Are you one of the people who've grown fond of kale lately? You've got plenty of company at the salad bar as the leafy vegetable has morphed in recent years from the exotic to the commonplace. But with demand for kale surging, that's creating a major headache for some kale farmers who are having trouble finding sufficient supplies of kale seeds to keep up with demand. 
 
 Supplies are so tight that farmers are forced to take additional precautions to avoid wasting them, according to Ryan Flaim, whose family grows kale in Vineland, New Jersey. 
 
 "Seed prices are through the roof," Flaim said in an interview, adding that kale sales have jumped by more than 30 percent annually over the past few years. "The price has probably gone up 80 percent over the past three years." 
 
 Food trends: What's the next quinoa or kale? 
 
 Wesley L. Kline, an agricultural extension agent in Cumberland County, New Jersey, near Atlantic City, echoed Flaim's sentiments. "Seed companies are scrambling to meet demand," he said, adding that farmers aren't producing as much kale as they would like because of the shortages. 
 
 Rythym Superfoods, which makes kale chips, has encouraged its suppliers to snap up as many seeds as they could get, forcing some to take the unusual step of using overseas suppliers. They now have sufficient supplies, though they didn't for a few years. 
 
 "I haven't heard that in the last four or five months or so," said Scott Jensen, the company's CEO, referring to the shortage. "For a couple of years, if you didn't have the kale seeds, you were out of luck. There could be some suppliers that are out of it. Our suppliers have plenty of seeds." 
 
 Signs of kale's popularity abound. Chick-fil-A recently announced that it was planning to replace its cole slaw side dish with a kale salad. Wendy's (WEN) offers it on its menu as well. Food market researcher Label Insight estimates that kale is in 420 products on the market now, ranging from packaged vegetables to energy bars. 
 
 But kale demand may be starting to plateau, according to Timothy W. Coolong, an assistant professor of vegetable production at the University of Georgia. 
 
 "Overall, we are growing much more kale than we ever did, but increases in acreage are slowing down compared to the very rapid increase observed a few years ago," he said. "However, keep in mind that there is still much more kale grown now than in the past. I think it probably will probably stay somewhat static from here out for the next few years." 
 
 Rythym Superfoods' Jensen, whose company is one of the country's largest buyers of the vegetable, has heard all the talk about "peak kale" and doesn't buy it. He argues that while that may be an issue among hip foodies looking for the newest thing, he sees plenty of room for kale to keep growing. In fact, the company, which has recently begun selling a roasted kale snack, counts Target (TGT) and Starbucks (SBUX) as new customers. 
 
 "I just see more and more people adding it to things rather than it waning," Jensen said. 
 
 The Austin, Texas-based company recently raised $3 million in Series C funding led by General Mills (GIS), indicating that investors think kale's returns will remain plenty tasty. ||||| 
 
 Our beloved kale salads are not “healthy.” And we are confusing ourselves by believing that they are. (Deb Lindsey/For The Washington Post) 
 
 Not long ago, I watched a woman set a carton of Land O’ Lakes Fat-Free Half-and-Half on the conveyor belt at a supermarket. 
 
 “Can I ask you why you’re buying fat-free half-and-half?” I said. Half-and-half is defined by its fat content: about 10 percent, more than milk, less than cream. 
 
 “Because it’s fat-free?” she responded. 
 
 “Do you know what they replace the fat with?” I asked. 
 
 “Hmm,” she said, then lifted the carton and read the second ingredient on the label after skim milk: “Corn syrup.” She frowned at me. Then she set the carton back on the conveyor belt to be scanned along with the rest of her groceries. 
 
 [Forget government guidelines. Here’s how to eat better, in 6 easy steps.] 
 
 The woman apparently hadn’t even thought to ask herself that question but had instead accepted the common belief that fat, an essential part of our diet, should be avoided whenever possible. 
 
