“Food Babe” – A Woman on a Mission to Change the Food Industry, and
How You Can Too
July 07, 2013
Story at-a-glance
Vani Hari’s blog, FoodBabe.com, and her “leading by example”
style of food activism is an inspiration to a growing number
of people not just in the US but around the world
Eating organically while on the road can be a challenge. One
solution is to travel with a cooler stocked with your own
food, and asking the locals about organic food sources
Vani’s achievements include making the food chain Chipotle
list their ingredients, and label genetically engineered
(GE) ingredients for transparency. The chain has also
swapped out some GE ingredients for non-GMO alternatives
Kraft, like many other companies, use toxic ingredients in
the products made for the US market, while formulating the
exact same products differently for other countries
Simple ways to help educate and inspire others about
healthier food choices include leading by example, asking
questions about ingredients when eating out, and throwing
all-organic dinner parties
Vani Hari, better known as “Food Babe,” is a blogger and food
activist in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her blog,
FoodBabe.com1,
and her “leading by example” style of activism is an inspiration
to a growing number of people not just in the US but around the
world.
One of her most
celebrated achievements is her participation in the Democratic
National Convention, in which she drew massive media attention
by standing up with a makeshift “Label GMOs” sign in the front
row, during Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack’s speech.
This interview was taped a week after the March Against
Monsanto where I participated in one of the local marches and
had a chance to witness first-hand people working in the
activist movement. It really helped me understand that there’s a
widespread opportunity for virtually anyone to participate, get
inspired, and to really make a difference.
Vani’s personal story is a perfect example of just how
influential a single person can be, not just in educating
others, but also in enticing major food chains to do the right
thing and make positive changes.
The Painful ‘Birth’ of a Food Activist
Perhaps she was destined for the role of the activist, as her
name actually means “voice” in Hindi. Indeed, a nationally
ranked debater during her school years, Vani does not shy away
from voicing her beliefs and sharing her ideals, and there’s
little doubt the world is becoming better for it.
“Shortly after college, realizing that debate wasn’t
really going to get me a job, I ended up switching my major
to computer science and did what everybody else did. I
entered the rat race,” she says.
“I got picked up by one of the top consulting firms
in the country... managing large-scale projects, mergers,
acquisitions, and integration work. I was travelling Sunday
through Thursday, and quickly, at the age of 22 to 23 years
old, I became really sick...
It was that life-changing moment that I realized,
‘Wait a minute, I gained 25 to 30 pounds within a
three-month period, and then I had appendicitis?’ There’s
something seriously wrong with what I’ve been doing and what
I’ve been eating. What’s in the food, and what caused my
body to be so out of whack?
Everyone says appendicitis is this random
occurrence... But I don’t think it’s random, because it’s
definitely related to your digestive system. And I was
overloading my digestive system with tons of toxins.”
So, when she was 22, Vani made the decision to make her
health her number one priority, vowing not to let work get in
the way. By doing her own homework, she quickly realized that,
first of all, not all calories are created equal—a concept
clearly described by
Dr. Robert Lustig, who states that fructose is "isocaloric
but not isometabolic."
This means you can have the same amount of calories from
fructose or glucose, fructose and protein, or fructose and fat,
but the metabolic effect will be entirely different
despite the identical calorie count. This is largely because
different nutrients provoke different hormonal responses, and
those hormonal responses determine, among other things, how much
fat you accumulate.
She also realized that not only are the vast majority of
American food products loaded with toxic ingredients, from
pesticides like
glyphosate to
artificial additives banned in many other countries, the
food she was eating also fell short in terms of healthful
nutrients—especially healthy fats like
saturated fat.
“I’d been duped by the food industry,” she says.
“I thought that eating a six-gram fat or less; 250-calorie
or less Subway sandwich was healthy for me. I didn’t realize
that the nine-grain bread had over 50 ingredients, with one
ingredient that’s banned in Singapore. If you get caught
using it, you get fined 450,000 dollars. I didn’t know that
information. I ate those things because of the calories.
I thought, ‘Oh, look at all these vegetables inside.’
But I didn’t realize that the jalapenos have been dipped in
petroleum-based dyes: Yellow #5 and Yellow #6. I didn’t
realize that all of these buildups of chemicals in my body
were causing these issues. And it wasn’t just appendicitis.
I had asthma and allergies growing up. I was on three or
four asthma medications... I had to see the doctor on a very
frequent basis, even put on steroids to control my asthma.
Now I have zero asthma. I’m on zero medications right now.”
The Power of One
Her corporate work, which involved loads of travel, forced
her to perfect the art of eating organically while on the road—a
feat that can be quite challenging. Her solution was to travel
with a cooler stocked with her own food, and looking for organic
food sources in the various cities she traveled to regularly.
