Consider these questions
as you read the article:
1. Is the mainstream food industry concerned
at all about your health?
2. Is the FDA effectively protecting our health?
3. Is it simply ironic that the longer you eat poor quality
foods, the sicker you get, and the sicker you get, the more
prescription drugs are prescribed?
The history of food labels
is a very important history to understand.
American's have been conditioned to read food labels as a way
to make better choices in nutrition. While this is somewhat
plausible, it is dangerously misleading and often completely
false.
Let's first look at the incredible world that thrives around
us in natural perfection. Is there any other animal in the world
required to study its food or count numbers before deciding
what to eat? NO. Did we as humans have to study our foods or
count calories, fat, or carbs before the 1900's? NO. So what
happened? Most of us just assume that our advanced society has
perfected the understanding of nutrition and that food labels
are simply there to help us follow a nutritional map. Sadly,
this assumption is very wrong and very dangerous.
Second, let's think about the completely flawed application
of Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA). The concept of RDA's
is a good thing. Unfortunately, the RDA's found on food labels
have little meaning for the consumer. The flaw exists when people
believe these RDA's are applicable to themselves. Consider the
vastly different nutritional needs between a 4'11", 95
lb., 90 yr old woman versus a 6'4", 240 lb., NFL football
player. Are we supposed to believe that both of them would need
similar amounts of calories, fat grams, carbohydrates, or any
other nutrients? No. In fact, not only do the amounts of nutrients
differ greatly from person to person, but so do the types of
nutrients. We are all uniquely different, and we all require
a diet that only our own body understands.
Lastly, why is it that every food in your
grocery store is now required to have a food label with nutrition
facts and ingredients except fresh fruits and vegetables?
Because even the government knows that what nature produced
remains perfect. However, if man created it, it is guaranteed
to be nutritionally flawed and all too often dangerous.
The history of food labels is actually a sad story to understand.
Surprisingly, the government's own FDA website clearly explains
its own history and failures. The FDA's original intentions
were truly good in nature. As processed foods and deceptive
labeling began to appear at the turn of the century, the government
was smart enough to realize that man was willing to poison for
profit. This same scenario was beginning to exist with false
and dangerous drugs, or "snake oils", as well. Thus,
the FDA was originally created to protect American's from lesser
quality foods and dangerous drugs.
The very first government bill passed to protect us from inferior
foods was called the "U.S. Pure Food and Drugs
Act". Notice the well intentioned reference to
PURE foods.
Over time, these good intentions were forced astray due to the
financial greed of an ever growing food and drug industry. It
was the food industry that first began to pressure the FDA with
every means possible including politics, lengthy court battles,
and expensive law suits. After 100 years of continued decline,
we are now left with a massive food industry that has perfected
the art of producing cheap, artificial foods designed solely
for profit with very little protection or oversight to our health
and nutrition.
The saddest part in this story regards our population itself.
We also share the blame, because if we did not eat it, no one
would make it. In an ironic twist, it was one of America's favorite
foods that dictated much of the industry's demise:
The good old Peanut Butter and
Jelly Sandwich. This
is a very interesting story! Please take the
time to come back and read this very important and fascinating
research article taken from the FDA's archives.
Click
Here to read the FDA's article on food regulation.
After reading this, you will see
where our current food labeling laws are a far cry from the
original goal of ensuring "PURE" foods. The current
disfunctional standards play on words by stating they follow
a "nutritional" food labeling approach that specifies
the "competitive components valued by consumers".
What? That doesn't sound very health oriented! In other words,
we'll just show the typical make-up of Fat, Calories, Sugar,
Carbohydrates, etc., and then just make sure all the chemicals,
preservatives, and artificial ingredients are listed for the
consumer to read.
In short, the FDA has washed its hands of ensuring the true
quality, or PUREness, of food. Instead, they expect that every
consumer will make healthy decisions from the information provided.
This approach completely ignores the real quality of food and
does very little to protect our nutritional needs.
For example, which would be a better choice? 50 sugar calories
from a bag of white sugar, or 50 sugar calories from a fresh
apple? Food labeling requirements would say these two foods
are "nutritionally" equal: 50 sugar calories = 50
sugar calories, Right? Wrong! Here's another example: Only in
today's world is it possible to mislead the public by lowering
the fat content of a product while also increasing the sugar
and carb content and placing a giant label on the package that
reads "REDUCED FAT!". This "Reduced Fat"
product is now possibly even less healthy and more dangerous
than its original formula, but the advertising and labeling
leads you to believe it is a healthier choice.
Let's revisit those three questions at the first of this article.
I would like to provide some food for thought to these questions,
but I encourage you to research your own conclusions.
1. Is the mainstream food industry concerned at all
about your health?
Here is just one of many examples to consider. In the mid 1950's
Ocean Spray decided to find a cheaper way to produce their top
selling cranberry juice. What was their main goal? To "create"
the same taste but with less real juice. Using real cranberry
juice was too expensive which in turn ate away at potentially
higher profits. What did they create? High Fructose Corn Syrup,
perhaps one of the worst food sweeteners ever created. Today,
High Fructose Corn Syrup is in tens of thousands of products
some of which would surprise you.
2. Is the FDA effectively protecting our health? Did
you know that the FDA cannot legally order the recall
of any foods except infant formula? They can only request a
company to voluntarily remove their potentially dangerous product.
Usually, companies will comply, but sometimes they don't! Otherwise,
a court battle ensues while the food or food product may continue
to be sold.
3. Is it simply ironic that the longer you eat poor
quality foods, the sicker you get, and the sicker you get, the
more prescription drugs are prescribed? I ask this
question simply to invoke thought. I personally find it interesting
and maybe a little scary that the same agency responsible for
monitoring drugs is also responsible for the quailty of our
food, the Food and Drug Agency. FOOD and DRUG Agency...a mighty
strange combination of responsibilities when you stop and think
about it.
On the following page are some recent examples of where the
food industry continues to push boundaries in food labeling.
Your health is never the true concern of our mainstream food
producing industry. Unfortunately, it is only the so called
"alternative" food stores and suppliers that maintain
a conscience in their products. Click
Here for News Articles about Food.
The following excerpts are from these articles:
"There is no question that one
of the reasons why the FDA may be so lax in its enforcement
is pressure from the food companies or other special interests,"
said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.
"Food manufacturers say their
labels are within federal guidelines"
"People want to eat better,
but the food industry is just delivering a lot of hype, not
the real thing," said CSPI Legal Affairs Director
Bruce Silverglade.
"You have to be a lawyer or
a scientist," Jacobson says. "You really have to read
labels very closely, and the average person has a lot of other
things on his or her mind."
Just remember that these examples only represent what the FDA
catches and acts upon, and that these are violations of standards
that have already been manipulated over time to provide little
true nutritional oversight.
People often ask me, "How do
I know what to eat if we can't trust our food labels?".
The answer is simple, but some people find it a hard truth to
swallow..literally. The answer is WHOLE
FOODS. Go back to the foods that God and Nature
created for us, and steer away from the foods that man has 'engineered'
for profit.
So how do you get started? I am always
glad to recommend The Wholefood Farmacy: "A
Grocery Store with a Conscience".
(www.WholeFoodInternet.com)This
company offers an increidble gateway for people needing to learn
and experience what PURE food was meant to be, and with the
added benefit of delicious convenience. Their 13-Day Tri-Decathlon
is what changed my life and my understanding of food forever!
Authored By:
A.B. Goad