 Then again, why should she question it, given that we allow food companies, advertisers and food researchers to do our thinking for us? In the 1970s, no one questioned whether eggs really were the heart-attack risk nutritionists warned us about. Now, of course, eggs have become such a cherished food that many people raise their own laying hens. Such examples of food confusion and misinformation abound. 
 
 The United States government once considered butter and margarine as one of seven food groups to consume daily. Look back at other advice that unfortunately is no longer a part of the FDA's dietary guidelines. (Jayne W. Orenstein/The Washington Post) 
 
 “This country will never have a healthy food supply,” said Harry Balzer, an NPD Group analyst and a gleeful cynic when it comes to the American food shopper. “Never. Because the moment something becomes popular, someone will find a reason why it’s not healthy.” 
 
 Here, Balzer used the most dangerous term of all: “healthy.” 
 
 We are told by everyone, from doctors and nutritionists to food magazines and newspapers, to eat healthy food. We take for granted that a kale salad is healthy and that a Big Mac with fries is not. 
 
 
 
 In the 1970s, few questioned the prevailing opinion that eggs were a heart attack waiting to happen. Now they are among our most beloved ingredients. (Mark Gail/The Washington Post) 
 
 I submit to you that our beloved kale salads are not “healthy.” And we are confusing ourselves by believing that they are. They are not healthy; they are nutritious. They may be delicious when prepared well, and the kale itself, while in the ground, may have been a healthy crop. But the kale on your plate is not healthy, and to describe it as such obscures what is most important about that kale salad: that it’s packed with nutrients your body needs. But this is not strictly about nomenclature. If all you ate was kale, you would become sick. Nomenclature rather shows us where to begin. 
 
 “ ‘Healthy’ is a bankrupt word,” Roxanne Sukol, preventive medicine specialist at the Cleveland Clinic, medical director of its Wellness Enterprise and a nutrition autodidact (“They didn’t teach us anything about nutrition in medical school”), told me as we strolled the aisles of a grocery store. “Our food isn’t healthy. We are healthy. Our food is nutritious. I’m all about the words. Words are the key to giving people the tools they need to figure out what to eat. Everyone’s so confused.” 
 
 Last March, the Food and Drug Administration sent the nut-bar maker Kind a letter saying their use of the word “healthy” on their packaging was a violation (too much fat in the almonds). Kind responded with a citizens’ petition asking the FDA to reevaluate its definition of the word. 
 
 If I may rephrase the doctor’s words: Our food is not healthy; we will be healthy if we eat nutritious food. Words matter. And those that we apply to food matter more than ever. 
 
 Kraft cheese slices cannot be called cheese but must be labeled “cheese food” or a “cheese product.” Pringles cannot be called “chips” but rather “crisps.” Yet packaged foods can be labeled “natural” or “all-natural” — what exactly is the difference between the two, anyway? — with little regulation. 
 
 
 
 Pork rinds are an indulgence, sure, but are they “unhealthy”? They’re practically pure protein. (Kate Patterson/For The Washington Post) 
 
 Here is a word we think we understand: protein. Protein is good, yes? Builds strong muscles, has positive health connotations. That’s why “protein shakes” are a multibillion-dollar business. Pork cracklings do not have positive health connotations because we think of them as having a high fat content. But pork cracklings are little more than strips of fried pig skin. Skin is one of the many forms of connective tissue in all animal bodies and is composed almost entirely of protein, typically undergirded by a layer of fat. When these strips of pig skin are fried, most of the fat is rendered out and the connective tissue puffs, resulting in a delectable, crunchy, salty crackling. I therefore recommend them to you as a “protein snack” during your on-the-go day. 
 
 Given the infinitely malleable language of food, it’s no wonder American food shoppers are confused. 
 
 What is “mechanically separated meat,” a standard ingredient in the turkey bacon and chicken sausages popularized because of our low-fat love? “Do you know what that is?” a grocery store owner asked me. “They basically put poultry carcasses in a giant salad spinner.” Whatever winds up on the walls of the spinner in addition to meat — bits of cartilage (protein!), nerves (I have enough of my own, thank you), vessels, bone fragments — is scraped off and added to the mixing bowl. “Mechanically separated meat” engages our imagination only when someone attaches new words to it, such as “pink slime.” 
 
