Dangers of Processed Foods
By: Brea Buffaloe

As the saying goes, “You are what you eat.”

Hello methyl cinnamate! How are you today?

Doesn’t sound too good, does it? But methyl cinnamate is one of the six thousand chemicals used in the food we consume. By the way, it’s also causes skin irritation and is moderately toxic. Yum.

Because of our busy lifestyles, the need for convenience has fueled the rise of the processed food industry. In fact, the average American spends 90% of his food budget on processed foods.

Processed foods don’t have to just be the burgers and fries you picked up at McDonalds. They are simply foods that have been changed from their natural state. They are pumped full of artificial ingredients in order to alter their taste, shelf life, color, texture, odor, etc.

So what’s wrong with that? No one wants stinky food or soggy bread right?

No one wants heart disease or cancer either, both dangers of processed foods.

Here’s a list of others:

·      Obesity: The World Health Organization (WHO) claims that one of the major causes of obesity is processed food. This is because it does not contain enough nutrients and is loaded with sugar and salt. WHO states, “Worldwide obesity has doubled since the 1980.”

·      Hypertension: Because of the huge amounts of salt and fat in processed foods, there is a greater chance of increasing blood pressure.

·      Diabetes: Processed foods contain large amounts of sugar and carbohydrates that can increase your body’s glucose way too much.

You might also like to know that lots of processed foods contain unknown parts of animals such as ears and snouts. Gross!

So what kind of things should I look out for?

·      Trans-fat or partially hydrogenated oil, which is linked to things like heart attacks and high cholesterol.

·      High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) has been trying to make a comeback lately with the Corn Refiner’s Association commercials saying that it isn’t as bad as sugar. Well, HFCS is a high processed sugar and it, along with white sugar, should be avoided. Both cause diabetes, heart disease, obesity and many other diseases.

·      Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is known for its appearance in Chinese food; however, it is in many other processed foods as well. It has a long list of side effects but some of the more striking ones are brain damage, eye inflammation, heart disease and diabetes.

·      Refined grains, found in white rice, cookies, bread, cereal, etc. have lost most of their nutrients and are extremely starchy. The key to avoiding this is to buy “WHOLE” grains.

Some alternatives to processed foods are natural cane sugar, butter instead of margarine, natural sea salt, fresh vegetables and fruits and brown rice pasta.

Try http://cognitiveeating.com/ and http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/ to find tasty recipes that contain no processed foods.

Remember: The best way to avoid the dangers of processed foods is to read the labels of the food you buy.

Rule of Thumb: If you can’t read it, don’t eat it!