Welcome to my Blog about Food and Well-being!

I am often asked to share my knowledge of food and recipes. After changing my diet four years ago from a typical "Western" diet to a mostly whole-foods and plant-based diet, I have seen incredible changes in my health and well-being. I have spent countless hours researching and love helping those who are ready to feel better. The underlying theme? YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT. Read on to find out more.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Why the Giant Food Manufacturers Think You're Stupid

I know you're smart. Many of the food manufacturers don't. They don't think you're smart enough to read labels, do a little research or think for yourself. They believe we are robots and will consume whatever they tell us tastes good, is "all natural," and will make you popular. As a matter of fact, they spend millions of dollars a year on expensive ad campaigns designed to do just that: convince the consumers they want the processed foods they KNOW are bad for us. Are we going to be gullible little lab rats or are we going to stand up and say, "ENOUGH!"?

I am on a soap box today. Maybe it's because I'm coming off of my presentation to a group of parents at my children's school. Or maybe it's because I witnessed at least half a dozen kids this weekend consume red Gatorade, Cheetos and cupcakes with blue icing in a single sitting while their parents talk about how much "energy" their child has. Maybe it's because I saw an obese woman who worked at a dry cleaners take her break to smoke a cigarette, drink a 64 oz cola and eat a Snicker bar. What are we doing to our bodies??? It breaks my heart.

God gave us these amazing machines called the human body. It is an amazing piece of art designed to fight off the onslaught of armies determined to destroy us: viruses, bacteria, germs and such are at every turn. But our incredible immune systems find these tiny, sword-wielding mutants and wipe them out on a daily basis. We usually don't even know a battle was being fought. But instead of nourishing our troops, we arm the enemy. We break down our fortress with processed foods and other garbage and expect our immune system to keep fighting the mutants combined with the foreign substances (man-made ingredients) we put into our own bodies - without much ammo. Here comes the enemy again, but this time we can't fight as hard. This time we get knocked down. Our immune system is weaker, but still hanging in there. What do we do? Nourish the troops with real food so they can strengthen? Nope. We continue to poison them until there are few standing. The next time the enemy comes, the white flag will fly and we will be taken hostage. We get sick; sometimes just a virus and other times something much, much greater. Something our immune systems haven't a chance of overcoming. 

Our immune systems need our help to do what it was designed to do. We can't believe feeding it junk - artificial preservatives and food enhancers, chemical stabilizers, unnatural food dyes and flavorings, refined sugars and mounds of salt - and think our immune systems won't suffer the consequences. Hear me when I say, EVERYTHING YOU PUT INTO YOUR BODY EITHER NOURISHES IT OR POISONS IT. Nothing is benign. The choice is yours.

Many of the largest food manufacturers want you to think processed foods are the answer to our busy lives. Convenience trumps nutrition. They convince us we don't have time to cook and must rely on them to feed our families. They're not coming to our rescue. They're getting rich off of our gullibility. 

We are more intelligent than they think, though. We know these companies aren't smarter than God. They haven't discovered some new way that improves the food God has already given us. Nothing from their labs will ever nourish our bodies the way the food from this great earth can. 

Make it a priority and you can do it. You can start eating from nature and tell these food manufacturers, "No thanks." I'd like to tell them a lot more! You are an educated, smart person and you can do better. You can bring nutritious food into your home and settle for nothing less. You can teach your children to choose healthy foods so they don't grow up thinking food comes from boxes, bags and cans. You can arm your troops for the many battles ahead. WE ARE THE TEACHERS. Let's teach!

No comments: