First of all thanks everyone for the views, I passed 15,000 today!
Today I thought I would take the time to point out some of the tricks the food industry plays. There is lots of misleading information out there and I am trying to help open your eyes to the fact that sales drive a business, not health! Hopefully this can help you look at food as fuel, and less by what your body has become addicted to!
To start off, I need to remind you that healthy fats are good for us and will not make us fat. However, man made fats, man made sugars, and other substances will make us fat. So know that when I mention fat, there is good and bad fats. Healthy fats are in nautral things like nuts and meats. Beware of many store brand fats and especially trans fats. Trans fats and other man altered fats are next to impossible to break down and will just make themselves right at home on your hips! They are made to increase shelf life and will definitely make you fatter.
Man made sugars! Now these are some of the most misleading things out there! Everything now has a fancy hidden name and they are sneaking their way into all our foods! Our body is ingesting sugars made from a concentrated man made syrup that was never meant to be ingested in these concentrations. These sugars are cheaper and taste better to our senses which leads to companies using them.. A LOT! The issue with these foods are they have a lot of caloric value, and not a lot of nutritional value. Foods are now made with compounds that mimic our bodies reaction to real foods. They spike our insulin levels and give us a rush of energy that we literally get addicted to. Because of this lack of nutrients we ultimately crash quickly and need another hit of fructose corn syrup to be happy! Think about it, our breakfast cereals, breads, granola bars and pretty much everything on the shelf are packed with sugars that are man made, fake, and unhealthy. They taste great, they are cheaper to use, and they have a longer shelf life, so you can see why they are so widely used. Check the ingredients for things like sugar, syrups and basically any word that is longer than 9 letters and looks like it would be used in the semi finals of a spelling bee. Below is an example of many foods with hidden man made compounds! Note, this does not mean that other sugar is good for us, all simple sugars will spike your insulin, store fat, and give you a crash. Avoid these and opt for a more natural sweetener like stevia. Stevia is an awesome product that tastes amazing.
Diet Pops, Sugar Free Foods / Drinks and aspartame! These are often times very misleading and can lead to weight gain even when dieting. Diet pops and many sugar free foods use aspartame. Aspartame is a man made sweetener that is often in things like splenda and sugar free products to give it a sweet taste. Sugar free could seem like a great option because it is low in calories however there is something food companies don't want you to know. Aspartame is often marketed as a "natural" sweetner and this isn't exactly the case. Aspartame is actually two natural sweetners stuck together, that don't normally stick together. The bond that holds these together when ingested, will travel through the blood and literally into the brain. Once it passes directly into the brain this compound (methanol) turns into formaldehyde which is extremely toxic and can lead to brain issues like cancer and neurological breakdowns. This isn't a matter of being skinny or not, overindulging in these products can literally kill you. Be aware of aspartame! For better options look into stevia as mentioned above.
MSG and Sodium! Compounds like MSG and sodium have been added to food for hundreds of years, and is used to help preserve the shelf life. The problem lies less in the sodium and more in the MSG. Sodium can lead to water retention. However, even if you avoid MSG don't avoid sodium completely as sodium is an essential mineral. Try pure crystal salts like himalayan sea salt as they haven't been linked to hypertension issues. Himalayan salt is also rich with over 80 essential trace elements and is high in magnesium, calcium, and iron! Now let's talk MSG! The food industry realized a while back, that adding MSG to food doesn't only increase the shelf life, it makes awful food taste great! So what did they do? Took out a lot of the nutrients, added some calories with man made sugars, and packed in the MSG so it can live longer and taste better. This clearly leads to greater profits and you can see where I am going with this, clearly they don't want you to know how bad MSG is! MSG is in 80% of all processed foods and is just as bad for weight gain as fat. The issue with MSG is that when we ingest it our bodies create fat cells to store it in. This can lead to easier weight gains, and harder weight loss.
Fat Free! Fat free is maybe the most misleading thing out there! Remember, fat isn't what makes us fat! The industry decided to run with old out dated views, and push that products should come with fat free options and promotes them as "healthy alternatives." The worst part about this, is people who are trying to make a change obviously lean towards what look like healthier options. The issue is that fat is taken out (often times the healthiest part, ex many yogurt companies) and replace it with man made sugars. Some products like peanut butter are even packed with icing sugar like substances to keep the taste without the fat. Therefore these obviously lead to weight gain. Look for full natural fats, with little processing. Not all fat free versions are awful. A good indicator is to check the back and look at the sugar content. Compare it to the regular version and 9/10 times you will notice the sugars increase with the fat free version. If it doesn't check the ingredients list for any words your grandmother wouldn't know, and if it looks good you are in the clear! Below is an example using everyone's favorite mayonaise.
Processed foods and drinks. Remember guys, the more foods have been processed or packaged usually is a good predictor of how much they tinkered with the product. When industries refine, process, and pasteurize they often mean they went in and seperated certain compounds. They then add them back together with their own filler and products and ultimately have ruined what was a healthy food. Nutrients are often removed and destroyed, and if any heat has been used (very common) most all of the good nutrients can be gone. Options like raw whole milk and full fat yogurts are your healthiest versions. When looking at meat, if it doesn't look like it is fresh off the bone but rather like it could be put into a bagged lunch avoid it. Obviously with free ranged grass fed animals being the most healthy options.
WHOLE WHEAT DOES NOT MEAN HEATHY! This one really gets me. Often times I see so many people trying so hard to eat healthy at lunch with fresh sandwiches. What they don't know is that many big bread companies are made with grains that have been warped and exhausted. The very compounds are falling apart. Think of it like a clone. Many clones don't survive to live a decent life because they fall apart literally at the cellular level. These grains are the same because they have been so depleted and comercialized. This leads to very weak grains, and even worse gluten to digest. Try options like brown rice tortillas and ezekiel breads as options to replace bread. For all the other reasons why gluten is bad check out my previous link here!
Bonus!
Cooking food vs raw fresh food. Preparing food can not only be annoying, but it can actually be less healthy. Raw foods are often the healthiest way for us to eat them. Anytime you heat, fry, or grill you create combustion or burning. When you burn something you create byproducts like carcinogens which can lead to disease and cancer. I am not saying don't ever BBQ, as I would never deprive the world of such a taste, but try not to eat a burnt steak every night. Additionally, the foods enzymes and nutrients are often destroyed from the heat. This is often a step during pasteurization to help with shelf life. So don't steam that broccoli, eat it fresh so you can get all the added benefits!
Hope these helped! Cheers
Ryan
Ryan.trueman@dal.ca
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