Have you ever wondered how life would be if we didn’t have ‘sell by’ dates for food? And more so, whether our body would reap the benefits of not eating food with chemicals or preservatives in it?
I remember in the 60s and early 70s that when you went to a local shop you bought only the groceries you needed for the next few days. A few slices of cheese, a few tomatoes, a loaf of fresh bread, a couple of apples and a few eggs. These items didn’t have a sell by date and you knew to eat them within a few days. There wasn’t the enormous array of different brands or food types – quite a simple diet – and none of us went hungry or minded. I loved the fresh eggs when we had them, and having an apple when I got home from school.
Fast-forward to 2017 and we have a very different experience. I was looking in the supermarket at various foods and noticing the sell by dates – and that those foods with long sell by dates seemed to have more ingredients in them than those with shorter or more immediate sell by dates. I started looking up the aisles at things like jam. If we look at jam – the long sell by date jams are stacked full of sugar as well as the fruit, yet you can also buy some preserves e.g. strawberry preserve which has no added sugar – it only has apple juice concentrate in it, which once opened, needs refrigerating as it has a far shorter sell/eat by date.
Foods with long sell by dates have preservatives in them. There are a range of things we use to preserve food or elongate the sell by date e.g. vinegars, sugars, salt, other preservatives, and we use tins, jars, mountains of plastic packaging, and all manner of containers, all of which have to be disposed of while globally the necessity for recycling and rubbish disposal continues to rise. You only have to watch the news to see how far plastic travels and the dangers it poses to sea life, for example:
“An illustration of the sheer magnitude of the problem is that as much as 51 trillion micro-plastic particles – 500 times more than stars in our galaxy – pollute the seas.” (1)
How come we need so many foods with long sell by dates? How on earth did we manage all those decades ago without them? Hunter-gatherers aeons ago didn’t have sell by dates or have a problem with plastic. When did we start to make the simple act of purchasing food so complicated? I know we can manage very well without long sell by dates and the food we ate decades ago was less tainted with preservatives, sugars, salts, and there was no plastic packaging. And yet nowadays we seem to live in a way where we stock up, hoard, plan for the future and want our shopping to last for weeks, and when we are coming up to public holidays when the shops are open less, we stock up as though we won’t see another shop for months.
In an age where we have problems with:
- Obesity – worldwide this has more than doubled since 1980 (2)
- Diabetes – the number of people with diabetes has risen from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014 (3)
- Addiction to sugar (4)
- The overuse of salt in our diets (5)
wouldn’t it be a great time to consider how we could simplify food, with fewer sell by dates, fewer preservatives and packaging? Is it also possible that our body would find benefit in eating food that is simple, contains no preservatives, is in season and freshly prepared?
Letting go of sell by dates as they currently are is a public health initiative that is well worth considering. Whilst it may mean we shop slightly more often or we need to consider and plan our food with more care, it would completely change our relationship with food, with shopping, and at the same time support the environment. It would change food manufacturing, our use of salt, sugar, vinegars/preservatives, and the need for so much packaging. It would also impact on our health as we wouldn’t be ingesting so much sugar, salt and other preservatives or chemicals.
Equally significantly, it would also offer the opportunity for us to look at the recently emerged trend of stockpiling food and the panic buying that occurs at holiday times. Animals don’t stock pile food – they eat according to their own rhythm and according to a far greater universal rhythm and cycle where their body naturally knows what is needed.
What then if the answer to this stockpiling trend was simple and natural – just the same as it is with the Animal Kingdom?
What if we bought and prepared food and ate by listening to our own body, feeling what to eat, what to buy, how to buy it in accordance with the natural rhythm of our body?
I know when I choose to be aware, my body knows exactly what it needs when I go shopping, or when I’m about to prepare and cook a meal. And nowadays I shop, prepare and cook most of my meals for myself and the food I eat is mostly in season, fresh, and minimally packaged. More so, I know my body benefits from this – I love the seasonal fresh flavours, and the ease of cooking fresh food, and my body loves the simplicity of it. There is also less packaging to recycle after too!
Is it then possible that: Sell by dates are past their sell by date?
What if our body knows how to shop, when to shop, what to shop in a way that doesn’t need packaging or long sell by dates or chemicals, as the body can, if we choose, live in accordance with the rhythms and cycles of nature, the seasons, and can flourish very well without the need for long sell by dates? And in doing so not only are we more responsible for our own health and wellbeing, we are more responsible for the environment we share with everyone else, too?
