Creating change with food: an introduction

This episode introduces the concept of Creating Change with Food. What it is, how and why this idea came to be, and why it matters. As we explore, I will tell you a bit about my own story. 

Food and eating done well give us the opportunity to feel pleasure, wellbeing and connection every day while nourishing our bodies. On the flip side, food is one of the most common causes of feeling uncomfortable in my body and mind, and feeling less than my best. 

In fact, from a big picture point of view, the food most of us are eating and the food systems that produce it are destroying our health, our wellbeing and the foundation for life, Earth’s biosphere. That’s definitely not the world I want to live in…

I want to live in a world where we all have the capacity to thrive, flourish, and be and feel healthy, within the biosphere’s limits. And that is a big shift from where we are now.  

We need a systems transformation—and every day, people will be the ones to create it. This is what Creating Change with Food is all about. 

Creating change with food is about the power of food and food systems to create positive transformations in personal and community health and wellbeing, biosphere health, and social and economic health. It is not about becoming a better consumer, about a list of “good” or “bad” foods. It is about rolling up our sleeves and taking an active role in our food systems. 

Transcript

Hello, and welcome to the first episode of Creating Change with Food. I am your host, Dr. Tara Naylor, and I am so excited to be recording this podcast. Creating change with food, is the podcast where we go back to basics and explore what it really takes to build nourishing, resilient food systems for a finite planet.

On today’s episode, I am introducing the concept of Creating Change with Food. What it is, how and why this idea came to be and why it matters. As we explore, I will tell you a bit about my own story…let’s dive in…

One of my greatest pleasures in life is food. 

Food and eating done well give us the opportunity to feel pleasure, wellbeing and connection every day while nourishing our bodies. 

Eating a good meal, especially with my family or friends, leaves me feeling nourished and satiated from the inside out. 

On the flip side, food is one of the most common causes of feeling uncomfortable in my body and mind, and feeling less than my best. 

In fact, from a big picture point of view, the food most of us are eating and the food systems that produce it are destroying our health, our wellbeing and the foundation for life, Earth’s biosphere. 

That’s definitely not the world I want to live in…

I want to feel good from the inside out! I want to enjoy life! I want to live in a world where we all have the capacity to thrive, flourish, and be and feel healthy, within the biosphere’s limits. And that is a big shift from the where we are now and the direction we seem to be heading. 

So how do we create that world? Because we humans are complex living being living in a complex, interconnected world…We need a systems transformation—and everyday people will be the ones to create it and this is what Creating Change with Food is all about. 

Creating change with food is about the power of food and food systems to create positive transformations in personal and community health and wellbeing, biosphere health, and social and economic health. 

Creating change with food is not about becoming a better consumer, about a list of “good” or “bad” foods. It is about rolling up our sleeves and taking an active role in our food systems. 

Creating change with food is about going back to basics and understanding what we need to thrive and flourish, and then assessing the planetary, local and personal limits and boundaries we have to work within, before using well-proven models and taking imperfect and sometimes messy action. 

It does not rely on a few people developing a master plan and spending huge sums of money, and building vast infrastructure to implement it worldwide. Creating change with food takes many individuals and communities working together to build networks, each with a niche and a role to play.

So why does this matter so much to us as individuals, communities and as a society. Let’s take a look at the big picture, so we can take stock of where we are now. Frankly, the big picture is not a pretty one. Here goes:

The true costs of the global food systems are higher than their economic value. And we are all paying the price at the personal, societal and environmental levels. The costs include health issues such as diet-related diseases, health costs of chemical and pesticide use, water and air pollution, land degradation, reduced biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions.

The global food system is the single largest cause of chronic illness, malnutrition, and early death, producing enough calories for 14 billion people, yet it does not feed everyone. In fact, there are more poorly nourished people than ever, no matter their size and shape. Even in many of the wealthiest countries in the world, there are large numbers of people who are food insecure and poorly nourished, particularly in marginalized communities. 

This same system is the largest land user, freshwater user, cause of biodiversity loss in nature and domesticated species, greenhouse gas emitter, uses 30% of global energy, is disrupting the planetary nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, and exposes us to large quantities of potentially toxic chemicals. In short, the global food system is damaging our lives as individuals and destroying our very foundation of life.

