Solution:  Make food at home and eat it!

Why We Need It:  Our culture is full of highly processed foods that are energy-intensive to manufacture, rely on monoculture farming - which is bad for our land - and are bad for our health in both the short and long term.

Why You'll Like It:  Beyond the fact that homecooked foods simply taste better, you'll realize nutritional benefits over the chemical-laden and nutritionally-stripped foods that clutter the supermarket today.  And there is a supreme satisfaction that comes from having such a direct connection to your meal!

In Depth:  We have lost to a large degree the art of preparing our own food.  Instead of spending time to care about and make what we put into our bodies for nourishment, we have turned the process over to a few large multinational corporations whose main focus is profit, not the best interest of the people eating their products.  Eating out has gone from being a special treat to an everyday occurrence, often at fast-food chain restaurants where the food is void of nutrition and has a dismal effect on health.  In our modern society, a "homecooked meal" is the special treat.  Even food eaten at home is too often in the form of packaged, highly-processed foods such as microwaveable dinners, pre-assembled "baking" mixes, instant oatmeal, and the like.

In contrast, if you make food from scratch at home, you realize an entire array of benefits.  You'll eat healthier, because food made from simpler, less-processed ingredients retains its inherent nutritional value.  You'll save money, because ingredients for food from scratch are often cheaper than industrial packaged food.  You'll spend more time with loved ones - often family members will take part in the production of a meal.  You'll give your taste buds a lovely experience.  Best of all, you'll enjoy the satisfaction that comes from such a direct connection to your food; our culture of disconnectedness and indirect relationships to the basic things that actually matter in our lives breeds discontent and a lack of purpose.  Bring a real sense of purpose back into your life by doing deceptively simple things like preparing your own food.

So head over to your local grocery store or farmers market.  Pick up the basics:  Flour, sugar, yeast, spices.  Get the most local, fresh, high-quality produce you can - lettuce, broccoli, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, onions, potatoes, apples, bananas, or whatever else your tongue desires.  If you're not a vegetarian, go for some grass-fed beef and true free-range chicken.  Perhaps some various nuts and dried fruits?  Various oils and vinegars?  Milk, honey, cheese?  Obviously, the selection is up to you.  Just try to stick to the least-processed ingredients you can.  (You may feel that these types of food are expensive in comparison with packaged, processed foods; remember, however, that you're buying enough to make at least several meals.)  Then bring it all home, get out some pots, pans, and baking dishes, and start experimenting!  If you're a little less daring, you can click here for some recipes to get you going.  Once you get started, you'll find in no time that making food from scratch isn't nearly as hard as it's often made out to be.  Have fun and bon appetit!