By now, everyone has seen or at least heard of the documentary, Food Matters. I watched it a couple of years ago and like anyone else who has seen it, was seriously disgusted with the information. Call me naïve, but I couldn't believe that the food industry was that hell bent on sacrificing quality for the sake of money. Anyway, shortly before I had watched that documentary, I had already jumped on the whole Primal/Paleo bandwagon, before it was a bandwagon. For anyone who doesn't know, eating Paleo is essentially reverting back to what our ancestors, the cavemen, did. I've read into it a lot and completely agree with the thinking behind this way of eating, which is that our bodies haven't changed enough since the cavemen era in order to digest and process the crap that we're putting into it today. Eating Primal is pretty much the same thing, only less restrictive because it takes into account the world that we live in and what is actually feasible for the average person who wants to optimize their health. If anyone is interested in all of this information, go read Mark's Daily Apple. It contains a wealth of information and all of the scientific explanations for why some foods just aren't good for your system.
www.marksdailyapple.com
Now about a month ago, the lovely Cristin introduced me to Vani Hari's (aka the Food Babe) website. She has essentially dedicated her life to investigating questionable ingredients in food and passing along the information to anyone interested.
www.foodbabe.com
I'm so glad that I was introduced to her website, even though it has made food even more complicated in our household. Not only do I cut out all grains and most dairy, but now there is a whole list of ingredients that I need to watch out for. I read labels before, but not to this extent and even though this newfound knowledge has made food shopping a bit more time-consuming, I'm happy to know that what I am putting into my body is good. You should really check out the links if any of this interests you, but I'll give you a quick overview of the most common offenders.
Carrageenan - typically found in almond milk/coconut milk "drinks" (not actual coconut milk, but the kind that you find in a carton), as well as most dairy - it seems harmless enough as it is derived from seaweed, but here is a description of how it interacts with our bodies, as found on Prevention.com - "Although derived from a natural source, carrageenan appears to be particularly destructive to the digestive system, triggering an immune response similar to that your body has when invaded by pathogens like Salmonella."
If you want to read the full article concerning carrageenan, here's the link.
Cellulose - typically found in pre-packaged grated/shredded cheeses, Aunt Jemima's pancake syrup, salad dressings, and so much more! - so what is cellulose? It is wood pulp. As in, trees. That seems pretty natural, right? It is, technically, but it is also completely indigestible for humans. Why would you put something into your body that it cannot and will not digest? There's way more information out there concerning cellulose, so just Google it! Here's a link to get you started.
Natural flavoring - found in almost any pre-packaged food - this could very well be castoreum...which is beaver butt. More precisely, it is extracted from a beaver's anal gland. Who knew that beavers tasted like raspberry, or peach, or any other flavor that's trying to be incorporated? Why not use say, raspberries, instead? When companies aren't using beavers to flavor our food, they are processing other "natural" things (for lack of a better word), which really isn't any better. Read up on it here!
All of those examples are barely scratching the surface. I recently threw out all of the tea I had because of what was in it and replaced it with tea that I had done more research on. Who wants a nice hot cup of pesticides? If you're drinking any of the more common tea brands, like Celestial Seasonings, Lipton, Bigelow, Twinings, or Teavana, then that's what you're getting. That only covers part of it too...some of these teas, among others, have natural flavoring as one of their ingredients on top of it. Foodbabe covers it all here.
So now on to starvation. Any food that is "easy" is bad, meaning that every meal and snack requires more preparation than I'm willing to do. I love food, but now that I know what's in some of my favorite foods, I can't help but feel frustrated and even a little betrayed by the food industry. I guess our best interests really aren't of concern to them, considering the US has a whole list of ingredients which they allow consumers such as you and I to feed to ourselves and our families, while other countries have banned these same ingredients. Lucky us.
I knew I should move back to Switzerland!
Like I said earlier, the information that I'm posting here doesn't even begin to cover everything. It's simply meant to act as a catalyst for people who are interested in this and would like to treat their bodies well. Do some research! The information you'll find is positively mind-blowing.
On another note, I have fallen from my 2nd place standing in my fantasy football league. The Hillbilly Fillies beat me this week...and I blame Peyton Manning...and Indianapolis defense...and Joique Bell (although I suppose I shouldn't have expected too much from him to begin with). Let's hope the Kegel the Elves (yes, I've changed my team name again) can win week 7!
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