can get particularly tricky. The team here spends countless hours analyzing package label information. As foods change we change. For example, we’ve had to get smarter about tracking down new words for the same old thing…sugar! We have 65 different words for sugar that we’re on the lookout for and the list keeps growing! Foods that are loaded up with ingredients we need to limit are harder and harder to sift through.

See Fed Up and see what your take away is.  Hopefully, the pot stirring leads to something good!