On top of that all too often, our health and well-being are seen as our own responsibility; the choices we make about what we eat are ours.

Yet, we live in food and economic systems that want us to consume as much "value-added" food as possible. Not only do these systems want us to consume, but they also push us to eat foods that trash our bodies and minds, leaving us feeling frustrated and less than our best.

We feel that we have failed ourselves and our families. We feel ashamed of our bodies and our lack of self-control. We only rarely feel truly nourished. 

I don’t know about you, but I have had enough of this! We need to create a systems transformation, we need to do it quickly, we need to save ourselves as well as the living biosphere that is our life support system. 

So who and I and how did I get into this? 

I have had a lifelong passion for food, health, fitness, and planetary health. But, when I was young I did not see food, health and fitness as a career choice for me. I wanted to be an engineer, I loved physics and chemistry, was fascinated by airplanes. So I studied mechanical engineering, it was a rough ride…but I did stick with it. By my last year of my degree, my interest had shifted towards energy, ecology and health so I took extra courses in ecology and environmental history to round out my education. 

I became fascinated by some of the simple, low-technology solutions that improved human health, wellbeing and ecological health. I could imagine a world where, using the best of traditional and indigenous crafts and skills, simple technologies, combined with a dose of new technologies, we humans could live high-quality lives while valuing and caring for Earth’s biosphere. 

With that dream, I completed a Masters in Energy and the Environment. 

Like so many of us, after graduating I focused on my career, I was ambitious and driven. I worked at a rural manufacturing facility in plant engineering and environmental roles. I completed a doctorate in my spare time and filled my non-working hours with health and fitness activities for example skiing, ski instructing, running, mountain biking, hiking and indoor fitness activities. 

Eventually, I left this job as I wanted to do something different, I wanted some adventure, so I packed everything up and started working in infrastructure projects mostly related to roads and bridges. 

But after only a few years of working in construction, I remembered what I was passionate about, and that was the health of Earth’s biosphere. So, I worked in construction by day and took courses related to energy, sustainability and greenhouse gas reduction in my evenings and weekends. What I started to notice was that many of the solutions and approaches to our challenges were not new, they were primarily technical solutions and I no longer believed they could solve our challenges. 

At that time, I used to spend a lot of hours in my car, travelling between construction sites so I was constantly listening to the radio. Within a relatively short timeframe I  heard interviews with David R. Montgomery about soil erosion, soil health and the connections between soil health, agricultural systems, land, energy, and resource use. I also heard an inspiring interview with Joel Salatin the maverick farmer. I also read an article by James Lovelock, the well-known earth scientist about biochar and how the process that produced biochar could generate electricity, improved the soil and mitigate climate change. This was the point that I knew that food was the answer and the direction I was interested in, had no idea what to do about it. So I kept working in construction.

While all this was going on in my professional life, from a personal point of view, I was becoming more and more frustrated with food. Food either seemed to be full of things I didn’t want or lacking the tastes, and textures I was craving. I had read and learned about so many exciting, inspiring examples of different foods, agricultural and food systems, yet I could not access them. I had no access to farmer’s markets due to my working hours. As they were all on weekday mornings. I no longer wanted to be a consumer of the commodity-based foods that the grocery stores had. 

Over time I got a little more creative with sourcing my food: a neighbouring town had a great health food store, I bought meat from a local farm a few times a year, I found interesting farms and stores in the places I was working, and picked up foods when I visited family members, I also improved my gardening skills. But none of this was achieving what I knew was possible on a personal or food system point of view.  

My low point, which completely transformed my relationship with food, was in late November 2016. At that time, I was really trying to eat a healthy, planet-friendly diet. One day, I did not take enough food to work for lunch, so I walked from my office to the grocery store, passing by fast-food outlets and convenience stores. 

Once I got to the grocery store, I started at the produce section. I would have loved some fresh local produce. So I walked around, looking at labels, rejecting food after food, fruit that was unripe, vegetables that had little taste, food that was heavily packaged, food that was grown with destructive farming methods. Then there was the treatment of workers, as well as the production, processing and packaging methods. Then I moved onto the organic section, and this pattern continued. I rejected food for being ultra-processed, heavily packaged, that needed preparation that I couldn’t do at the office…so I waled out of the store with nothing…with more than five hours before I would get home…so what did I do, this person that cares so much about her health and planet Earth? I bought a plain old cheap chocolate bar from the drug store. 