By Jane, London
References:
- UN News (2017) ‘Turn the tide on plastic’ urges UN, as microplastics in the seas now outnumber stars in our galaxy. UN News Centre 23rd February http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=56229#.WLAznhCFBfQ
- WHO (2016) Obesity and Overweight Fact Sheet – http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/
- WHO (2016) Diabetes Fact Sheet – http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs312/en/
- uk (2016) Sugar reduction and obesity: 10 things you need toknow – Public Health Matters https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2016/11/01/sugar-reduction-and-obesity-10-things-you-need-to-know/
- WHO (2016) Salt Reduction http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs393/en/
Further Reading:
‘A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down’ – irony or just pure corruption?
The environment
Takeaways
Educated food choices – become your own physician!
429 Comments
I am a speedy shopper and not because I am rushing, it is because the way I eat now, as removed many preservatives and additives, and this means it is meat and vegetables on the menu, simple just a couple of aisles and I am done. Lots of benefits to cutting out the additions to our food, heavy processing is unnecessary and unsupportive.
!! Love this and totally agree. One of the mini bonuses of keeping a diet very simple and healthy is all this miles of supermarket aisles that I now never have to go down. In and out in a few minutes!
If WHO states obesity has doubled since 1980 and diabetes is escalating just as swiftly, we need to take these stats seriously as both obesity and diabetes are a massive burden the to the already overwhelmed health care systems of the world. Thus these issues need to be considered from every angle – from taking more care with the actual volume, type and balance of food we eat to eating fresh according to the seasons just as you have shared Jane. Also worth considering, is the food pyramid which was also introduced in the 1980’s really supporting us or should it also be reviewed and studied with today’s more scientific stringency?
When it comes to food quality, there is a huge difference when we compare Sell by date food with fresh food. This last one is far more tasty, healthy and digestible, so eating sell by date food is not only a burden for our environment but also for our stomach!
Contrary to popular belief, we only need a small amount of quality food to nourish us and sustain our energy throughout the day. All else is simply excess packaged as convenience that serves to dull and deaden us so we cannot feel the ill momentum we live in.
Well said Liane. As this is the key – quality. What is the quality of energy that moves us into place to decide what we want to eat, how to dress, behave, interact and make all the choices we are making in general? In coming back to the honesty of what we feel in our bodies, will see that our resistance to our innate way of being requires a loveless force to continue to move and live in an ill momentum, and allied foods to dull the awareness of this.
Its similar to reading the list if ingredients in each food item. A fruit or a vegetable, herb, spice, meat, fish, nuts, seeds and oils, won’t have a list of ingredients, but anything in a packet, jar, tin is potentially laden with innumerable ingredients with very long names that can be hard to pronounce, that we could question if it is really food. Food is so different from the 60’s and 70’s, where it has become big business, big cooking personalities, and big eating.
Even restaurants are now using pre-prepared packet food on their menus, it’s really quite revealing when you ask for ingredients and the waiting staff bring out the packaging for you to read the labels.
I feel like just the thought of minimising the offer from the supermarket would send society into a complete frenzy. I totally agree with everything you say and whilst we can say it was a response to the population growing rapidly and therefore there was a case of supply and demand, what stopped us from engaging in more farming and agriculture instead of leaning toward the manufacturing/industrial solution? It’s very interesting.
Jane this is a real pause for thought, the devastating impact of our mission to preserve food.
Really important to be asking what we would be called to without this codependence.
Due to your inquiry I am really struck how sell by dates have evaporated our understanding and connection with the seasons, the origins and growth of our food, you can pretty much get anything all year round, and I feel this kind of consumerist environment erodes our appreciation of the process of food growth and production and in turn there is less care and appreciation for what we choose to eat.
I once had an iceberg lettuce and tomatoes in my fridge for over a month. By week two I was already concerned but curious to see what would happen. At the end of the month they were still ‘fresh’. There are many ways of preserving foods and it makes me wonder… do we not question whats going on because we want mutant veg that can last for months and where is this want for this supply coming from?
Few years ago I was still eating 5-6 meals a day, constantly feeling heavy and bloated and needing energy drinks in order to push through a workout at the gym at the end of the day, physically my body was big and buffed but felt empty within. Since I have committed to develop a true relationship with food, I’ve let go of such heavy consciousness around food, so now I don’t eat as much, my body still feels strong and has a level of vitality and clarity like never before. It is definitely worth the try!
Oh my gosh…this is staggering! Why aren’t we marching the streets with placards, asking questions about why we are committing slow suicide….”Obesity – worldwide this has more than doubled since 1980 (2)” becoming obese in itself is dangerous for health but it brings so many other health conditions along with it, so what has been changing in the last 40 years to double it?….it is shocking that we call ourselves more advanced and civilized when many of us are more unhealthy.
