April 08, 2019

Sustainable Food Initiatives and How Eco Labels Drive the Consumers (Infographic)

April 08, 2019/ Kelly Pemberton

Guest post by Hannah Findlay

Food has always been a big part of our lives. In the past it was either an object of constant worry for the poor, or a way for the rich to enjoy life through over-indulgent eating. Only in the past century have people started wondering about the healthfulness of our meals, and how food production is affecting the planet. Initially they were concerned about body image and health, the rising threat of cholesterol-related diseases and obesity, and finally people became aware of the dangers of unsustainable food production for future generations.

April 06, 2018

Beyond the Hype: The Science behind developing healthy eating habits

April 06, 2018/ Kelly Pemberton

Americans’ thinking about food has shifted dramatically over the past 2 decades. With major changes to the food industry (think the introduction of GMOs, the mainstreaming of organic foods, the popularity of celebrity chefs, and the growing number of documentaries about our eating habits – e.g. “Super Size Me”, and the problems with the industrial food complex), a growing number of people now think that eating healthy is important.

However, although many of us want to eat healthy, or think that we are eating healthy, the evidence says otherwise. In fact, most Americans do not get the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables and consume waaaay more sugar and saturated fats than they should...

What if you’ve been trying to eat healthier but can’t seem to break your unhealthy food habits? What if you eat pretty healthy already but want to make some small improvements to your diet? What if you know someone who has a very unhealthy diet and wants to improve his or her eating habits?

February 05, 2017

Three factors that influence unhealthy food choices (they have nothing to do with being rich or poor)

February 05, 2017/ Kelly Pemberton

A few weeks ago I woke up and read a Twitter conversation sparked by an article written by award-winning food writer Jane Black. Since then, I have thought a lot about the article and the conversations that followed in the Twitterverse. Jane’s guest column, on the website of the Stone Barnes Center for Food and Agriculture, points out how elite foodies are fundamentally out of touch with the reasons behind why less-affluent, rural, and/or poor families hadn’t made a switch to healthier eating.

What struck me most about her essay was her observation that one of the main obstacles preventing less affluent people in red-state America from eating healthy didn’t have anything to do with ignorance, lack of desire, or rebellion against elite coastal foodie cultures. It did have to do with economics, but not in the way you might think...