Even though some would say that there are no such things as
bad foods, only bad diets. That classifying certain foods as good or bad is
over simplistic. We have to eat better to live better. Great deals of American
food contain high levels of fat and sugar which are not only unhealthy, but
addictive. The majority of a typical Americans diet tends to undergo an
impressively huge amount of processing, which destroys nutrients and cause
diseases. In some parts of the world, a lack of access to food is heartbreaking,
while in America; the effects of unhealthy eating is named as the second
largest cause of death after smoking (James, 2008). In our “microwave” society,
people in the United States are eating more processed and fast foods than ever,
and 60% of the population is considered obese (James, 2008). Processed food is causing
problems for the health of Americans in a number of ways.
How food is produced and who controls it are important
things to know, because food is something we all need. The way that food is
marketed and processed can have a huge effect on our health and economics. In
saying that, a majority diet of processed food are causing problems for the
health of many Americans in so many ways. To begin with, it would seem that
high levels of fat and sugar in our foods are not only unhealthy but addictive,
which creates a hurtful cycle making it challenging for people to choose healthier
options. As a second point, hard-lined marketing used by fast food restaurants
is leading to larger servings and targeting children to set their eating
patterns for life (Han, Lawlor, Kimm, 2010). And thirdly, what is compromising
the health of consumer even more are the agricultural, preserving and processing
techniques that go into producing low-quality food for the fast-food market (Beghin,
Jensen, 2008).
Foods are not grown for their nutritional value, but instead
for sheer volume. Visual esthetics is also a high priority. Years of marketing
and advertising has convinced people that fruits and vegetables have to conform
to certain standards of size, shape and color (Macmillan, 2006). Customers look
forward to finding perfect apples, potatoes that are well shaped and without a
mark, and carrots that are bulky, straight and bright orange. Some highly
refined products such as white rice, white flour, and white sugar have had most
of their nutrients stripped away (Macmillan, 2006). Since processing removes a
lot of the color and taste from foods, the food industry frequently balances
this by adding artificial colors and flavors. In many cases, these chemicals are
used purely because they are much cheaper than the real thing (i.e. the vanilla
bean). Chemical preservatives are also added to our food to extend their shelf
life.
Although these chemicals now routinely turn up in our food
and water, they are very recent in human evolutionary history, and as a result our
defenses are not prepared to protect us from them (Rauh, Arunajadai, Horton,
2011). They can cause cancer, immune system breakdown, birth defects, neurological
damage, and can interfere with normal childhood development. Some of these
chemicals are endocrine disrupters and have been related to the early onset of
puberty (Kegley, 2003). Studies have even indicated a link between aggression
and exposure to pesticides. The chemical fertilizers used in industrial
agriculture also pose many health problems: nitrates in water, for example have
been linked to birth defects, and cancer of the gastrointestinal tract (Han,
Lawlor, Kimm, 2010). Problems like these are an intrinsic part of a food system
that is so vast that companies can enlarge their profits by millions of dollars
simply by saving a few cents on what they feed each animal, or by using
chemicals or processing methods that reduce costs by a very small percent (Beghin,
Jensen, 2011).
At least one quarter of American adults eat fast food every day
(Men's Health Mar, 2006). It is easy, it is satisfying, and it is inexpensive. But,
just about all the food provided by a fast food restaurant is processed. A
logical person could assume that the goal of the American food system is purely
to give the health care system more “victims”. Consider some of our typical
current foods, like hamburgers loaded with growth hormones, vegetables coated
with pesticides, sodas filled with refined sugar, and too many foods to mention
that whose color and taste have been artificially enhanced by man-made
chemicals. Local food systems, in contrast, are not only healthier for the
environment; they provide people with healthier food as well.
We all want safe, healthy food, but
we cannot rely on the global food system to provide it. The corporate food
chain has grown so long and the distance between producers and consumers so
vast that no one can really know how their food was grown, how it was processed,
and how it was treated during its long travels. Only by localizing and decreasing
the scale of our food systems can we be able trust the food we eat. Local foods
seldom contain chemical additives, because they are less likely to require
processing (Carpenter, 1994). And because of the pervasiveness of little, diversified,
organic farms in local food systems, these foods are less likely to contain
residues of toxins like herbicides and pesticides (Kegley, 2003).
Local systems excel at providing
fresh food, and health practitioners of every stripe agree that fresh food is
the most nutritious. Some nutritionists have even determined that the best
nutrition of all comes from foods that are in season in one¹s locale (Curley,
1990). Since the vitamins in almost any food are gradually lost from the time
of harvest, even fresh foods from the global system are usually less nutritious
than local foods, because they may have been harvested days or even weeks
before reaching our kitchen tables (Beghin, Jensen, 2008). Tomatoes, for example,
are often times picked green and hard so that they can survive mechanical
harvesting and long distance shipping, and then ripened in rooms pumped full of
ethylene gas, which artificially initiates the ripening process (Duffe, 2010).
