Fake Food

After guzzling a chocolate milk, demolishing a packet of chips and a sausage roll –why on earth do you still feel so hungry?

I reassure you, it is not because you are Porky the Pig. Rather, it is due to something much more suspect and dangerous. What you are eating is not food. In fact, the laboratory created ingredients that constitute processed “food” is an insult to your veggie patch, your Mum’s apple pie and your Nonna’s handmade pasta .

You feel so hungry because much of what we are consuming is low-nutrient and even though some synthetic chemical vitamins are added to make you think you're getting some nutrition, your food is bleached, deodorized and preserved so it can sit on a grocery store shelf for three years and still taste fresh when you buy it. Frequently it
contains a long list of chemical ingredients that you'd never find in your kitchen.

It is an ugly situation – you could say additives are to food, what plastic surgery was to Michael Jackson.

Like pop music our consumption of fast foods, frozen foods, and processed foods has increased exponentially since they were introduced in the 1950s and 1960s. So too have the incidence of cancer, diabetes, allergies and other illnesses. Consider that in the late 1950s, the average American consumed about 11 mg of food dye per day. Today, the average American consumes six times that amount.

Food additives and preservatives are safe in small amounts. But to avoid them reduce your consumption of fast foods and processed foods and where possible rethink the most dangerous such as:

Canned foods
Studies have shown that by opting for fresh as opposed to canned foods you can reduce the amount of Bisphenol A and Phthalates by 50%-70% in your system. Bisphenol A and Phthalates are synthetic hormones associated with endocrine or hormonal disruption. More than 200 studies have connected Bisphenol A to a range of health concerns, including cancer, developmental and reproductive problems.

Processed meats and cheese
Bacon, sausages, ham, hot dogs, lunch meat, pepperoni, smoked fish and kraft cheese contain high levels of Sodium Nitrates that are used to preserve colour and flavour. Nitrites can form potent carcinogenic nitrosamines in the body. Nitrosamines are among the most powerful carcinogens known and even small amounts can lead to cancer.

Diet foods
Diet soft drinks & drink mixes, low calorie desserts, gelatins, puddings, frozen desserts, some vitamins, equal and nutrasweet all contain Aspartame. In Australia there has not been a major review of Aspartame. But Aspartame is responsible for 75 percent of the complaints that the US Food and Drug Administration receives. Look out for additive 951 (aspartame) and turn to natural alternatives such as Stevia and Xylitol which are low calorie natural sweeteners.

Margarine and Pringles
Trans-fats found in hydrogenated vegetable oils, including margarine decrease the amount of good cholesterol in our blood causing heart disease. Foods cooked in the fat substitute, Olestra –namely, Pringles give you the pleasure of eating your favourite greasy snackfood. But, Olestra is chemically modified so that our bodies cannot properly break it down, which means no fat! The side effects from it, however, can be fatal because it drags valuable nutrients from the body especially cancer fighting ones.

Think before you buy!