Beating Up the Food Companies

And it's only going to get worse people!

These companies would collapse overnight if the populace did not buy their food!

So why do we ? We all know it's not healthy !

I believe we continue to consume these products based on convenience, cost, and conformity.

It is easier to buy these simple to prepare foods at the local market or fast food joint than it is to drive to the farmers market and cook from scratch.

Mass produced foods are cheaper than their healthier organic counterparts.

We are influenced by family members including our children, and peers who eat what is advertised on TV.

I sometimes fall prey to these pressures but I am not however like the ad says “loving it.” In fact I now feel physically ill when I eat a burger or pizza.

http://www.antiagingatlanta.com

Don't forget taste and comfort. No one eats an apple to make themselves feel better. After a hard days work most people reach for a bag of chips or cookies to destress. Just like drugs, junk food releases serotonin in the brain and becomes habit forming. What people need to realize is that if they were to remineralize their bodies and give it the other macro and micronutrients it needs they would feel better overall and the cravings would cease to exist. It just takes time for the body to adapt, which is another problem in today's society: Instant Gratification. But that's a whole different topic.

Actually, I just came across Kraft's Healthy Living area and was pretty impressed. The recipes look like things I'd actually want to eat, and use foods I have around the house anyway. And the latest issue of their Foods and Family magazine (you can sign up to have it mailed to you) has a pretty high percentage of lower fat/calorie recipes, too. (Not that I'd necessarily use all the brand-name products they call for--Aldi and store brands are usually a lot cheaper.)

http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/HealthyLiving/

Sadie,

I agree with you on instant gratification. Many times I went on a diet, lost a few pounds in week 1, then 1 or 2 pounds and week 2 and just gave up because I wasn't losing fast enough. I would then procede to eat family sized processed foods, such as a whole frozen pizza or a 3 pound lasagna, and wash it down with 12 or so beers. I still have a major problem with this, no matter how much I eat, I still feel 'hungry', even after 3 punds of lasagna.

But I don't blame food companies for me being 'morbidly obese', the BMI level that I fall in, I know I shouldn't eat thier stuff, and I know I shouldn't eat as much, but I just can't stop sometimes. It's horrible.

I'm slowly trying to replace the bad foods with good, and get buy on less food, but better quality. Instead of 3 lbs of lasagna, I will have a little bit of pasta with pesto, instead of 12 beers on a weekend I will have 2 or 3 glasses of wine. People who thing overweight people are lazy slobs have no idea what its like. You don't tell an alcoholic to drink just a few of the healthier alcoholic drinks every day, you tell them to not drink at all. You can't say that to someone who is overweight.

It's no wander how inferior these foods are. Our pigs, cattle, and chicken is raised in such a way that it is making us sick, with them batterying them with antibiotics, growth hormones, and being fed antibiotics. Fruits, veggies and grains are no better. They are latin with harmful synthetic pesticides and terminator and pesticide-resistance getically altered organizims that not only actually put pesticides in the fruits and veggies themselves, but also uses technology for seed suicide.

Fokes, You need to act now. Our earth is in peril, and it's time to stop believing the lies of the FDA that red meat should be avoided, avoid saturated fat, this, and that. What we need to do is to stop polluting the earth, use the ecosystem, not synthetic technology for nutritional enhancements, and start getting serious about genome technology that enhances food production and quality, NOT greed marketing by pharmicutical companies.

And stop believing this so-called flawed up "MyPyramid" food guide pyramid. My advice: Eat non-starchy vegtables in abundance, dark colored and citrus fruits, some grains and dairy, and a broad variety of meat and fish. Make sure you buy low-mercury fish such as salmon. Make half your protein intake in meat. And as allways, GO ORGANIC!

And for company providers, I am just appalled about the treatment of our livestock welfare. I don't believe about veganism or vegetarinism, but I DO NOT believe on the cruelty of livestock. We need to take better care, and put the livestock on the diet that they are supposed to eat. Chickens are supposed to eat grass and seeds. Cows are supposed to eat grass and hay, not corn, grains, and animal by-products. Remember, Not only you are what you eat, your livestock is what they eat. Eat a sick animal, and you will get sick. Eat a fattened up animsl, and you will grow fat.

And trust me. Organic farming is sustainable, and healthier. Don't believe on lies brought by the FDA that organic farming does not have health benefits over conventional farming. Listen, We have latest research that conventional foods causes cancer, even heart cancer. They say red meat causes cancer because of heme iron. Iron does NOT cause cancer, it's the growth hormones and pesticide-laden feeds and drugs in the meat that causes cancer.

And you think that chickens are better for you than red meat. Right? WRONG!!! Chickens are one of the worst animals treated in the US. Kentucky Fried Chicken has been criticized by the People in the Ethinical Treatment of Aminals of all the misabuse of the chickens. During the livetimes, once the eggs are hatched, these chicks are only with their mothers for the first 2 days. Then they are painfully seared with a hot blade without pain killers. Then, they are dumped in a lot with genetically altered feed, animal biproducts, drugs, and hormones. This causes the chickens to rapidly grow, which is unhealthy. Some chickens suffer from the excruciating amount of ammonia in the air, causing lung and other health problems. Once they grow up, they are stuffed by hand into crates, send to slaughter houses, and slamed on shackled hooks upside down. They are minimully shocked, but they are still awake. Once their, their throats are slashed with a blade, while still concious. Then they are seared in boiling water. Then the heads, hearts, lungs, and some organs are ripped out. Some chickens are sill awake at the time.

Don't you think that they have better ideas on how they raise the chickens in America? I think so, but they want to cut corners to make money, which I think it does more harm than good, and causes pollution

Now I am NOT saying to you to go vegetarian. Vegetarian diets are unhealthy, and causes all sorts of nutritional deficiencies. Don't eat soy products or tofu. These are bad for you. Instead, you need to buy organic meat from your local health food stores, or find meat that does not carry antibiotics or animal by-products. Best of all, if there is a local family farm near you, rely on them. Don't rely on meat giants, because these meats come these abusive factory farms. You need meat protein for exclusive vitamins. Make sure you go organic on fruits, veggies, grains, and dairy products as well. A well balanced organic, paleo diet goes a long way towards a healthier you.

James,

Where did you hear that soy is bad for you? It wouldn't be from the Weston A. Price Foundation, would it?? The people behind the Atkins Diet, who want to put your liver into a state of ketosis?

Daryl: At this point, I think it's gone beyond any one organization trying to get you to buy or not buy soy. There are valid concerns about certain chemicals that are in soy. You should note that soy was only used as a fertilizer for quite a long time in China until the Chiang Dynasty when they learned to ferment it. Fermentation does destroy most of the substances that are potentially dangerous in soy.

In this country, they found soy oil to be useful, and the leftover protein was given to livestock. However, they soon realized that only so much could be fed to animals before they started developing serious health and reproductive problems, so they decided to feed it to humans, mainly because it's cheap.

There are concerns about thyroid function, mineral deficiency, and hormonal effects. Most important to me, soy has been shown to lower testosterone levels. Some in my sport even refer to it as the poison protein. Until the dust has settled on all of this, I only eat fermented soy (miso, natto, shoyu, etc) in small amounts. I don't think there's quite enough evidence either way yet. I can only advise that you don't overdo eating soy.