Can junk food be healthy?
The food industry certainly wants you to think so!
That's why they're creating an increasing number of foods
with health claims.
From vitamin-spiked Diet Coke, to whole-grain Pop Tarts,
from misleading labels on Tyson chicken, to McDonald's
salads laden with high-fat salad dressing, marketing claims
abound.
But are these foods actually good for us?
In Michael Pollan's new book "In Defense of Food," he
argues against "nutritionism," or removing nutrients from
whole foods and putting them into processed food or taking
them as supplements for their health benefits.
Don't let these ploys fool you.
Be suspicious of any food that comes in a package, box, or
a can. Most of these products just aren't real food.
Let me tell you about one of my patients.
He's a food scientist who invents new foods in the lab by
mixing chemicals. I call them "Frankenfoods."
But working with these chemicals all the time was making my
patient sick. We tried hard to lessen his exposure to them.
One day, he brought me an industry journal called "Food
Business News." I found it shocking.
The publication was filled with marketing ploys to help the
industry give their poor-quality foods the appearance of
being healthy.
One ad was for Food Ingredient Solutions, a company that
makes food dyes to color junk food with natural pigments.
Another was for Tyson Foods, which cleverly labels their
chicken as "produced without antibiotics that impact
antibiotic resistance in humans." That means they did use
antibiotics -- just not ones that cause problems in humans.
Another article focused on a company called Fitch Ratings,
which said that innovation in the food industry will
continue in areas of "perceived" health and wellness,
convenience, and ethnic products.
That's right.
It's only "perceived" health and wellness -- not actual
health and wellness.
That means that you just need to make people believe they
are eating or drinking something healthy. Whether it is
actually healthy doesn't matter.
And there were also advertisements for whole-grain Lean
Pockets, which are the same old processed pocket sandwiches
with some flecks of fiber added to make you think you're
eating healthy food.
I also saw an ad for something called Vegi Pure, a
cholesterol-lowering product that adds plant phytosterols
to junk food.
As you can see, the food industry is doing all it can to
convince you to choose its junk foods disguised as healthy
foods.
Instead, take a cue from Michael Pollan. He says, "Eat food
[meaning real, whole food]. Not too much. Mostly plants."
So what should you eat?
Choose food that comes from a farm, not a lab ' and then
you won't have to think about what all these claims mean.
You'll be eating healthy food, naturally. Here is some more
information about what to eat:
- Whole, real food such as vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts,
seeds, whole grains, lean animal protein like small wild
fish and poultry, and whole omega-3 eggs.
- Small amounts of grass-fed, antibiotic- and hormone-free
beef or lamb.
So don't believe food scientists' attempts to make you
believe you need special ingredients to stay in good health
' Choose whole, real food instead!
Now that's food for thought.
----------------------------------------------------
Mark Hyman, M.D. is a pioneer in functional medicine,
practicing physician and best-selling author. For a sneak
preview of his book "The UltraSimple Diet" got to:
http://www.ultrasimplediet.com
For more on Nutritionism, see:
http://www.ultrawellness.com/blog/frankenfoods
No comments:
Post a Comment