Franken-Foods

-Brett Klika

I’m looking for investors. I want to open up a street stand where I sell nothing but high fructose corn syrup. No coloring or packaging, just cups full of the oozing substance. I will have toppings available like monosodium glutamate, calcium caseinate and, my mouth is already watering, calcium sulfate. If you think I’m crazy, think again!

Americans are eating this stuff by the MILLIONS of tons. I’m just capitalizing on the trend. Americans currently eat about 10 million tons of high fructose corn syrup per year. It was recently discovered that high fructose corn syrup is the most significant source of caloric intake for Americans. This is paired with other synthesized ingredients to make our food last longer, stay crunchier, taste more appealing, and look a certain way. Manufacturers also put these in food as “filler” in place of more expensive, harder to produce actual food product like meat, fruit, vegetables, etc. Do you know how these “Franken-foods” are made? Do you know what they do in your body? Can you even pronounce them? This answer is probably no. We trust that what we are eating is “ok” because it comes in a colorful package and the commercial for the product shows healthy people eating it. If they show “wheat” on the package, it has to be healthy, right? In this article series, I will discuss two approaches to looking at why these Franken-foods are making us fat and sick. Put down the Cheetos and get comfortable.

I often use the example of a zoo animal. They eat very strict, indigenous diets. They are fed what they are accustomed to eating in their native, natural habitat. Their species eat these foods because these foods were what were most available in their native habitat. What do you think would happen to a cheetah if you were to give him a Jack- in- the- Box cheeseburger and some potato chips? You’d never do that, right? Why not? You think the animal would get sick? You think its health and physical aptitude would deteriorate after a steady diet of processed food? Of course it would, because cheetahs aren’t supposed to eat that crap!!! They aren’t designed for it. The man-made chemicals introduced to their system would negatively affect them. Are we seeing any parallels here? Obviously as a society, we care more about the health of our zoo animals than we care about our own.

We shouldn’t consume large amounts of man-made food because we are not designed for it. Why would we be? Our bodies are designed to digest and utilize natural, organic material for the purpose of creating energy. Until the manufacturing age, this is what the human body did. Now, our food supply is pumped full of chemicals that don’t contribute to energy or any other function of the human body for that matter! The chemicals are used to get us to buy the product, period. They have nothing to do with improving our health.

Real foods are foods that were once in the ground, on a plant, or in a tree. Real foods once flew, swam, or ran. They were born of the dirt, or have a mother. They were around 10,000 years ago. You can pronounce them. You know where they are from. Your great grandmother ate them. You turn them over and there isn’t an ingredient novella. These are the foods we are designed to eat. They give us usable energy, they balance our physiological systems, and they keep our hormones working as they should. When this happens, we can control our weight, maintain our energy, and maximize our health profile. When looking for real foods, organic choices are generally the best. Even real, whole food can be messed up with pesticides, hormones, and other chemicals that we know nothing about. When it comes to the foods that you should make a large part of your diet, most dieticians recommend:

• Fish (good source of protein and good fat)
• Green, leafy vegetables (very dense with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants)
• Fruit, particularly berries (very dense with vitamins, fiber, and antioxidants)

These foods pack a potent nutritional punch. For every calorie of energy, they also have other natural properties that promote health.

So between now and next week, try to eat as many whole, unprocessed foods as possible. Look at the criteria I outlined above. Was it born of the dirt or had a mother? Did your great, great, grandmother eat it? If not, throw it out!!!! Don’t be a sick cheetah. Fuel yourself for success!