The Philadelphia Flower Show commenced and concluded, the clocks sprung an hour forward, the snow from last week melted, and we’re seeing some sun along with some rain this week. The warmer temperature is making us feel that Spring is somewhere around the corner. Even the blue hyacinth bulbs that I was gifted with back in December are beginning to sprout and calling for a proper place to call home.
Because I have been hibernating rather too well this winter, I started to look for some inspiration to finally kickstart a healthier year, I picked up Vani Hari’s recently released book, “The Food Babe Way: Break Free from the Hidden Toxins in Your Food And Lose Weight, Look Years Younger, and Get Healthy in Just 21 Days!” With such a mouthful of a title, I was hopeful to find a morsel or two of useful information that would be transformative health-wise.
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The book was engaging with some familiar advice: incorporating a morning lemon water ritual, enjoying a green drink, or not drinking soda. I thought that her Food Habits for Food Babes checklist was simple and actionable. But at the heart of the book is the alarming message that the food we eat are typically polluted with harmful chemicals.
This former management consultant turned “accidental” food activist has been sharing her message and mobilizing a “Food Babe Army” against food additives, GMOs, and everything that is not natural on the blogosphere of 3 million unique readers and 933,883 Facebook followers across the world. She has put the heat on food industry giants to get them to disclose the ingredients in their foods and to remove those which are toxic. Time Magazine recently named her as one of “The 30 Most Influential People on the Internet.”
But along with Vani’s food activist stardom, the best-selling book, the Times Magazine accolade, and the support of her Food Babe Army is a very vocal group of critics that has also been forming online. The criticisms range from her being a fearmonger to a misinformed opportunist.
Regardless of where the truth lies, Vani has made me think of being even more mindful of the foods that we eat. That in itself is a good thing.
