Popcorn Poisoning and Other Reasons to Cook Your Own Food

I used to eat microwave popcorn up until about 14 years ago. I never liked the strange taste and feel of the flavoring. Little did I know how dangerous it was and still is. A disease called “Popcorn Lung” actually exists thanks to the fake flavorings used in microwave popcorn. Extreme illness and in some cases lung transplants and death result from being around too much microwave popcorn. Who would have thought?

The deadly chemicals causing popcorn lung are also found in baking mixes. If you are taking a baking shortcut and using a mix, you could be chemically poisoning your family and friends with deadly compounds in addition to the general terrible health caused by such processed foods.

Here is an article discussing the popcorn and baking mix poisoning problems: http://www.sphere.com/nation/article/toxic-chemical-diacetyl-still-finding-its-way-into-microwave-popcorn/19273632.

What is this need for speed? Why do people not have ten minutes to pop the corn in a pan and actually top it with real butter? If you want to take popcorn to work (I used to eat the microwaved corn at work), pop it ahead of time and take it with you. I am not a proponent of popcorn because it promotes inflammation of the body, but we do eat organic, homemade popcorn (popped in coconut oil) occasionally and it tastes great! So much better than the nacky fake flavor of microwave popcorn. Read this post regarding the need for organic foods, particularly popcorn: Movie Popcorn and the Coconut Oil Scandal (and some GMO too)

Back to this speed question and people’s need to eat the fast food that destroys them. What are people rushing toward? A date with the TV? I understand the need for escape. We watch the occasional rented movie, and that is great fun (unless we pick a dud). But many people watch every night or almost every night for hours. If people need that much escape, it is time to reflect for a moment on what you want from life and, more importantly, are you going to get it by watching TV?

There are many reasons to escape, and I am not going to get into them. Imagine a possibility, though, of cooking real food, healing your body, feeling better, living vibrantly, adventuring, and watching less TV because your own adventures are better. The “food” that most people eat has dulled their bodies and minds. They are left with a vague sense of uneasiness which they try to satisfy by watching other people’s television lives.

Where do I get the time to cook my family’s food, given that I:

• homeschool Colson and have to work around his semi-busy schedule

• work

• am starting a business

• am helping my family navigate through seven months of a our current layoff (preceded by six months of a previous layoff)?

The time is always there. At first, preparing healing, delicious, decadent food and cleaning up the dishes was drudgery. I kept at it, though, because I knew it was good for Colson. Then Ryan and I began to heal and change our lives. Because our incredible healing journeys became noticeable and measurable, I looked at cooking differently. It took about two years of deprogramming for cooking itself to become meditative, entertaining and healing. We were excelling and continue to do so, reinforcing that healing food is the key to a vibrant and adventurous life.

I do prepare meals ahead and freeze them in anticipation of busy days. They are almost always broth based meals, the most nourishing and healing of all. See Remember to Save Those Turkey Bones!, Amino Acids in Bone Broth and How They Help You, Broth – Hydroxyproline: Critical for Healthy Skin, Bones, Teeth, Joints and More, and Amino Acids in Bone Broth – Glutamic Acid to get some insight into the power of broth. What if I forget to defrost a meal? There is always eggs (from my favorite local farmer) fried in butter, coconut oil, or bacon grease (from truly free range pigs that are hormone free and antibiotic free.)

The Tarahumara Indians

There is a native people in Mexico, the Tarahumara Indians, that I have heard about. I haven’t had the chance to read about them yet in Christopher McDougall’s Born to Run, but these people are amazing! Eighty and 90 year old people happily running 50 to 100 miles through the mountains, non-stop!! They are isolated, preventing the deadly processed foods and high tech gadgets from infecting them. You can read about the book and an interview with McDougall here: Amazon.com: Born to Run (9780739383728): Christopher McDougall ... There are also interviews with McDougall that you can watch on the Internet.

My Dr. of Oriental Medicine says that if I am not feeling better every year of my life I am doing something wrong…and just wait to see what the next few years brings. What a great way of looking at life. When I put his paradigm in the context of the Tarahumara Indians, that means that at age 43 I am only half way on my journey to being able to run 50 miles at age 90. How cool is that?!

What do you want to bring to your life?

Comments

[Melissa Meyer]

Hey Laura!

I'm so glad you posted about the issue of time. My family gives me looks and eye-rolling when it comes to the amount of time I spend planning meals and in the kitchen. I've always prepared our food from scratch, and got to be really good at it while we followed the SCD. Now, because of Tommy's lay-off a year and a half ago, it is a financial necessity. I enjoy the challenge of turning what may look like meager left-overs into another nourishing meal! I just don't get why poeple think that what we put into our bodies, as food and nourishment, should be cheap and quick. Many of these same people wouldn't shop for an appliance, car, or computer that way.
Thanks for posting!
Melissa