Thursday, October 30, 2014

How the food giants hooked us on processed foods

This summer I read the most fascinating book I have ever read “Salt Sugar Fat” by Michael Moss.
It talks about how the food giants hooked us on processed foods. I thought I was pretty savvy as far as food goes, I know how, and I do read all the labels. I bottle whatever I can to stay away from all the additives and preservatives. And I grind my own flour to keep all the nutrients. I didn't get much past the first chapter before I realized. I KNOW NOTHING!!!

I did not know that the companies that make processed foods have scientists who are specialists in senses, that do nothing but experiment with the food to get it to what they call the bliss point. The bliss point is the precise amount of sweetness--no more,-- no less--that makes food and drink most enjoyable. The same can be said of salt and fat, they also have a bliss point. They also experiment with the feel of the food in the mouth. Apparently the food must feel just so in our mouth or we can not become addicted. Sugar makes foods and drinks taste so irresistible that once we get started we can’t stop.What the companies want is for everyone to be addicted, so we keep coming back for more.
I did not know companies are allowed to put “100 percent juice” on the package even if it only has one drop of fruit juice in it. all of those juices that you think are so good for your kids, are just a pile of sugar and high fructose corn syrup. And the yogurts and go gurts are also full of sugar.

I did not know that the manufactures use lots and lots of sugar to make donuts fry up bigger and better, so bread won’t go stale, and to get cereal to toast brown and crunchy. Kids like sugar more than adults. The more sugar they put in the food the more the kids want it. The companies started advertising to the children, because they knew the kids could get their parents to buy the product. That was actually banned by the government years ago.

I did not know the companies that process food, process it so many times and put in so many additives and preservatives  that there is no nutrients left. Their main objective is to get the food to last longer on the shelf. DID YOU KNOW! a lunchable isn't even food by the time they get done with it? It has so many preservatives that it can sit on the shelf IN THE WAREHOUSE! for months before it even hits the store.
We should not be eating things that don’t die.

I did not know companies are not required to put the sugar they have added on the label!! They are only required to put the sugar that  is in the food. For instance, if they are canning applesauce, they are only required to put the sugar that is in the apples, not the added sugar, HOW STUPID IS THAT!!

I did not know that half of the big companies budget goes into advertising, and figuring out how to trick us into believing that what we are buying is actually good for us.We don’t even know what food should taste like any more. No wonder kids don’t like fruit, how can you compare an apple to all that sugar.

No wonder Americans are so fat, WE ARE STARVING!! because nothing we eat has any nutrients, so our bodies are on survival mode. Along with that, we are eating the one thing that is making us fat, and it is not FAT it is SUGAR.

Michael Moss interviewed Julie Mennella, a biopsychologist at one of the companies. Moss says “Mennella has become convinced that our bliss point for sugar--and all foods, for that matter--is shaped by our earliest experiences. But as babies grow into youngsters, the opportunity for food companies to influence our taste grows as well. For Mennella, this is troubling. It’s not that food companies are teaching children to like sweetness; rather, they are teaching children what foods should taste like. And increasingly, this curriculum has been all about sugar”.
 “What basic research and taste in children is shedding light on--and why the foods that they’re making for children are so high in sugar and salt--is they are manipulating or exploiting the biology of the child,: she  said. “I think that anyone who makes a product for a child has to take responsibility because what they are doing is teaching the child the level of sweetness and saltiness the food should be.
  “They’re not just providing a source of calories for a child,” she added. “They’re impacting the health of that child.”

It’s not just the sugar!! It’s the salt and fat as well. I don’t think we realize what danger we are in! The PROCESSED FOOD IS KILLING US, and when I say that, I mean it literally! If your kids are fat and you can’t figure out why, look at your cupboards and fridge. If you have ANY packaged foods, that is where your problem lies. The Ayurvedic (the india ancient  way of healing) way of eating has been around for thousands of years. And makes more sense to me than ever, now. It teaches to eat the way the people ate 100 years ago, and that is how I counsel my client to eat. There were no packaged food then, they ate what they grew, traded, and caught,  If we ate like that today we would not have obesity, and over half of the illnesses that we have today would not exist.

Food has  basic vibrational qualities, which are above and beyond their nutritional makeup. Various types of food have different vibrational qualities as well and can be roughly corresponded to the various chakra levels. I will cover this topic in my blog next month, look for it.

                                              Nancy Adams Certified Thai Yoga Therapist
Certified Yoga Instructor
and Ayurveda Consultant
        These are my own thoughts. I sometimes take writings from others to support my own ideas.