 
 
 The label might tell you it’s “enriched,” but it doesn’t tell you that the bread’s ingredients were first stripped of their natural benefits. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images) 
 
 “Refined” is another critical food word. Generally, refined means elegant and cultured in appearance, manner or taste, or with impurities removed. Yet that is what food companies have been calling wheat from which the germ and bran have been removed, leaving what is in effect pure starch, devoid of the fiber, oils, iron and vitamins that make wheat nutritious. 
 
 That’s not refined, Sukol said, “that’s stripped.” Flour stripped of the nutrition that makes it valuable to our bodies but reduces shelf life. 
 
 Because it has been stripped, we must “enrich” it. “Enriched.” “Fortified.” Good, yes? To make rich, to make strong. Food companies added the iron they took out during the refining process, but not enough of what we need. “Refined flour — this resulted in B vitamin and iron deficiencies,” Sukol said, “so they added vitamins and iron. And what do they call that? Enriched and fortified. But they forgot to add folate, vitamin B9, until the 1990s.” 
 
 What we don’t know, Sukol said, is how those additions, not to mention the diglycerides and sulphates, combined with the lack of fiber, will affect our metabolism in the long run. So far, she said, “it has resulted in diabetes and metabolic syndrome.” 
 
 We will be healthy if we eat nutritious food. Our food is either nutritious or not. We are healthy or we are not. If we eat nutritious food, we may enhance what health we possess. 
 
 This is not a judgment on what you choose to eat. If you hunger for a cheese product grilled between bread that’s been stripped of its nutrition, along with a bowl of Campbell’s tomato soup (made with tomato paste, corn syrup and potassium chloride), fine. It was one of my favorite childhood meals. Just be aware. Buy fat-free half-and-half if that’s what you like; just know what it is you’re putting in your body and why. 
 
 Because, and this is the judgment call, fat isn’t bad; stupid is bad. And until we have better information and clearer shared language defining our food, smart choices will be ever harder to make. 
 
 Ruhlman is the author of many books, including “Ruhlman’s How to Roast” and the recent collection of novellas “In Short Measure.” He blogs and can be reached at ruhlman.com. He will join Wednesday’s Free Range chat at noon at live.washingtonpost.com. 
 
 Correction: A previous version of this article mistakenly said that refined wheat has had the endosperm and bran removed. In fact, the germ and bran have been removed, and the endosperm remains.
– If you needed any more evidence that kale has gone mainstream, check out the menu at Chick-fil-A as of Monday. The cole slaw is gone, replaced by, yes, that ubiquitous leafy green, reports 11Alive. More specifically, the slaw has been replaced by a "Superfood Side" of kale and broccolini. (Ironic?) It's not difficult, of course, to find kale elsewhere—a food research company tells CBS News it's counted 420 products that boast about having some. And that's contributing to what the network calls a "major headache" for some kale farmers in the US—there aren't enough seeds to go around. "Seed companies are scrambling to meet demand," says an agricultural extension agent in New Jersey's Cumberland County. The shortage has forced some farmers to take the unusual step of getting seeds from overseas, reports CBS. Still, a University of Georgia professor says things are calming down from the the first few years of the kale boom, with yearly increases in acreage devoted to the crop slowing down. But there's a new normal: "Keep in mind that there is still much more kale grown now than in the past." Meanwhile, an essayist in the Washington Post has a piece headlined, "No food is healthy. Not even kale." The gist is that foods such as kale may be nutritious, but only people can be healthy. It's not mere semantics, writes Michael Ruhlman, who argues that this point speaks to the vast amount of confusion surrounding food. "The kale on your plate is not healthy, and to describe it as such obscures what is most important about that kale salad: that it’s packed with nutrients your body needs," he writes. "But this is not strictly about nomenclature. If all you ate was kale, you would become sick. Nomenclature rather shows us where to begin." Click for that full piece.