Convenient foods - are they worth it?

Convenience foods are commercial products designed for ease of consumption. Generally, this definition includes just about anything in a package, including soda, soup, processed meats or take-out meals. Given this definition, it may surprise you to know that convenience foods have been around a very long time.

Food manufacturers started selling packaged foods, such as Kellog’s cornflakes or coca cola, more than 100 years ago. Manufacturers and advertisers have been promoting convenience ever since as a way of saving time, saving energy for other, more important, things, and as a fashion trend created by the very people who could profit from it. The common availability of refrigerators, and subsequently freezers, about this time was enormously helpful. Frozen food took on an entirely new meaning.

Convenience food became even more popular towards the end of WWII. For nearly a decade, much of the world was focused on the war and food manufactures were no different. For good reason, they developed products that would travel and store well, such as Spam. When the war ended, they turned their focus elsewhere. Food manufacturers began an intense campaign to create a market for the convenient foods of a war no longer waged.

Their new, undeclared, war became one against the traditional, home-cooked meal. Their timing could not have been better. After years of doing without, of women working outside the home for the first time, it wasn’t a difficult switch to make. Women had less time, and less energy, to spend on cooking anyway. With an aggressive advertising campaign, convenience food soon became the fashion. Fresh food began its gradual and persistent demise.

When WWII ended, the brave soldiers were welcomed home by family, friends and loved ones. And thus began the baby boomer generation, the generation that would change nearly every aspect of life for future generations in America and around the world. The food industry is just one example. Following the war, food companies started targeting to these baby boom children with junk food, food with little or no nutritional value. The prevalence of junk food in American culture continued on an upward spiral for the next few decades, helped along by a variety of social trends and the simple fact that a lot of it tastes pretty good.

Microwaves became popular in the 1980’s. The first microwave oven was nearly 6 feet tall and cost about $5,000. But that was about forty years before it became mainstream, enabling all sorts of new convenience for people on the go. In the 80’s, about ¼ of all households in the United States possessed a microwave. Today, more than 90% do.

Towards the end of the 20^th century, healthier food started to become more popular. As the effects of decades of convenience food began to emerge, the food industry shifted their focus to a healthier version of everything convenient. Salt, dyes, and preservatives were reduced. Despite this general trend, convenience foods are still sacrificing health for speed. Despite lower concentrations of everything unhealthy the amounts still exceed recommendations. Not only that, they are more prevalent than ever. In fact, there are many communities around the country in which you can’t buy fresh food even if you wanted to.

Convenience foods are well, convenient. After a century of advertising promoting this type of food over basic healthy food, it is not surprising to see where we are at today. An obesity epidemic, even in children. Heart disease at an all time high. Diabetes expected to reach 50% of the American population with then next 10 years.

There are some apparent advantages to convenience food. It is fast, it is easy and it is generally less expensive. Hard to beat those qualities. But are those real qualities or just a figment of the advertising imagination? Let’s just take a little look.

Fast. Yes, convenience food saves you time every day, for every meal you opt to dish out in this manner. In the long term, how much time can you save? I guess that also depends on how much time you lose in the long run. In the long term, the time you lose from excessive salt intake may not be worth it. Heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, stomach cancer, and kidney disease seem a bit more time-consuming than eating foods high in salt, particularly when most of the salt is added to preserve the food and mask the taste of processing.

Diabetes, strokes, cancer, heart disease and cognitive decline seem a heavy price to pay just for a bit of additional sugar. And yet there it is. That is where we are today. The time and energy we appear to save in the short term does not surpass the time and energy we lose in the long term. It doesn’t even come close, particularly if you consider the odds of dying early due to these “complications” of convenience food consumption.

In summary, here is a brief list of the conveniences you can obtain from “convenience foods.”

From salt – high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney disease, stroke, cancer

From sugar – diabetes, strokes, obesity, heart disease, neurodegenerative decline, cancer

From lack of fiber – heartburn, acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

Food dyes – hyperactivity, asthma, cancer

Food preservatives other than salt - cancer, neurological disorders, hyperactivity, allergic reactions

Not so convenient really. Now is the time for realistic evaluation. People aren’t so inclined to listen to advertising because they are becoming immune to it. It is everywhere. For some, and hopefully more to come, they are once again thinking for themselves and their families.

Here are some truly convenient foods you should incorporate into your diet if at all possible:

Water – you are made mostly of water and when you choose water over other beverages you are choosing to give your kidneys a break. Drinking water also helps you obtain and maintain the proper weight, and keep your skin, hair and muscles in good condition. No other beverage can be so convenient as water.

Fruit – packed full of nutrients your body can’t make, fruit is a sweet snack that improves your immune system and lowers your risk for heart disease, strokes, cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. It tastes good, requires little or no preparation and can travel reasonably well.

Vegetables – also packed full of nutrients and in general very few calories, vegetables are the ultimate convenience food. They can improve your digestion, immune system, bone strength and weight control. They help to prevent heart disease, strokes and some cancers. They are simple to prepare and travel very well.

Nuts – protein, vitamins, nutrients, all combine to enhance cognitive functioning at any age and reduce your risk for heart disease and high cholesterol. Fast, easy, tasty and filling. As a snack, it is hard to beat.

Four very healthy and very convenient items, each offering numerous health benefits. There is a lot of variety in there, for those of you who enjoy diversity. You just have to open your mind to the possibilities.

It has taken us about fifty years to develop this dependence on processed foods, but it doesn’t have to take us so long to change our habits, to make choices based on our own thoughts toward a healthier life, toward a longer life. It is a mindset really, a way of thinking outside the advertising box. Stop and think before you buy something. The food industry isn’t going to help you. They are in it for the money and have been so successful that people don’t even realize they are consuming so much “convenient” foods on such a consistent basis. You have to do it for yourself.