Tomatoes picked in this way are much less savory and nutritious than the ripe
tomato from a local farm, picked right from the vine and eaten on the same day.
Over the past forty years, tens of millions of Americans
have become aware of the need for better nutrition. The farming system
prevalent in America has resulted in depleted soil and foods deficient in
nutrients. Since the Great Depression, the mass marketing of food has resulted
in poorer quality food (Pollan, 2008). The typical American diet is comprised
primarily of foods rich in fats, sugar and chemical additives, and low in
natural vitamins, essential nutrients, important phyto-chemicals, and
beneficial trace minerals (James, 2008). Conventional medicine has only
recently acknowledged the importance of nutrition in promoting health and
preventing degenerative and infectious disease. A lot of people are now
realizing that good nutrition is central to health, well being and longevity.
The natural food movement has grown dramatically in the past few decades and
the network that can support highly nutritional diets has developed to a very refined
level. Nevertheless, the mainstream American diet has generally degenerated.
The American diet generally suffers from a lack of truly nutritious foods
(Carpenter, 1994).
The U.S. government has
recently released its new dietary recommendations urging consumers to consume
up to 13 servings per day of vegetables and fruits (Willett & Skerrett,
2005). This long overdue recommendation affirms what many of us have known for
a long time. Still, most Americans will not be able to achieve these standards.
Even those of us who eat consciously often find it difficult to eat well all
the time, or even most of the time! Education can make a huge difference in our
actual vegetable and fruit consumption. We live in extraordinarily complex
times. Our lives are complex and our needs are complex. We now know so much
about how the body works that it can be mind-boggling. We know that if certain
nutrients are missing from our diet, we are going to suffer from the
deficiency. Different cells and different tissues and systems require specific
biologically active molecules and chemicals in order to achieve optimum
performance (Curley, 1990).
It is possible to
"live" or "survive" without some of these substances, but
just living or surviving is not the same thing as "thriving."
Thriving means living life to its fullest in a healthy, happy, flourishing,
satisfying way. Nutritional variety plays a very key role in thriving. We all
know about the "minimum daily requirements" for nutrition. These are
not about "thriving." Even "average daily requirements" are
not about thriving. Thriving requires more and better. Not more in terms of any
one nutrient, but more in terms of a variety of nutrients and phyto-chemicals
and other life-promoting factors that the body can use for optimum living. And
better in terms of the quality and completeness of those nutrients.
We all need to eat as well as
possible to offset the dark forces of the modern world. Super nutrition can
enhance intelligence, intuition, creativity, work performance, athletic
performance, sexual performance and even our personality and attitude toward
life, work and family (Willett, Skerrett, 2005). There is nothing in life that
is not influenced by our nutrition. About 300,000 people die each year from
being obese or overweight; this is second only to smoking (James, 2008). In
saying that, we may not be willing to label certain foods as categorically
“bad”, but we can surely become informed and make better choices.
References
Beghin J, Jensen H. (2008) Farm policies and added sugars in
US diets. Food Policy.
Carpenter, K. (1994). Protein and Energy: A Study of
Changing Ideas in Nutrition. Cambridge University Press.
Curley, S. (1990). The Natural Guide to Good Health,
Lafayette, Louisiana, Supreme Publishing
Duffey, KJ. (2010) Food price and diet and health outcomes:
20 years of the CARDIA Study. Arch
Intern Med.
“Eat
This Not That." Men's Health Mar. (2006): Retrieved from the ProQuest
database. Ashford University
"Fat
Man Walking." USA Today 7 Apr. 2006. Academic Search Premier. Retrieved
from the ProQuest database. Ashford University
Han J.C., Lawlor D.A., Kimm S.Y. (2010). Childhood obesity. 375:1737—1748.
James WP (2008). "The fundamental drivers of the
obesity epidemic". Obesity Research. 9 Suppl 1 (Mar;9 Suppl 1:6-13): 6–13
Kegley S. (2003). Second Hand Pesticides. Report by the
Pesticide Research Institute. Available: http://www.pesticideresearch.com
Macmillan, A (2006). "Fast
Food, Fatter Kids." Prevention Feb. Retrieved from the ProQuest
database. Ashford University
Pollan, M, (2008). In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto.
New York, USA: Penguin Press
Rauh V, Arunajadai S, Horton M, (2011) Seven-year neuro-developmental
scores and prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos, a common agricultural pesticide. Environmental
Health Perspectives 119(8): 1196-1201.
Sacks FM, Bray GA, Carey VJ, et al. (February 2009). "Comparison of
weight-loss diets with different compositions of fat, protein, and
carbohydrates". N. Engl. J. Med. 360 (9): 859–73.
Willett, W., and Skerrett, P. (2005). Eat, Drink, and be Healthy:
The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating. Free Press Simon &
Schuster
