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
It is so true Jane, it is all about supply and demand. What are we demanding to be supplied with as a humanity, and are we willing to be honest and truly see what it is we are choosing and why?
The more our self-responsibility wanes for how we live and the choices we make, the more we seek to create ways to support our lack of responsibility and comfort the way we disregard ourselves, regardless the cost or harm. Such is the quality of food we allow ourselves to consume and to the volume in which we consume them, all totally normalised and championed as the pinnacle of living the ‘good life’. Yet our health and well-being as a civilisation tell another story, one that if our eyes were willing to see, reflect the damage we are doing to ourselves and how we are completely ripping ourselves off and away from living with true responsibility guided by our connection to our bodies and being.
“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.” I agree with these exact same words. The shame and guilt is the every-time I choose to not be aware however, the more I love the feeling and purpose I have in knowing what that awareness can bring, the more I am lovingly disciplined to sustain that awareness in appreciation.
Beautiful Jane, this is so true – so true. I love the realness as it is what we have not been willing to see, including my very self. Creating further creation within creation not caring about the actual effects on each other and nature. It is a behavior of our mankind that is driving this ill forth. A behavior that needs re-visiting for this is only damaging us all.
I am continually amazed if I happen to be at the supermarket when there is a long weekend coming up and the shops are shut for a day. The number of overflowing and groaning trolleys gives the impression the closure is going to be for one month, not one day. Maybe as you say so wisely Jane, we need to take a long, honest look at the way “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” So who’s the wisest here, animals or man?
Ingrid, it seems internationally we are all stock piling on national holidays and have rush shopping frenzies…. I observed this even un Hungary over the easter weekend break!
When we consider that even a generation ago and not to mention centuries before, that plastic and polythene packaging didn’t figure. We were more in tune with nature and the seasons and could only buy seasonal produce, and or grow some of our own. It doesn’t make sense that we over eat, stock pile, pack food with preservatives and stuff our cupboards with food that we only throw out in the end.
‘What if our body knows how to shop…?’ The more I accept my body’s wisdom, the simpler my shopping list is and the less money I waste.
Interesting topic to consider. i dont buy anymore products which have a date on it.
I like to eat fresh vegatables And fish or meat And drinking water And herb teas
I was a bit ill this week and looking for a vegetable stock, and looking at the ingredients of a couple I was really surprised to find sugar on them as stocks are mostly salty in my memory. This really shows how our tastes are changing and we need more and more stimulation to enjoy the food we are eating. I have been sugar and salt free for a long time and now love the natural taste of vegetables and meat and fish more than something sugary or savoury. There really is a different way and I feel making our foods more simple again would support humanity as a whole.
It is such a lovely thing to buy foods fresh for the next couple of meals, no waste and planning meals to support what is needed in terms of our bodies and work days.
I have always loved using fresh food, I agree Jane, ‘I love the seasonal fresh flavours, and the ease of cooking fresh food, and my body loves the simplicity of it.’
Not only sugar but salt as well are added to manufactured food items in order to give them a longer shelf and then pantry life – and then we might eat something because it has reached its use by date rather than preparing what is needed on the day and feels true.
In an age now where it seems the world is governed by time, we are led to believe that saving time is key, the long sell-by dates do nothing but confirm that food can be stocked up, that shopping can be minimised to once a week and that we need not listen to our bodies regularly to shop more frequently for what’s needed. I know I’ve fallen into that thinking of saving time and getting the shopping ‘out of the way’ but I can 100% see the real value in keeping it fresh, relevant and therefore healthier.
Reading your blog Jane has made me consider that I too buy nothing in jars or packaging except for oil and dried herbs, imagine if more and more of us did this, then the demand for these package foods would not be there so the supple would dry up.
Having a fridge is great as it helps us keep food fresher for longer but I am wondering if this is another form of preserving and stock piling food? My understanding is that fruit and veg are best eaten when they are fresh but if they have been stored in the fridge for weeks or even months but they still look fresh, I also start to wonder how much nutrition is left.
I agree maybe its time to review the need of a fridge.
It’s an interesting discussion and yet without a fridge would we need to go to the shops daily and is that a supportive way to live? For me that would mean going to my supermarket – perhaps it raises the question about our changing high streets and the return of local independent shops.
Responsibility with food, what and how we eat makes so much sense, ‘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?’
Keep it fresh and the packaging is limited and it is more nutritious, have processed food and there are limited nutrients. This is simple, and simple is wise. Thank you Jane.
You are definitely on to something here Jane! To simplify our way of shopping and eating is the way to go.
We come up with a million ingenious ways to rewire life. Yet ultimately it’s us who have the short circuit – life is the way it is, to perfectly reflect what we need to see. There’s no mistake, and no need to reverse engineer what God has planned – thank you Jane.
A real responsibility shown here with food and how we live feels very nurturing and brings a real change to our health and well being that is a reflection for the world and how we can bring about much needed changes.
Beautiful deepening in our steps is the simplicity
Sell by dates are definitely overdue for a review! Today we are less aware of where our food truly comes from and how it is made and it’s impact on Mother Earth and in fact more demanding of the same food being there all year round. We care more about taste and comfort than true nutrition.
I feel it reflects the imbalance in humanity, the haves and have nots, separation, waste, greed, corruption. Until we start to clear the root problems by living in and with connection I feel we will just be coming up with solutions that may be clever or even short term fixes but do nothing to heal the imbalance.
