Here is another Article for your reading pleasure that will aid
you in your health and weight loss goals for 2009..
Dont forget your free website, calorie, protein, fat counter located
at the bottom of the article I use this type of web page for the
people that I work with to track or map there food intake. :0)
Whole foods, natural and unchanged, fed humankind for thousands of
years, but sometime in the middle of the last century, food began
to change into something best described as “not really food.”
That few of our grandmothers — and likely none of our
great-grandmothers — would recognize many of the so-called
foods people feed their families today. Who takes the blame?
The food industry, to no one’s surprise… but interestingly,
the finger needs to be pointed another group too — one that
is a bit more unexpected: researchers, there is a science to
nutrition, a field is refered to as “nutritionism.”
Their work has shifted the focus from food itself to the elements
of what is in that food. Studies continue to break down foods,
such as broccoli and blueberries, into specific nutrients. when
was the last time you purchased an orange because of it’s
vitamin c count or ate brocoli because of their isothiocyanate
compounds, a chemical compound containing the univalent radical -NCS.
There looking at the trees and can’t see the forest
For example, their isothiocyanate compounds and phytochemicals,
as scientists attempt to figure out why one food is healthier
than another.
But these are chemical components, not food.
Just as mainstream medical doctors have a tendency to isolate
symptoms without addressing the root causes of illness, this
deconstructionist view of food misses the point — eating is
not just about intake of nutrients, but about life itself.
And these elements don’t necessarily work in isolation…
it’s why we are encouraged to eat “whole” foods. This isn’t a
strike against science — there is much to be gained from learning
the make-up of foods and helping people better understand what
constitutes a healthy diet. It’s a marketing issue. The factoids
are used to pave the way for food manufacturers to “enhance” their
unhealthy processed, preservative-filled foods so they appear
healthier than they are.
one of the most unhealthy people that I know shied away from food
and took supplements instead, by the handful he was lacking in
fiber, trace minerals, and some fats that the body needs to
heal and to grow and repair itself.
Nutritionism has provided a whole new set of marketing tools to the
food industry, which is always looking for ways to get consumers
to buy and eat yet more food. Marion Nestle, PhD, MPH,
professor at New York University, is author of many books on this
topic, including her latest, What to Eat. She points out
that, according to the USDA, 3,900 calories/day are brought to
market for every man, woman and child in this country.
The food industry makes money by seducing ordinary folks
into stuffing themselves. Profits are slim for food manufacturers
when consumers buy apples and grapes, but they balloon with
purchases from the vast selection
of new and more novel “foods” that fill supermarket shelves. and
they are usually loaded with transfats and worthless carbohydrates.
This is where nutritionism runs amok, as food manufacturers deem
each new research finding an opportunity — in fact, they are
often motivated to fund studies in order to ascertain how
nutritional benefits might be used to sell more product.
For years sugar-drenched juice drinks
(those with less than 50% and sometimes as little as 5% juice),
have been able to state that they’re made with “real juice”
so they can benefit from a halo of health on their label.
The most absurd example I have seen of this trend recently is the
addition of fiber to Splenda, the artificial sweetener!
All this results in a lot of confusion about what’s for dinner,
and is it healthy… not to mention lunch, breakfast and all those
snacks. At one time most of the people worrying about eating right
were looking to lose weight; now the problem is broader because
it centers on a far most basic dilemma how to eat to be healthy.
For some answers to that, there are a few basic nutritional rules
notably, avoid foods with more than five ingredients,
along with those with ingredients you can’t pronounce.
But my best advice is hard-boiled and served straight-up,
unprocessed and with no additives: “Eat food. Not too much.
Mostly plants,and animals like fish and chicken.”
Here is a free web site that you can manage your calorie, fat,
carbohydrate intake. It’s easy to use and can be another tool
in your arsenal against gaining weight. But best of all it works
and is free to use the web site
For more information on Myself and my articles.
Until Next time…
Dan Moser