Spurred on by friends and coworkers who wanted to learn more,
she started blogging about her discoveries in 2011. The
following story is a potent example of just how influential a
blogger can be:
“One day, I saw this frozen yogurt company at the
mall, and their sign said, ‘Organic tastes better.’ I
thought, ‘Oh, organic frozen yogurt at the mall. This is
fabulous!’ I went in and asked for the ingredients, and they
couldn’t give them to me. I went through my same
investigative research that I developed in high school and
tried to find out exactly what was in the ingredients.
I found out that they were using a little bit of
organic milk, but then they were adding a slew of other
chemicals, including trans fat and Blue #1 and Blue #2 to
color my favorite flavor that I thought was organic... I
started writing about that. It went viral. This was a local
so-called organic yogurt company [with] about 30 or 40
stores. The CEO wrote me a letter, and they took down the
signs. I said right then, ‘Wait a minute, hold on. I have
this power as a blogger. I have this power as an activist to
change the food system. If I can get a yogurt company to
take down a sign, what else can I do?’"
This was the beginning of a series called “Food
Babe Investigates,” where she digs deeply into the products
sold by major food companies, such as Starbucks, Subway, and
Chipotle. The latter resulted in another “one-woman victory” for
Vani. Chipotle did not have a list of ingredients on their menus
or website, and the corporate headquarters refused to supply her
with one when she contacted them directly2.
“I said, ‘But your label says ‘Food with Integrity.’
How am I going to know that it’s food with integrity if I
can’t know the ingredients and I can’t read them for
myself?'” she says.
Shortly after her article appeared on her blog, Chipotle
called her. The chain recently made the decision to not only
release the lists of ingredients, but also started labeling
genetically engineered (GE) ingredients for full transparency.
They’ve also swapped out some of the GE ingredients, such as
soybean oil, replacing it with rice bran oil.
Food Babe Takes on Kraft
These successes inspired her to take on Kraft, one of the
biggest food corporations in America. Kraft, like many other
companies, uses toxic ingredients in the products made for the
US market, while formulating the exact same products differently
for other countries. It’s quite eye-opening to compare the
labels of the same food sold in the US compared to the exact
same food sold in, say, the UK.
“For example, McDonalds French fries here in the
United States are made with genetically engineered
ingredients, trans fat oils that clog the heart (people say
you shouldn’t even have 40 calories of that a day and that
it increases your risk of heart disease by 23 percent), and
they have this ingredient that is the key ingredient in
Silly Putty to prevent the foaming of the oil.
In the UK, they have the exact same French fry. It’s
made with basic ingredients: sunflower oil, potatoes, salt
(actually, they add the salt after they cook it, so you
control the salt), and a little dextrose, which is sugar.
Completely different ingredient list, the same exact
product. The same goes for Betty Crocker cake mix,” she
says.
Clearly, food companies have the capacity to simply switch
over to selling the same formulations in the US as they do in
other countries. But they consciously choose, depending on the
market, what is the most economical and profitable approach to
use. In this case, Americans get the synthetic additives because
it’s cheaper to make and we don’t demand “the good stuff.” Many
other countries also seem to have more health conscious
regulators who actually have a modicum of concern for their
citizens’ welfare.
“Exactly. I found out that they did this for Kraft
macaroni and cheese,” she says. “They actually took
out two petroleum-based dyes [from the European version]
because they didn’t want to put a label on their product
that says, “May cause adverse effects on activity and
attention in children.
The European version of Kraft macaroni and cheese has
paprika and beta-carotene, but the one here [in the US] has
Yellow #5 and Yellow #6. Attention deficit disorder, autism,
and all of these things linked to hyperactivity disorder
have increased dramatically in the United States. Nobody’s
really looking at the chemicals, and kids everywhere are
eating this Mac & Cheese. It’s really not fair that Kraft
figured out that this ingredient was causing harm—because
they found out when the Europeans told them: “You’re going
to have to put this label on there, or you’re going to have
to reformulate it.” They reformulated it, so it’s not like
we’re asking them to reinvent the wheel.”
Why Won’t Kraft Give American Kids a Safer Mac & Cheese?
To address the issue and raise awareness, Vani started a
Change.org petition3
asking Kraft to remove artificial dyes from American Mac &
Cheese. The petition went viral, collecting more than 200,000
signatures within the first couple of days. A month later, she
hand-delivered about 270,000 signatures to Kraft’s Chicago
headquarters. Yet to this day, Kraft has not responded to the
petition that has
gathered 336,000 signatures as of this writing, and the company
has not in any way indicated that it’s considering changing
their formulation to protect American children from the
well-known harms of these ingredients... Instead, Kraft
responded by stating that:
“We carefully follow the laws and regulations in the
countries where our products are sold. So in the US, we only
use colors that are approved and deemed safe for food use by
the Food and Drug Administration.”
