Custom Search
|
|
What Are Processed Foods? Be Amazed At What You Are Actually Eating
Supermarkets - large oversized shops that we have all become accustomed to, selling "processed food". Shops that have been designed to trap us, to lure us into their maze-like structures, have caught many of us in their psychological web. They serve as a convenient way to provide food for our families. Sadly, they also serve to distance all of us from what real food actually is, where it has come from, and what it has become. Further, the convenience factor has drawn a curtain over our ability to be as critical about what we are feeding our families as perhaps we should be. Still further, besieged by a deluge of persuasive and relentless advertising, we are ever induced to 'try'. It's a hook, a lure if you like. Hardly a day passes without some new 'must-try' food, being advertised on television - the novelty appeal, or the value-added vitamin, being factored in, to assure us that we are buying well. So we do! Optimal health Eating quality food is essential to the health and wellbeing of everyone. Young children in particular need a quality, non-processed diet in order to grow and develop both physically and physiologically. A healthy diet with adequate nutrients will go towards ensuring that their immune systems stay healthy. And yet, at no time in history has the health of our children ever been so compromised. You see, even the foods that we regard as staples, foods that we believe are healthy, are indeed, processed. So what do is meant by the term 'processed food'? To be honest there are only two distinct types of food, either whole, or processed! I'm sure there is no need to define whole. Processed is something else. Aside from being huge business, processed food is really food that is not in its natural state. It has been through a "process" so to speak, rendering the foods less nutritious, loaded with trans-fats and chemical preservatives, then doctored with colourings and flavourings. There is no way that any of these devitalized foods can serve to keep us healthy, let alone our children! What really is sad is that we have lost the ability to enjoy the taste of fresh, unadulterated food and be satiated. On the other hand, the highly-salted, sugar-laden processed food leaves us wanting more, so that today, more than ever before, obesity and our sedentary lifestyles are imposing the greatest health challenge for the developed world. What can we do? The most important thing that we can do right now is to realize that to some extent, each of us is responsible for the shopping and eating situation that we find ourselves in right now. We have become disconnected from the origins of our food sources - the farms, the dairies, and the orchards. Our children are even more disconnected. When the English chef Jamie Oliver did his tour of American schools, he was shocked to discover just how many children had never tasted everyday vegetables. Nor could they name them. Ask the average child where their cereal comes from and they will tell you, it's from a packet. Many can also tell you about which of the packets will provide the best nutrition – the value-added factor, etched in their minds through persuasive advertising. All of this has serious implications for health generally. Our spending habits I think it would be fair to say that a large percentage of a family's household budget is spent on processed, convenience food. Stripped of essential nutrients, and with harmful additives such as sweeteners artificial flavouring and colouring, they pose a significant risk to health. Not convinced? Then grab a few convenience foods from your fridge or pantry and have a look. If there are ingredients there that your great grandmother would not recognize, chances are you shouldn't be ingesting them. And...now that you are looking at the ingredients, I would imagine that you are struggling to actually read the names of the chemical additives. Let me assure you that this is absolutely deliberate. Being readily able to read and fully understand all of these might make many of us stop in our tracks and question our buying them. But what's missing? But you know it goes deeper than that. Yes, we can worry about the additives, but we should be greatly concerned about what has been subtracted! Very often you will find that the naturally-occurring nutrients that should be in foods, nutrients designed to protect your health, fibre, good fats and antioxidants, have been stripped away. That's processed food. Our convenience way of eating is a recipe for a disaster, the consequences of which we have not begun to measure! We have a lot to learn. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Understand that food matters. Processed food makes your body acidic. To appreciate why that matters, needs a good understanding of a number of contributing factors. Get your complimentary Mini Acid:Alkaline Awareness course at www.alkalinemadeeasy.com/. Delivered to your mailbox in bite-sized chunks over one week. There are some real eye-openers. Go ahead - it's free, and you might be spurred on to start your own investigations. |
|