If you’ve ever traveled to Europe, and you suffer from chronic illness or pain, you may have noticed something while visiting this fine continent: you felt better. Maybe your joints hurt less. Maybe your skin looked better. Maybe dairy and gluten didn’t upset your stomach like it did back home. Or maybe you even felt less anxious.
No, it was not your imagination.
While my reflections here are not based on actual scientific research, I can tell you, at least anecdotally, that both myself and my family (and just about everyone I have asked this question of, in casual conversation) has simply felt better while traveling in Europe. Coincidence? I think not.
Let’s dig into why this may be. Put simply, food produced in the United States is overprocessed, and undernourishing us, as a result. Factory farming practices produce wheat with far more gluten in it than farming practices decades ago, and that wheat is often sprayed with glyphosate, further implicating wheat in its destruction of our microbiomes and its role in many people’s increased gluten sensitivity. Dairy in the United States is produced by cows that are consuming God knows what, as opposed to cows in Europe that are feasting on simple grasses. The result? Dairy tends to upset our stomachs and increase our joint pain more here in the U.S. than it does in Europe.
What about packaged foods? Packaged foods (think cereal, candy, chips, etc.) produced in the United States tend to have far more additives, artificial colors, flavors, etc. than packaged food produced in Europe. Why? That is because Europe tends to have stronger regulations regarding unsafe chemicals used in their food, so two otherwise identical packaged products, produced both in the U.S. and Europe, may have a drastically different chemical makeup.
What is the result of these differences in food production between our two countries? Ultimately food produced in the United States tends to drive up inflammation, whereas food produced in Europe does not.
In my job as a functional nutrition practitioner, regardless of what ails someone, at the crux of it all I am trying to help folks reduce inflammation in their bodies. I help people eat more fiber and protein, and oftentimes we eliminate gluten and/or dairy for a time, to see if we can bring down inflammation further. We reduce packaged foods, we meditate, exercise more, and take targeted supplements when needed. And frequently, clients come in having already tried numerous therapeutic diets like paleo, ketogenic, or Whole30, all in an attempt to simply feel better.
All of these strategies are great, and they absolutely do help. But I can’t help but think that these strategies are really just a way to get our bodies back to baseline, back to homeostasis, the same homeostasis we experience just by eating the standard fare that is provided to us when we visit Europe.
This summer I visited France, Switzerland and Italy – I was there for 2 ½ weeks. I did not eat nearly as many vegetables as I do at home. I ate a lot of (gluten free) pasta and pizza, and had an aperol spritz nearly every single day. At home I barely drink, rarely have pasta and pizza, and am very conscientious about eating a variety of vegetables, all in an effort to keep down the inflammation in my body. And while in Europe I noticed that my joints hurt less, my brain fog completely went away, and my monthly menstrual migraines disappeared. Additionally, my kids’ skin was clearer, and their behavior was calmer.
We cannot ignore what is staring us right in the face: our country needs to do better. I recognize that feeding our large country is not easy, but when profits are put ahead of people and their health, the result is an epidemic of inflammation, all driven by the way food is produced in our country. And while changing our food system feels like an insurmountable battle, I do believe it is possible, and it is my hope that over time, change will come.
If you too want to see change, but are not sure where to start, you can start by contacting your congressperson. To find your local representative, visit https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative and enter your zip code. To find your state senators, visit https://www.senate.gov/index.htm and click on “find your senators” in the upper left hand corner. Tell your congresspeople that you want to see change in how our food is being produced.
Additionally, support local responsible farmers that produce grass fed milk and organic wheat, vegetables, and fruit. Only buy packaged foods that contain ingredients you can pronounce. Put your money into the foods that nourish your family, and if everyone does that, change will eventually follow.