Totally agree Samantha, Jane has opened a window to the devastating impacts of preserving food, both for health and the environment world wide. Truly it has halted our appreciation for the source and process of food production, the cycles and environment that we are living in – sell by dates have eroded our connection to our environment & in turn our appreciation and care for what we choose to eat.
It is lovely living, as much as we can, with the flow of seasonal produce. When I lived in Italy this was the normal way of life. The simplest meals cooked ended up being the very best because of the joy of living in this flow.
It’s crazy that some foods are half natural ingredients and half preservatives; do we know what we’re really consuming when we buy items from the supermarket? What if these ‘additives’ were having more of an impact on our body than we realise – this could be a very interesting experiment…
We were away this week – so the bins didn’t go out. My husband and I had a conversation about not throwing everything in the bin as we need to be careful about space. And it really put into perspective just how much waste we go through that is not recyclable. Even vegetables are wrapped in plastic. It is crazy to think that we use plastic and packaging so often – simply to market products, and then they are just thrown away. It says a lot about how we have set up garbage in the world and how much we are polluting the environment.
We have all become so lazy and in comfort with the convenience of so much of the food in our diets and less concerned about the consequences it has on our bodies and the environment. Both of which should be more in our focus because of the rise in illness and disease and the constant messages the earth keeps giving us.
I love the point you bring up here Jane. What came immediately in to my mind was that everything has to be fast in todays society. So no time for shopping regularly, no time for cooking your own sauce or soup, you need an already mixed and full of sugar and preservatives one. Everything is invented to save time and in fact not really caring for yourself with space when it comes to feeding yourself. The result of so many flavour enhancers and salt/ sugar is that the demand for simple food is almost gone, because it does not stimulate like the known kind of food.
In supermarkets today nearly everything is packaged. There is a massive industry here with packaging and food products that we need to look into because it also relates to advertising. And I know there is a lot of advertising today that is not always telling the truth or telling the whole truth. Say for example fibre on nuts. Nuts are a great source of fibre and may be considered healthy for this reason as they are often sold with labels advertising this fact. But as to whether we truly need fibre, that is a question only our body can answer.
“Food for thought”, that classic saying, and it is a stop moment. I find it a little disconcerting that I know so little about the food of different seasons, or even how to tend to a garden of crops. We have a world where 99% of us are disconnected from the process of growing food, and yet it is an activity we all do everyday. Is there anything else we do that has that kind of mismatch.
It is really interesting how influencing marketing and branding and consumer culture can be. So much so that they can actually persuade a person to override their body’s messages and continue to eat a food that does not sit right for them. But, it has to be said that perhaps the desire to gain the effects of ill-fitting foods comes first and is indeed greater than any marketing ploy given to us. Perhaps it is actually the case that we are the creators of the market – a market that responds to our call for foods that we can override the body’s signals with…?
We are plagued by convenience and so this opens up this belief that we need to keep everything. We want everything to last, just in case and we want the convenience of getting anything we want when we want it. In this we attempt to change the course of what is natural, like we are trying to create our own reality within a reality. I watch how we are wanting everything faster and faster and in that we want things to last longer and longer. Food is a strange one, how we are with it and where we are taking it is not natural for us and yet here we are being sold, selling and consuming it. It’s not about protesting against this but as the article presents it’s more about waking us up to what is going on around us and how we are still taking steps away from what is true.
There is nothing like eating a crisp apple straight from the tree or a fish caught that day. The taste and quality is entirely different to food that has travelled, been processed and wrapped in plastic.
What if our body knows how to shop, when to shop, what to shop in a way that doesn’t need packaging or long sell by dates or chemicals, as the body can, if we choose, live in accordance with the rhythms and cycles of nature, the seasons, and can flourish very well without the need for long sell by dates? This is a very important point you make here Jane, our bodies do know, we have just allowed ourselves to become a society that is happy to settle for much less and not be responsible for our choices. Unfortunately or fortunately, to our detriment, which is so unnecessary as we could easily turn it all around.
When I don’t choose to listen to my body and override it with even the smallest type of mindless eating, old patterns arise that are ‘well past their sell by date’ in being brought to the surface to be healed.
It’s actually really sad how as a society we have lost touch with the natural way of eating that we used to know. As new generations grow up they have no experience or knowledge of this, and are left to believe that the way we eat now is natural. It feels dangerous. Where are we heading?
