It has always bothered me that we go through twelve years of school without learning much about our body. It seems to me that our education should include what makes up that complex structure we have to live in and how to take care of it.
There should be a mandatory course in physiology from K through 12. I used to offer a class to fourth graders on what tobacco does to you which included rather gross slides of cancer and post surgical patients still smoking through a hole in their throat. I also showed them photos of the cancer caused by chewing tobacco with testimony from baseball players on the harms and consequences of regular use.
This was only one hour in one day of school. These kids went home and raised hell with their parents who smoked. Can you imagine what could be done if every day there was a period dedicated to taking care of your body? It would mean billions less for the medical and pharmaceutical industry, and years added to our life expectancies.
Part of a medical history that you have to fill out for your doctor should include the foods you eat. Processed foods are real foods that have been altered in some way to enhance their flavor and shelf life and make them “safer.” Do you eat such foods and how often do you eat these foods? Heart disease has been found to be much more serious when inflammation is present. Processed foods contribute greatly to inflammation.
Almost any food in a package or box is processed. So what does processed mean and why is it done?
The processing kills bacteria and other organisms which would spoil the food and not allow it to by shipped long distances or stored in markets. Natural fats can quickly go rancid. When replaced with cheap trans-fats the food can last months. Adding chemicals, heating, irradiating, milling and pressure treating are also used to extend shelf life (read profits) and, in most cases alter the food to be much less nutritious and often devoid of nutrition.
I like to refer to these foods as empty calories. The only problem is that empty calories do not supply the nutrients necessary for their digestion and assimilation requiring the body to give up some of the important vitamins and nutrients leaving it depleted. White rice and alcohol are examples of empty calories and can cause loss of B complex vitamins damaging many organs especially the liver. Thus you can see that potentially nutritious foods can be altered to become indirect poisons.
Two major ingredients found in processed foods are sugar and trans-fat. In order to entice your taste buds, the food industry uses high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated trans-fats. These two ingredients can help to threaten your heart even more. Not happy yet with what they have done to your heart health, they add salt to boost your blood pressure. In this case the real motive is not just to preserve the food, it is greed without conscience.
The list of chemicals added to “preserve freshness” and enhance flavor would take pages to list and explain. Here are a few with their consequences: MSG is used for flavor enhancement and causes head aches, chest pain, mood swings and more. Artificial flavors are associated with ADHD and allergies. Propylene Glycol is used to emulsify and can cause reproductive issues, allergies, neurotoxicity and hormone disruption. High fructose corn syrup is used because it is cheaper than sugar and is associated with liver toxicity, stimulation of inflammation, obesity, oxidative stress, diabetes and more.
I know it is so tempting to simply open a box, a can, or take something processed out of the freezer, but is it worth the price? You also miss out on the fulfillment of creating something everyone enjoys knowing you are not hurting them but instead nourishing them physically and mentally. Chances are you and your family will live longer, too.
And at the end of the day, isn’t that why we nourish our bodies?
Robert Brown, DDS has a TMJ, orthodontia, and sleep apnea practice in Danville and thoroughly enjoys discussing holistic medicine. You can contact him at 925-837-8048, at info@aodtc.com, or visit his web site at www.aodtc.com.
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