This was when I decided that this was no way to live. Food should be a source of joy, connection, and enjoyment, not frustration, denial, and guilt. That winter, I was determined to find a solution…

A few years earlier I had completed a life cycle assessment project comparing two nutritionally similar but different greens for example lettuces and microgreens. I found that changing the system structure and ethos behind the food, you could make large changes to the taste, freshness and ecological footprint. The solution did not lie in just what you eat, but also the system behind the food.ü 

I spent a lot of time that winter, pulling out my books and magazines on food and health, on growing food, farming systems, equity, economics for prosperity and wellbeing, resilience, planetary health and resource use. 

I realized that the foods I wanted to eat, that left me feeling satisfied from the inside-out had a different life-cycle than the food from the conventional grocery stores. I started sketching out how different parts of food systems were connected and how they affected the taste, flavour, nutrition, resource use and waste. 

The more I searched for a solution, the more fascinated I became. Because food is both personal and intimate, but also connects us to the broader world we live in – the microbial communities that form part of us, the soil, water, seeds, plants and animals. Food also connects us to our heritage, communities, societies, economic systems, and Earth’s biosphere. Because our very makeup, health, and well-being are connected to those bigger systems.

When I started to see the problem in terms of systems, and the paradigms and worldviews that underpinned them, I started to understand why food systems were producing food that is destroying our health, well-being and Earth’s biosphere. 

This led me to develop and test an approach, a visual framework, and a set of interconnected strategies. 

My framework and strategies, nicknamed Dr. Tara’s Regenerative Food Framework, have helped guide me towards finding my own healthy diet that leaves me feeling good from the inside out. I have learned that the real joy of food does not come from just being an eater. It comes from meeting and connecting with other people over food, developing and using skills, and connecting to the living beings and earth processes that bring us our food. 

When I started, I did not expect food to become a never-ending source of discovery, engagement, connection, and nourishment on a mental and physical level. That food would help me feel that I was living within my core values and positively impacting this world. One thing that has become clear to me is that taking a simple, integrated approach to food can create change quickly. 

I want to share my vision, approach, strategies, and models with you on this podcast, so that you, too, can experience joy, connection, adventure, and nourishment from the inside out. 

Through my own adventures, one thing that became clear was that creating nourishing, resilient, sustainable food systems requires a shift in the values underpinning our food systems. What also became clear was that creating nourishing, resilient food systems within the biosphere’s limits also represents a change in relationship with our food, ourselves, each other, and the living world. That is why the change will come from us, the everyday people. 

As this is the first episode I want to share with you some of the themes of the upcoming episodes. I want you to be able to take meaningful, messy, imperfect action. 

The first few episodes are going to focus on the fundamentals so we are going to talk about 

• Our connection and relationship with food and how it impacts both our personal health and wellbeing, as well as resource use and biosphere health;
• We are going to talk about living within the physical limits and boundaries of a finite planet; 
• Also, why the structure of food systems and the values that underpin them are so important,
• We are going to exploring what it takes for us to thrive and flourish as humans and why food and food systems are such an important part of this;
• We are going to talk about the importance of the model and values that underpin our food and how that impacts us on a personal and big picture level. 
• For fun I have an episode on gardening and discussing whether gardening is a solution to our challenges or just another way to consume
• I also have a fun episode about how my dogs got me to up my food growing game as a spoiler my labrador likes to help himself to fruit and vegetables in the garden. 

To sum up this episode up: Creating change with food is about the power of food and food systems to create positive transformations in personal and community health and wellbeing, biosphere health, and social and economic health. 

I believe that it is time for us, the people at large, the everyday people, to take action and transform our lives and build nourishing, resilient, food systems for a finite planet. No one else is going to do it for us!

  That’s is for today from me, Dr. Tara Naylor

Join me, on the next episode where we are going to talk about changing our relationship with food from disconnection to reconnection.