We are heading into numbness- Food is the best ally for that. To not feel and stay in familiar circumstances and comfort- this is what mainly everyone is looking for. Or like you are saying there is for the younger generation no true reflection on how food can be used aswell. For many it is THE pleasure of life. It is indeed dangerous, because you get everywhere communicated that it is ok to eat so much and what is on offer.
There is now so much non-food that we classify as food, essentially dead items that we eat. If you are not sure what I mean then closely observe any aisle of a supermarket and it won’t be long before you find the crisps, the condiments, the sugar coated this and the salt laden that, which has a best before of months and sometimes years from now. It is very rare that any of these foods are good for us, and in some cases are they even food in the sense of nourishment and sustaining of vitality and energy. The deeper question then becomes why we wish to eat such foods and what do they give us on an emotional level?
How we grow, eat and consume food is a topic that needs much discussion… although we are reluctant to change through comfort, our bodies are protesting through ill health and disease.
There is a lot to learn from this sharing Jane! I’m with you on the need to step back and look at the way we used to do the food shopping. In some ways , with online shopping , it is similar as my Mother put in an order with the grocer and it was delivered at a time and day appointed by her. I know its not what you are getting at but there would have been a limited supply of in season fruit and vegetables to choose from. I do think we were healthier and agree that so much more is preserved with sugar etc. now.
Recently, I’ve been noticing just the fresh fragrance of homegrown fruit and vegetables which is so completely different to the fruit and vegetables that is cut, prepared and wrapped in plastic to preserve it’s life.
I agree, it is like dead food.. It might look good, but it feels like zero energy in it. I don´t want to know who or what chopped it up aswell, because the energy of how is in the food felt aswell.
A brilliant blog Jane, I know if I go to the supermarket I have no idea what’s in season or not as so much of the fresh produce is bought in from other countries. I often enjoy shopping at the farmer’s market where only fresh and local produce is available, not only supporting the local farmers but also my body with fresher and more nutritious foods that are more seasonal and in line with the cycles of nature.
Interestingly enough – I have been cooking all my own fresh food lately – and got into a rhythm of doing so. And last night we went out for dinner – and we felt really heavy afterward. It was totally different because we were eating things that were not our new normal – and we really felt it. It clearly shows how the body can actually become sensitive to foods that have long shelf lives and perhaps they are not all they are cut out to be.
All the preservatives in food makes me wonder about how we developed convenience foods and stores. There must have been a great demand for instant gratification, stimulation and dulling as many convenience and fast foods contain a lot of preservatives, salts and sugars.
Yes, Jane, we can learn a lot from nature and the animal kingdom in terms of connecting to rhythms and cycles to inform us of what is next or needed, rather than trying to control everything in our life ‘just in case’.
Allowing our common sense to prevail here; taking time to listen to our bodies, eat what we can feel would support us and, a big one for me at the moment, eating the quantity that supports as well.
You’ve outlined a very significant way forward here Jane, which interestingly enough is not so much a way forward as a return to the simplicity of something past. In truth the simplicity of life you describe where food is fresh, immediate and lasts only so long as is natural to it is something I live by now, as do many others I come across. The level of health and vitality I see in those who do this is markedly better than those who have become part of the consumer-driven pre-prepared, fast-food or convenience-food way of eating.
Inspired by your article Jane, we have stopped buying plastic bags with salad ready for use. Now I just do what we did before buy lettuce and other kind of salad, rinse it and make it in smaller pieces myself. The relationship with the salad on the table has changed and I love preparing the salad in this way instead of opening a plastic bag and put it in a bowl.
I love shopping at the markets where food is fresh and not packed. I also read the ingredients in food now at supermarkets and have observed that although a food may look delicious in its’packet the list of ingredients tells me otherwise- so many additives to make the food look good and last longer. A great sharing, Jane.
Gone are the days where we used to have the independent shops where we would go get our shopping from.. well you can find them but you really have to make the effort to find these shops and go there. Everything is always advancing and at a speed that is trying to keep up with the demand. Thats is a supply for demand and we are the ones call out for this way of shopping. If I ever buy in bulk like that , nine times out of 10 I throw stuff away because I didn’t fancy it or forgot I had it.
I wonder if the volume of food, it’s over-packaging and use by dates have escalated because we are using food in a way that is more than just survival. We want food to distract us, numb us from feeling what we don’t want to feel and we want it to excite us because life is otherwise pretty drab when we make it about function and not the essence of who we are.
When we listen to our body, it has an extraordinary amount to communicate… The thing is, we simply have to listen.
When I made the choice to go gluten and dairy free I could not believe how much more simpler life became.
As a society we complicate our lives as seen in the way in which we buy and consume food.