Again, Kraft clearly knows the ingredients in question have
been linked to adverse effects on activity and attention in
children because regulators in Europe have informed them of
this. The moral thing would be to acknowledge the discrepancy
and apply the precautionary principle. Just because the FDA says
it’s okay doesn’t mean they have to use those
ingredients!
Still, there is hope. By inspiring people to collectively act
together, our voices can be heard, because we clearly outnumber
the people running these food companies. The challenge is that
we’re not effectively organized to let them know our views and
understand the intention of those views. Yet this is the
transformative power that we have, and Vani is an excellent
example of how we can make a difference.
Americans are Denied Fundamental Right to Make Informed Food
Choices
As I’ve stated on many occasions, over 90 percent of
processed foods sold in the US contain genetically engineered
(GE) corn and soy. These two ingredients are so pervasive
they’re in foods you’d never expect, including baby food and
condiments of every sort.
“They can actually mimic other real food ingredients
using corn and soy,” Vani says. “The majority of
the food that I’d been eating was either GE corn or soy. No
wonder my entire body was acidic, not alkaline, and was
completely overrun with the lack of nutrition, because I was
getting my nutrition from one or two ingredients. I wasn’t
getting my nutrition from kale, superfoods, and good sources
of nutrition.”
And then I found out that not only is it in the 90
percent of the processed foods, it’s in 90 percent of the
restaurants. It’s in almost all foods in America, but not in
other countries. They require a label in other countries.
Over 65 countries right now require some type of regulation
[on GMOs]. And the United States does not. Our fundamental
rights are being denied right now as Americans.”
Indeed, Monsanto has repeatedly demonstrated its cleverness,
sophistication, and overwhelmingly successful lobbying efforts,
to prevent GMO labeling in the US and to keep Americans in the
dark about what we’re eating. Monsanto now controls virtually
every single federal regulatory agency that has governance over
their ability to do their business. They’ve effectively
circumvented all the possibilities of regulating them through
the federal process.
That’s why we’re so excited that last year’s ballot
initiative in California was able to act as such a tremendous
springboard to catapult Americans into greater awareness. We’re
now seeing this explosion of states taking local measures to
counteract the willful ineptitude and corruption within our
federal agencies. So although it looked like we lost,
and Monsanto undoubtedly uncorked quite a few bottles of
champagne when Prop 37 failed, I believe we actually won the war
despite losing that battle. Prop 37 catalyzed a tremendous
amount of interest and activism that has since inspired a whole
network of grassroots action.
“I think voting with your dollars is such a powerful
movement,” Vani says. “I love seeing people
starting to boycott Kraft in general, because they haven’t
listened to over 336,000 people on our petition [at the time
of this writing].”
How Vani Made Headlines at 2012 Democratic National Convention
Vani became a delegate for North Carolina at the 2012
Democratic National Convention on the platform of genetically
engineered foods. She’d previously helped get President Obama
elected in 2008, and as you may recall, in 2007 Obama promised
to label genetically engineered foods should he get into the
White House.
Vani was outraged to realize that not one single activist
group was represented at the Democratic National Convention. So,
just as Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture and staunch
Monsanto proponent, was about to speak, she made a makeshift
sign out of her program leaflet by writing on it with her
lipstick. “LABEL GMO’S” and then she stood up, in the front row,
holding her sign high as Vilsack took to the podium.
“Within 20 seconds cameras besieged me,” she
says. “I mean, completely took the focus off of his
speech and completely besieged me. I was on C-SPAN, and
people were writing on my Facebook page. ‘Oh, my God! Food
Babe’s protesting at the Democratic National Convention.’ It
was crazy.
My whole delegation behind me who were elected from
other districts and who hadn’t heard my spiel during my
district run were all confused. They’re like, ‘What is she
doing? She’s causing a ruckus here?...' It wasn’t until all
of that commotion was of over that I realized the impact of
what I did that day: I educated my entire delegation...
People started reading about this labeling issue because the
reporters were capturing it and it was being broadcasted
across the nation. .... I got a personal security guard for
the rest of the convention dedicated to me. He gave me a
really hard time for the rest of the convention and I was
banished to the back.”
The theme of last year’s Democratic Convention was “Moving
Forward.” But how can we move forward as a country when our farm
policy and our food policy are so backward and American citizens
are getting increasingly ill from the food we eat, the water we
drink, and pollutants in our immediate environment?
“The bottom line is that food is medicine. If our
food is sick, we’re going to be sick,” she says.
