Remember the fat free trend?
When I was 13, my dad, who was 41 at the time, suffered a heart attack. The doctors immediately urged him and the entire family to eliminate fat and cholesterol from our diets in favor of fat free food. That was the extent of how we knew to… proceed with food selection. During that time, fat free food (read: nutritionally-void, artificial, toxic, sugar-laden replacements for real food) was all the rage, and we stocked our pantries with anything that was labeled as such. I remember numerous occasions digging into fat free Entenmann’s cakes or spreading calorie-reduced wheat bread with fat free margarine and fat free cream cheese (seriously) because doctors told us that these products are better than eating meat, egg yolks, and nuts. Not only did it hurt my health during a vital developmental period, but it really damaged the way I came to view food. I have since unlearned the myths and ugly lies and replaced them with science-based evidence and knowledge. I now talk to kids (mine included) and adults (my parents included) about how to nourish their bodies and minds because I want them to avoid the years of damage and self-harm that a nutritionally empty diet will cause.
