Fast food gives us the illusion of a quick healthy meal. Every day, about one-quarter of American adults eat at fast-food restaurants.* Fast food is high in saturated fat, calories, and low in all nutrients: a great recipe for putting on weight. Fast food has also been manipulated with artificial flavors including MSG, which has been know to cause people overeat and is addictive.
Thanks in large part to fast food, half of America’s adults and one-quarter of its children are obese, double the rate of a generation ago. There is no room for an occasional fast food meal; it is not suitable for maintaining long-term health and an ideal weight.
Highly processed foods such as cookies, cakes, ice cream and anything containing white processed sugar or other processed sweeteners are loaded with calories and fat. These foods along with fast foods are directly responsible for the obesity problem in this country. Before the industrial age our diets consisted primarily of a variety of fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs, whole grains and legumes.
Beware of processed food, drugs and feeble excuses. These are the fat ambassadors. They confuse the body and give fat a reason to hang around. Most fat food traps are set around recreational activities. Corporations try to sneak into our lives when our guard is down. When we are relaxed we are more receptive to their tactics.
Alcohol is a triple fat offender. Alcohol has almost twice the calories of fat and damages the liver. When alcohol enters the blood stream the liver diverts its attention away from metabolizing fat. Even small amounts of alcohol will cause fat to be stored.
Junk foods are double fat offenders. Cookies, cakes, candies and sodas contain processed sugars and animal fats. The body is confused by these processed foods and holds onto fat fearing that it might never again enjoy real food.
Coffee is a major fat offender. The caffeine in coffee prematurely speeds up metabolism and creates a rebound effect. When the effects of caffeine wear off the metabolic rate drops to an even lower level. This rush and hush effect interrupts the adrenal glands and eventually causes them to fail. The adrenal glands pace the metabolic rate. If the adrenals can function without interruption the metabolic rate can be raised to new fat burning levels.
Here are some pointers for processed food consumption for health and weight loss:
Avoid deep fried foods!
Heating cooking oil above 300 degrees fahrenheit damages the oil causing the formation of toxins including trans fatty acid and other unnatural breakdown products such as polymers (plastics). Fried foods in high heat are extremely difficult to digest and cause rapid aging. The nutritional value of fried food is poor, causing our bodies to be unsatisfied and crave more foods.
Food can be cooked with a mixture oil and water. The best oils for frying are coconut and safflower oil. Avoid canola oil, corn oil and other vegetable oils as these form the most toxins when heated at a high temperature. Cold-pressed olive oil can be used for light sautÇ at a low temperature.
Eat less canned foods
Canned food is good in an emergency, but for nutritional reasons fresh is a much better option. Canned foods are always precooked and deficient in enzymes and generally loaded with food additives, preservatives, sodium, coloring and sugar.
Eat less frozen foods
Freezing food causes damage to the cells in the food, which lowers its nutritional value. Frozen foods are a better option than canned, but try and minimize the amount of frozen foods in your diet. Fresh is always better than frozen.
Avoid microwaved foods
The microwave oven depletes your food of nutrition and can adversely affect your health. 90% of American homes have a microwave oven. It is a huge business. For obvious reasons no studies on the effects of microwaves are being done in this country.
However, a Swiss scientist by the name of Dr. Hans Hertel published a study in 1992 and found that eating microwaved food produced significant changes in the blood and immune function – changes normally associated with infection and the early stages in the development of cancer.
The Swiss Association of Manufacturers and Suppliers of Household Appliances obtained a gag order from the courts to prevent Dr. Hertel from further publishing his findings.
Microwave ovens have been outlawed in Russia since 1976. According to US researcher William Kopp, Russian forensic teams observed the following key effects: (US researcher William Kopp, who gathered much of the results of Russian and German research – and was apparently prosecuted for doing so (J. Nat. Sci, 1998; 1:42-3)
1. People who ingested microwaved foods showed a statistically higher incidence of stomach and intestinal cancers, plus a general degeneration of peripheral cellular tissues and a gradual breakdown of the function of the digestive and excretory systems.
2. Due to chemical alterations within food substances, malfunctions occurred within the lymphatic system, causing degeneration in the immune system’s ability to protect the body against neoplastic (cancerous) growth.
3. Microwave exposure caused significant decreases in the nutritional value of all foods studied, most significantly in the bio-availability of B complex vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E, essential minerals and lipotropics (substances that prevent abnormal accumulation of fat).
4. Heating prepared meats in a microwave sufficiently for human consumption creates the cancer-causing agent d-nitrosodiethanolamine.
5. Cancer-causing free radicals were formed within certain trace-mineral, molecular formations in plant substances, particularly in raw root vegetables.
6. Ingestion of microwaved foods caused a higher percentage of cancerous cells within the blood serum.
7. Micro waving foods alters their elemental food substances, leading to disorders in the digestive system. The studies seem to indicate that microwaving food though convenient may not be a good idea.
Avoid foods with MSG
MSG is a flavor added to fast food, processed foods, and Chinese food. It is also found in nearly all canned and frozen foods. MSG has been linked to asthma, headaches, and heart irregularities.
This secret ingredient can transform a boring meal into a taste sensation. Scientists at the University of Miami School of Medicine discovered “that adding monosodium glutamate makes food taste better and makes you want to eat more.” Some people believe MSG to be at the heart of the recent soaring statistics of morbid obesity in the industrialized countries of the world.
Studies have been done showing a causal link as far back as 1969, when Dr. John W. Olney found his lab rats became grotesquely obese when fed MSG. In addition, the rats suffered brain lesions and neuro-endocrine disorders. Jack Samuel, president of Truth in Labeling, says Olney’s lab rats “looked like hockey pucks, perfectly round.”
The best way to avoid MSG is to eat organic foods. You can also cut down on MSG by eating more whole foods and making food from scratch.
(*Schlosser E. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All- American Meal. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin; 2001.)
(***Schlosser E. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin; 2001.)
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