Lately I have been reading and watching films about food, gardening and other fun things. Food happens to be one of those topics that just has so much controversy surrounding it. We are plagued with so many disease and health issues today. If I think about the main things that have changed over the past 100 years or so that we may attribute to our immediate health you can't help but point to what we put in our bodies. Food, air and water are what we put into our bodies so it is safe to assume (in my opinion) that our health is directly related and impacted by these three things. Food is something that we, ourselves have total control over. The deteriorating water quality and supply as well as air quality is something we, as a whole, need to be concerned with and address, but as an individual have little impact on. But food... this we something we have direct and sole control over.
If you walk through any supermarket today you will find all sorts of "foods" that are masked to appear healthy and delicious. In reality, these foods are loaded with, lets face it... crap. The boxed, processed and overly refined products that clutter our grocery store shelves can hardly be classified as "food" at all. So lets take a look at what is actually in many of these "foods".
First, we have Chemicals in our foods. Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame (causing carbohydrate cravings), MSG (used to fatten rats for scientific studies and also linked to cancer and many other illnesses), and propylene glycol (used to winterize your RV) to name only a few.
Then we have our sugars. We look on labels and see "Fat Free" and assume healthy and thin. Funny thing about this is once sugar enters your body it is turned into fat. Sugars are not always labelled as such on the ingredient list. Other names and forms of sugars in our foods are: corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, corn sweetener, cane juice, cane syrup, dextrose, sucrose, fruit juice concentrates, lactose, maltose, malt syrup, and molasses. Any ingredient ending in "ose" is likely a form of sugar.
Then onto 'potentially' the most dangerous of all the "crap" - GMO's. GMO's are Genetically Modified Organisms which have not been proven safe for human consumption. Therefore, we can assume that we the people are the guinea pigs in this experiment. Considering that the safety of these products has not been proven, one would logically assume that they would not be widely used in our food system. WRONG, they are everywhere! The major problem here in Canada (as well as the US) is that there is no mandatory labeling of GMO products.
Some of the big name companies that use GMO products are:
Heinz (Catelli, Classico),
Kraft (Nabisco, Primo),
Nestle (Stouffer's, Lean Cuisine),
Lowblaws (Presidents Choice, No Name),
Unilever (Knorr, Lipton),
Pepsi (Gatorade, Quaker Oats, Hostess, Frito-Lay),
Proctor and Gamble (Crisco, Pringles),
General Mills (Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Old El Paso, Green Giant),
Kellogg's, Sefeway, McCormick's, Campbells, Schneider, Maple Leaf, Dare Foods, Coca Cola, Robin Hood, Hershey's and...
... not even our beer has escaped - Labatts, Sleeman and Molson.
The most disturbing places you find GMO's is in our baby products. Often people have no idea what they are putting into their children's mouths. Many people seem to just trust that infant formulas and baby foods would be free of such untested substances and ingredients... WRONG AGAIN! Some of the baby products that contain GMO's are: Enfalac Formulas, Heinz Baby and Infant Foods, Isomil Formulas, Nestle Formulas and Baby Foods, Similac Formulas as well as Loblaws (No Name, Presidents Choice) Baby Foods and Formulas. GMO List Source
Even foods that are widely considered healthy are not always what they seem. A few examples are: Almonds from California have been pasteurized which causes them to loose much of their enzymes which are beneficial to your health. Whole grains are filled with anti-nutrients such as Phytates, which bind to vitamins, minerals and enzymes to make them unavailable to the body. Much of our fresh produce is riddled with pesticides and possibly a GMO product itself. As well, much of our meat and dairy are products of animals that are filled with GMO's and pesticides (through their feed) as well as hormones (beef) and antibiotics.
Now, I am not a medical professional (but they really don't know much about food anyhow) and certainly this is only my personal opinion based on my own research but it seems to me that there is a simple way to avoid all of this "crap". We should simply be eating FOOD and only FOOD prepared at home. What do I mean by food? Real food such as high quality (beyond) organic fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, meats and fish, dairy and some grains (and of course the incredible edible egg!). It is not rocket science here; if you can grow or raise it, it is likely good for you. We all have our guilty pleasures; for me it is Doritos, nachos with cheese, Taco Bell and gummy candies. We are all entitled to a splurge once in a while... but that is the key "once in a while".
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