Labeling IS Disabling…To Us

After spending pretty much all of January shuttling people and cats to various appointments (the semi-annual Doctor Month celebrations), trying to incorporate new tricks into the established regimen, and reading about newly-discovered medical issues in the news, I’m really glad January has come to a close.

I’ve also come to a possibly faulty conclusion that food labeling is disabling to US this time instead of to the food manufacturers. In the spirit of Glenn Beck, here’s how I got there:

During one recent afternoon nap (after yet another appointment), my head told me that “the more you read labels, the more you NEED to read labels…so stop already!” I raced to the computer immediately for fear of scaring this thought away--I haven't had time for many of these lately.

My head has a habit of talking to me when I’m either in bed or at the kitchen sink—and no, I’m not mentally ill. This is a GOOD voice I hear, and this voice was telling me that maybe it’s time to get back to basics with food—back to the things our parents and grandparents ate that didn’t come with labels, and we can still buy without labels. I’m talking fresh produce, fresh meats, dried beans by the pound, eggs, bottled milk and such.

Since I have a dairy and wheat allergy, I automatically discounted milk, cheese, and bread from my mental assessment. But the rest rang as a somewhat true rendering of what food REALLY mattered, and none of it comes with a label.

Given the recent story about carbs affecting everyone’s cholesterol (when ethnic factors were removed) instead of fat like the doctors preach, I put this to the test. After giving up bread and limiting carbs to no more than 20 grams per serving, my husband and I each lost three pounds in two weeks without physical effort. This got me to thinking that maybe we’re all working too hard at weight loss, and maybe over-thinking about nutrition in general. Maybe this is leading to us working too hard to stay healthy…just maybe. Maybe I owe Dr. Atkins one hell of an apology after denigrating his diet so ruthlessly as “the perfect diet for pancreatic deficits.”

As I sit here in front of the screen, my mind is trying to merge together all the recent lab results of Doctor Month, the health news articles I’ve read this month, my esteem held for the Weston A. Price foundation, current and ongoing food allergies, and ongoing family health issues. Maybe it IS time to back off from reading labels so intently before tossing anything into the cart—I think I’m going blind from it anyway! :)

Shopping for food had never become more of a chore than when I really had to start scrutinizing every last detail of food labels, so in March, I’m going to conduct an experiment and buy only foods that don’t come with a label (that I know are otherwise okay for family consumption given allergies, health issues, and so on). I figure it may take me the month of February to clean out the house of “labeled” foods (via eating), and I can start March with a clean slate. I’ll let you know what happens.