Many years ago I heard a story on how a bit of harm can destroy a good thing. The story was originally referring to morals but I believe it relates to the food we place in our bodies every day. The analogy was of a dad who made a batch of brownies for his teenage sons. He added a teaspoon of dog poop to the brownies to show the boys that even a small amount of a nasty ingredient ruins the entire batch of brownies, just as a small amount of unhealthy processed ingredients in our diet ruins our health.
I am a big advocate of whole foods. Ask anyone of my close friends or family members and they will tell you that my family eats nothing processed. We also try to eat only organic foods. This is a healthy diet and yet we are the minority in America. According to an article written by the New York Times:
Americans eat 31 percent more packaged food than fresh food, and they consume more packaged food per person than their counterparts in nearly all other countries. A sizable part of the American diet is ready-to-eat meals, like frozen pizzas and microwave dinners, and sweet or salty snack foods.
When you look at the infirmities our country faces today, such as diabetes and auto-immune diseases, it is not much of a surprise to read that we consume too much processed food. One of the biggest problems is that people assume if they don’t eat fast food they are eating healthy. What they do not realize is that a box of macaroni and cheese is no better than a hamburger at their local fast food joint.
Look at these staggering facts:
- According to Wikipedia,the way food is processed today didn’t begin until 1810.
- If an ingredient is is not considered a significant amount of presence in the food product the U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn’t require manufacturers to list the ingredient.
- Processing removes 50%-80% of the foods nutrients.
- After a whole food has been processed the flavor is usually lost and therefore manufacturers add artificial ingredients, sugar, and salt to bring flavor to an over processed food item.
- Processed foods have increased calories because of all of the additives.
It is just as detrimental to eat processed foods from the grocery store as eating out at a fast food restaurant. I think the media is beguiling us, attempting to make us believe that everything the food and drug industry tells us is fact. I am certain the food industry is hoodwinking America into believing certain processed foods are ok if not healthy, especially when I see labels like, “natural” and “whole grain. I took some time to research what “Natural” means and as I read on the the Code of Federal Regulations, the defintion is ” the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional” (21CFR101.22).
It is time we take control of our health and say no to the poisons in our food. We must disembark from the sinking ship of processed foods. Take some time this week to educate yourself on the dangers of processed foods. Read every label and check out all of those ingredients you can’t pronounce, it’s worth your time and effort.
Check my site often for more on processed foods, fats, the danger of sugar and other food and health related content.
