No, I don’t mean the organic Empire that we’re supposed to be boycotting. I mean actual whole foods. Pure, simple, unrefined, unprocessed foods. Think raw milk instead of pasteurized, fortified, and low fat. Brown rice rather than white. A pizza made from a lovely whole grain like teff or quinoa flour, topped with raw cheese and a slew of veggies fresh from your garden, instead of mass produced pizza from a chain, featuring a limp white crust, dyed yellow cheese, and curdling pepperoni chock full o’ nitrates. A meal where you know, and understand, every ingredient, instead of a long label listing ingredients that sound more like robot food than human food.
Get the idea, more or less? Although there are an abundance of reasons to avoid refined and packaged foods, here ere are my top 3:
1. VITAMINS AND MINERALS
When you’re eating a fresh, living food – or a food that was very recently living until you cooked it – the vitamins and minerals have had much less time to oxidize, i.e. decompose. The point of packaged foods is to increase shelf life, thereby putting more dollars in the manufacturers’ pockets. Sadly, doing this comes at a significant nutritional cost. In addition to being old, many packaged foods are heated, which hastens the oxidation process. Pasteurization, for example, destroys up to 66% of Vitamins A, D, and E, while Vitamin C loss exceeds 50%. It’s supposed to protect us from bacteria, but ironically, most of the outbreaks in recent decades have come from pasteurized milk.
Refined grains have had their bran and germ removed in order to prevent rancidity and extend shelf life. Also, they’re often bleached to look nice and white and clean. Well, as a client told me, in this case “white ain’t right”. The bran and germ contain up to 90% of the grain’s nutritional value. Refined grains have a dearth of Vitamin E, folic acid, B vitamins, magnesium, zinc and iron. Additionally, they are also very low in fiber. So if you’re constipated and your diet consists of a lot of white bread, you might want to explore some fiber-rich whole grains. Be careful, though: bread is often dyed brown to look like whole wheat, and “wheat” bread is not necessarily whole. Marketing ploys!
2. PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED OILS
These buggers were createdto extend shelf life, and achieved popularity in the 1960s and 1970s. Sadly, they come with a host of problems. Partially hydrogenated oils have been linked to heart disease and obesity, among other pathological conditions. These days, word is starting to get out about their ill effects, so a chip or cracker that’s doesn’t contain them usually boasts NO TRANS FATS or a similar label.
Disease is rampant today, in large part because of how we eat. Let’s stay away from these synthetic “food like substances” and stick to the fats our ancestors consumed, and flourished on. Our bodies know what to do with butter, coconut oil, olive oil, and even a nice organic lard. Our bodies do NOT know how to digest soybean oil and margerine.
3. FOOD ADDITIVES
Just look at this lis t of food additives I found on Wikipedia. These are all the colorings, preservatives, “flavor enhancers” and other things we’ve decided we somehow absolutely need in just the past 60 or so years. How ever did our ancestors survive without them?? I’ll tell you: many of these additives have been linked to cancer, obesity, nerve and organ damage, and heart disease, to name a few unpleasant conditions. Here’s a handy list of Twelve Food Additives To Avoid, complete with pretty photos.
It’s particularly unfortunate that many of these additives are rampant in children’s foods. How often have you seen a young’un gobbling down a slushie of a hue that just does not appear in nature, or breakfasting on a multicolored cereal that was probably boxed a year ago? Pharmaceutical companies are making millions today on Ritalin and other ADHD drugs, but a look at the diet of the average American child might provide some insight as to why many of them are going biochemically haywire.
So how do we maximize our nutrient intake while minimizing toxic, synthetic substances? Knowledge and practice. Start by “shopping around the perimiter”, avoiding the packaged foods that dominate the center aisles of the grocery store. Research recipes, and come visit the BODA blog often for easy meal ideas and the latest nutritional information.
See you soon, and I hope you have a scrumptious lunch.
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