I agree Jane we have made the simple act of feeding ourselves into this grand world scale complexity. I sometimes look at the long rows of trucks on my nearby highway and think about all the foods that are being transported across the world..and back sometimes.
Processed foods with long sell by dates read like a veritable mystery story from a chemical lab when you look at the list of ingredients. And salt or sugar and water always get top marks in the percentage stakes. And that makes me wonder, “what are we putting into our bodies?”
You are very right. Sell dates have gone to extremes, and we could and should return to food that is fresh and what doesn’t come with chemical preservatives as much as possible. Perhaps exceptions are occasions like when we travel, when preservatives are needed to keep food fresh. But then there are also ways to use natural preservatives.
Older people are sometimes considered to be past their sell by date and although medicine can provide a kind of preservative, it is the attitude of society that dictates their ability to contribute in a lively way.
The very nature of a cycle is renewal but we see life as a straight line that we drop off of at the end of and it is this very ignorant belief that influences so much of our behaviour.
Suggesting our bodies know what they need is outrageous! Who would have thought the very thing that manages to get us up in the morning, flush itself of toxins daily, operate like clockwork (in cycles I might add), move us from A to B all while maintaining the function of several organs all at the same time could possibly know what type of fuel it needed?
Surely it’s not smart enough for that!? Surely chips and lollies will be enough to get it through?
I’m looking forward to the time when shops around the world revert back to the fresh produce that is seasonal or at least does not have the millions of preservatives that mean it can last for 10 years in the cupboard. My feeling is not only will this change the way we eat it will inspire us to eat together more, deepen our connections with one another and bring true community back to the forefront.
If we didn’t have the actual seasons to guide us to what time of the year it is, and in some countries you don’t, if we go by what is accessible in todays supermarkets we would have no idea what time of the year it is. Our cycles with the seasons have been manipulated. If we look at cycles in our lives then what else has been manipulated to stop us from connecting to the truth of who we are?
We are moving further and further from the normal life span of food as there is an increase in the salt and sugar content in our foods so they can have a longer shelf life – but in doing so we are in a way denaturing the food we eat
Thank you Fiona, this is well worth exploring. I had not looked at it quite this way before.
Thanks, Jane. This is a beautiful presentation of how simple life can be when we go with the flow and listen to ourselves, our bodies and each other, to discern what is truly needed in each moment.
The omni-presence and omni-availability of all foods, whatever the seasons, separates us from the rhythms of nature. But I feel that this is a pattern that will be reversed and we will eventually be forced to see the arrogance of our movements and will humbly re-embrace the fact that we are part of a far bigger whole and thus it is our responsibility to move within that grander rhythm.
In the 70’s when I was a teenager I remember my parents and my grandparents would prepare for Christmas by buying a hamper of food. It was considered a treat and came with a mixture of items we usually associate with this festive period. We always got the basics in because we knew the shops would be shut throughout the Christmas period but there was no sense of panic or over buying, and we never went without. These days you can feel a real tension when visiting the supermarket as Christmas approaches, and yet the shops are open for longer hours and for more days.
What concerns me also is I found an iceberg lettuce in my fridge that was nearly 3 weeks past it’s sell by date and yet it still looked fresh enough to eat, something seriously not right here, was it genetically modified with the DNA of a tortoise?
There is a lot of waste in food and packaging true, but I feel that trying to shape ourselves up in that regard is jumping the gun a little bit. When we have a world full of domestic violence, genocide, rapes, FGM and so much more we ought to set our priorities straight and fully comprehend the mess we are in.
There are so many great points in this blog Jane, and one of them is a pet hate of mine and that is all the plastic packaging on so many foods in the supermarkets these days, I remember the shopping used to come home in paper bags and nothing in that paper bag was contained in a plastic wrapping or container just maybe the odd tin. We humans are so very shortsighted when we put profit and convenience over health and the environment.
Yep so we may have foods that lasts longer but what are the ingredients we put in it to make it last longer .. not that great!
What is the real cost of having everything in season, available all year? Most grown food has cycles so they are always seasonable someplace on the planet and most have early and late varieties. How can having fresh cherries from Peru in England in the winter be viable? What is the carbon footprint of flying seasonable fruit and veg to the other side of the world… every day?
Absolute arrogance of humanity
Such great points raised here Jane. It seems that we have lost touch with our understanding of what it is we value, and why. Do we value the importance of having foods that hold a longer shelf life more than we do foods that hold a greater quality of nutrients to support our bodies with? Do we value convenience/comfort more than we value listening to our bodies and what supports our well-being and what does not? As such have we lost touch with the guidance that is offered every moment through our connection to our bodies and being, and the natural innate understanding of our connection to the seasons, cycles and rhythms that we are part of. For as it is evident that what we value today does not support us to live with the vitality and well-being that we all are born to naturally live.
Getting rid of sell by dates and having to shop more regularly for fresh food would certainly get us to look at how we are living and the hours we are working as most of us would say that there isn’t enough time in their lives to shop so often. Living and eating in harmony with the cycles of the season is the way I was raised in the 50’s, as were most around me, and the stresses of life, the rates of obesity and illness and disease, and the need for everything to be done now was certainly not as evident as it is today. Life definitely had more of a natural flow to it.