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Breaking the Sugar Addiction – The Case for Whole Foods Previously we have looked at some of the reasons it is important to lower the sugar content and the glycemic index of our diets. See http://www.antiagingatlanta.com/lowglycemicdiet.htm Because of the addicting nature of sugar and high fructose corn syrup which is added to many of our processed foods, this diet may be difficult to follow initially. Many individuals find they can’t last the 5-6 hours between meals or find themselves eating before bed almost involuntarily. Why are many of our foods so addicting? Would it surprise you to learn that Phillip Morris and Kraft Foods are subsidiaries of the same corporation? Yes Phillip Morris and Kraft foods are subsidiaries of the Altria group so it should come as no surprise that these high sugar junk foods like Oreos for example are addicting as are Marlboro cigarettes. The big food companies like Kraft, have made a massive effort to figure out how and why consumers are attracted to their products. These companies have used consultants to help them understand the complicated brain science that stimulates consumers to eat sugar-laden foods, and Kraft even held joint meetings with cigarette-maker Philip Morris to share data on brain chemistry as it relates to food consumption. The government has elected to protect big business as usual by adopting weak food labeling requirements. A food label must be more than 20 percent off in order for it to violate federal law, and government food labs have a 10 percent margin of error. This means that an item labeled as having 400 calories can legally have up to 480 calories, and the 10 percent margin of error can bring it up to over 500. Make this 300 calorie mistake three times per day and you can gain 30 pounds in a year. Some foods, particularly those making low-fat, low-carb or no-sugar claims, contain drastically different nutrients than are listed on the label, and food products that say they contain milk, fruit or vegetables may not contain them at all. Meanwhile big business is actively taking advantage of all the confusion regarding healthy eating and is busy selling you more of their junk. A perfect example of this is the South Beach Diet food line. While I think a few of their products like the meal replacement bars are useful in limited amounts for specific uses, their campaign as a whole is misleading. The South Beach Diet was supposedly another type of diet emphasizing low fat protein, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats very similar to (if not copied from) the Zone Diet by Barry Sears, PhD. Does it seem odd to anyone else that an entire line of South Beach foods showed up in the food store chains right after the book was introduced? Would it surprise you to learn that over a million dollars per month was spent the first year to promote the South Beach Diet book which was supposedly a self help diet book? Who would be willing to pay that much money to promote a book? What a coincidence – the South Beach Diet food line is made by Kraft Foods. Maybe they paid for the marketing of the South Beach Diet line with Oreo money? Does this concept bother you, or is it just me? How can we protect ourselves and our children from the big business plan to sell us addicting junk foods to make us fat and unhealthy so their pharmaceutical company friends can sell us drugs to treat all the chronic diseases we get as a result? Whole foods or non-processed foods offer a solution. The first step is to start shopping at a whole food or farmer’s market type store. The advantages include locally produced food (which includes things like fresh seasonal produce and hormone free meat and free range eggs etc) which also supports our local farmers. The other main advantage is the absence of most if not all of the offending brands of processed foods in these stores. What does the transition to healthier eating cost you? Mostly it is an investment in time to plan and prepare the foods at home rather than eating pre-packaged more convenient foods. What can you gain? Freedom from food addiction and improved health.
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Antiaging
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