Staying healthy is important to people all around the world, but it has become increasingly essential to many American’s in the last few years as health issues related to being overweight and obese are more common. There are a lot of different ways to approach a healthy lifestyle, including exercise and eating healthy. Although gyms, exercise classes, and fad workouts are very common in the United States, this post is just going to focus on some of the issues related to food that are culturally important in modern American culture, particularly related to the health craze numerous American’s are experiencing.
Organic vs. Non-organic
Many Americans who try to become more health conscious start by buying more organic foods. There is a lot of hype in the United States these days about the difference between organic (foods that are made in a way that limits the use of synthetic chemicals during production) and non-organic (conventionally grown and produced food that may have been grown using pesticides and other chemicals to increase growth) foods. All types of food in the United States come in both organic and non-organic forms, including: snacks, meats, milk products, fruits, and vegetables. There are often aisles of food in large groceries stores just selling organic foods. There are also whole grocery stores that specialize in organic and healthy food, for example the store Whole Food Market or Trader Joe’s. If you start buying organic food in the United States one of the first differences you will notice between organic and non-organic foods, is the price. Organic food is generally much more expensive than non-organic food.
Farmer’s Markets
For many Americans buying all organic food at the grocery store is too expensive, but buying some of their food at a local farmer’s market is possible and also a healthy move. Farmer’s markets are small-scale markets where various farmers and local food producers sell their food for a few hours once a week. Farmer’s markets are often held in parks or parking lots, with food set up on tables that people can walk around and look at. They are temporary in nature and not held in the same location every day. Although the produce and other foods sold at farmer’s markets may be a little more expensive than the grocery store, this food is often organic and less expensive than buying organic food in the grocery store. Also buying at a farmer’s market helps a local farmer stay in business and it guarantees fresh food.
The Home Garden
The only way to get fresher cheaper organic healthy food other than going to a farmer’s market, is to grow the food one’s self. There is actually a movement in the United States to get people to grow more food themselves in home gardens (www.homefarming.com). In the past many Americans kept home gardens, but this tradition died out in mainstream American culture for many decades as farming became a large-scale industry, but home gardening is now having resurgence. Even the First Family of the United States, the Obama’s, have a home garden. You can watch a video about the making of this garden at this link: www.whitehouse.gov/blog/The-Story-of-the-White-House-Garden.
As I mentioned in the beginning of this post there are many ways to stay healthy, eating healthy food is just one of them. But a lot of talk about healthy food in the United States is about organic food, which can be found in garden, framer’s market and even grocery stores.
