1) Soy based ANYTHING
I was so excited when Ryan asked that I do a guest post on his blog! After the excitement wore off, the reality hit me… ”what on Earth are you going to write about, Liz?” I have no shame in saying I pondered over that question for quite some time. When I finally decided on my topic, the ideas just flowed, but I was able to condense down the most annoying foods on the market to me to these three things (broad things.. I do admit). Check it out!
How soy became a “health food” is beyond me.. Americans always go to extremes! Bigger houses, bigger cars, “O, you say soy is healthy? Let’s add it in EVERYTHING!” Back in the day, Japanese culture used FERMENATED SOY often and yes it was a healthful food. HOWEVER, most soy found in the USA today is GM (genetically modified…in case you didn’t know- which is a bad thing… think lab with chemicals..), and even MORE is unfermenated which means it hasn’t had all the anti-nutrients removed from it. Soy has an inherint ability to strip the body of minerals. It can lead to thyroid dysfunction, hormone disturbances, and cardiovascular problems. But the food ol’ USA keeps pumping it out into over 6000 packaged foods and even promoting that it is good for you.
2) Canola Oil
WHAT IS THIS STUFF? If you can tell me what ‘canola oil” is I will give you $5.00 bucks. Do you really know? Let me help you, It’s an oil made out of canola, right? Ha ha… nice answer. In reality, Canola oil is a hybrid of rapeseed oil which if you don’t know what that is, it’s an oil that contains high levels of erucic acid which is poisonous to the body. Alter that version and you get canola oil… i.e. Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed Oil. Most often GM (there’s those initials again..) and chemically treated to actually remove the oil and then treated AGAIN with more chemicals to make the color “pretty” and make it NOT smell like big foot’s butt… not to mention the pesticides used during growth.. Geez…this is making me so hungry…
Does this sound healthy to you? One Chemical process after another? No wonder our bodies are in chaos..
Good bet? Stick to something REAL. So hard to find something real in the world today.. but I am going to say it.. AHA (American Heart Assocation) be damned- Get some real butter, use a touch like intended and go on!
Better Bet?
Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Find one that has no other ingredient than Olive oil i.e. LOOK AT THE LABEL and expresses that the oil was “cold-pressed”. Be wary of oils that say “made from refined olive oil” or things of the sort… that just equals lesser quality oils chemically altered to be something they are not.
3) Sugar Free/ Fat Free Baked or Processed Cakes/Cookies
Talk about wolves in sheeps clothing… Watching your sugars? Check this out! We have this and that, it’s sugar free! Sound to good to be true? It usually is.
One thing you have to learn to look at is a NUTRITION LABEL… and don’t just focus on calories. If a product is sugar free… it is usually loaded with fat or sodium OR stomach trouble inducing sugar alcohol. Sugar alcohol on it’s own isn’t that bad of a thing… but eat large quanities of it and watch out… you will be running to the restroom too often for comfort. If a product is fat free… it is usually loaded with sugar or sodium.. or tastes like cardboard.
If you want a treat, there is nothing wrong with it OCCASIONALLY but you will do better to learn to make something yourself, while reducing the refined sugars in your daily diet through better choices.
The American public needs to stop expecting someone to spoon feed them proper nutrition. STOP trying to take shortcuts and start taking responsibility for OUR health. We ALL want an easy road.. we all want everything to be EASY. But LIFE ain’t easy and if every person doesn’t start taking responsibility for their actions, whether that be not shoving down an entire pizza OR not letting your children eat processed crap at every meal; the obesity rates could climb just like Ryan outlined for you in this post:
YOU are responsible for YOUR health, wake up and EDUCATE yourself.