What Can YOU Do to Create Change?
Here are a few of Vani’s tips to start becoming a food
activist, starting with leading by example. Truly, one
of the most powerful ways to inspire others to change is to
demonstrate your beliefs by walking the talk and being the
healthiest, happiest, most empowered version of yourself that
you can be. This way, when people ask how you lost all that
weight, or how you got that fabulous complexion, or how you’re
able to keep your energy levels up all day without two pots of
coffee, you can simply share what you know rather than preach to
those who might not be open to hearing what you have to say.
“It’s really important for all of us – the people who
are reading the blogs, participating, and caring about what
they put in their food – to tell their friends and family
about it. Do it from a loving, giving standpoint, not from a
critical or judgmental standpoint,” Vani says
Other tips for cleaning up your own diet and reaching out to
others to share what you’ve learned include:
Figure out healthy replacement foods.
“I think that’s one of the questions I get on the blog
the most: ‘Food Babe, you’re taking away all my food. If I
can’t eat all this stuff, what can I eat instead?'” she
says. Rest assured, while it may not be immediately obvious
for people who have grown up relying on ready-made,
pre-packaged foods and snacks, you can replace those foods
with something equally satisfying that will support, rather
than wreck, your health.
Swap out your local grocer. Swapping
out your local grocery store for a natural health food store
is one way that can help you find better replacement foods,
since many of health food stores like Whole Foods and Earth
Fare do not allow certain ingredients to begin with. Also,
start shopping at the farmer’s market, and eliminate
processed foods from your diet.
Shop online. “That has been one of
the most fascinating things to me: if I can’t find an
ingredient in my town, I can usually get in on the
Internet,” she says
When eating out, ask your server about
ingredients, such as: “Are you using any corn
or soybean oil in these products that you’re feeding me
today? My salad dressing, does it have soybean or corn oil?”
You can open the conversation up in a positive way by asking
questions about the foods you’re about to order at a time
when everyone’s looking at ingredients anyway.
Throw organic dinner parties.
“Having people come over to your house and trying organic
food has really helped inspire my friends to realize that
you can eat really healthy and have organic food that tastes
great,” Vani says. It’s also a great way to, again,
lead by example and show how to cook without
processed foods and questionable ingredients.
‘Pay the Farmer, or Pay the Hospital’
Vani brings up a point that I too have shared on countless
occasions, which is that you can either spend your money on
healthy foods now, or you can spend it on medical bills down the
road. According to Vani:
“There’s this great young individual Birke Baehr, a
14-year-old genius who wants to be a farmer. He’s spreading
his message. He came up with that. He says, “You can either
pay the farmer, or you can pay the hospital.
I think people, when they start to eliminate
processed foods, eliminate GMOs, buy organic food, eliminate
the toxins and the chemicals in their food, and start
feeling well... the people around them are going to say, ‘I
want some of that. I want to feel like that person. Wow,
look at her. Look at all the energy. And look what she’s
giving back to the world.’ There is no way I would be able
to have become a consultant, live that lifestyle, and
started a blog, had I not been taking care of myself 100
percent. There’s no way I would have been able to give back
to society that way. I wouldn’t be able to do it.
I think feeling good should be everyone’s kind of
number one priority in life. What’s the point of living
life, traveling the world, and doing things that you want to
do, if you can’t feel good?
As someone who has spent the greater portion of my adult life
making my health a priority in my life, I cannot think of
anything that could possibly compete with feeling good and aging
well. What’s your take?
Keep Fighting for Labeling of Genetically Engineered Foods
While California Prop. 37 failed to pass last November by a
very narrow margin, the fight for GMO labeling is far from over.
The field-of-play has now moved to the state of Washington,
where the people's initiative 522, "The People's Right to Know
Genetically Engineered Food Act," will require food sold in
retail outlets to be labeled if it contains genetically
engineered ingredients.
Remember, as with CA Prop. 37, they need support of people
like YOU to succeed. Prop. 37 failed with a very narrow margin
simply because we didn't have the funds to counter the massive
ad campaigns created by the No on 37 camp, led by Monsanto and
other major food companies. Let's not allow Monsanto and its
allies to confuse and mislead the people of Washington and
Vermont as they did in California. So please, I urge you to get
involved and help in any way you can.
No matter where you live in the United States, please
donate money to these labeling efforts through the
Organic
Consumers Fund.
Sign up to learn more about how you can get involved by
visiting
Yeson522.com!
For timely updates on issues relating to these and other
labeling initiatives, please join the Organic Consumers
Association on
Facebook, or follow them on
Twitter.
Talk to organic producers and stores and ask them to
actively support the Washington initiative.