You Are What You Eat

Health. Come on. You know you want it.

You know you want to eat healthier, become fit, trim your waistline, be able to wear sexier clothes or just the size you used to be. Doctors have been telling us for years what are good health practices and what are not healthy choices. 

 So why do we reach for the coffee, that drive through donut, the Caramel Flan Frappuccino, the pop-tart, cereal boxes with high sugar and artificial dye content? That Frappuccino has 45% of daily Saturated Fat and contains 60 gms of Sugar in one drink!

Is it comfort food, habit, lack of motivation, inconvenience, ignorance, financial constraints, conformity, emotional state, or pressure that drives us to such mastication madness?

We are addicted to fats, sugars and salt. We crave it. 

The food industry knows this and it acts like the Genie floating out of the lamp, to grant our every wish. Americans spend  more than $1 trillion on food every year, and more than 90 % of it is on processed food.

An astounding 40% of American children are now overweight and more than 1/3 of the adults are obese.The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. in 2008 was $147 billion. The medical costs for people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those of normal weight.

Obesity related conditions include Stroke, Type 2 Diabetes, Heart Disease and certain types of Cancer, which are some of the leading causes of preventable death.

Not only are there fat facts, but there is growing concern of chemicals and heavy metals in our bodies, starting in-utero.

Scientific studies like The China Study (Nutrition link to disease) and The Body Burden (The Pollution in Newborns) have shockingly described the chemical load our bodies have been exposed to and are carrying. Direct links to degenerative and life threatening diseases have been described linking them to animal products, soil contamination, pesticides, to name a few.

These truths cannot be denied especially after studies of reversed heart disease by Dr. T. Colin Campbell from nutrition changes alone paves the way to healthier living.

When chemicals are found in our bodies and umbilical cord blood it has a negative affect on our bodies causing illness and eventually leading to our death. The more toxic food we eat, the greater this problem will be. These toxins are in the food sources, additives, processed foods, contaminated soil, air, and water, vehicle emissions, storage containers and more.

It all boils down to what you can control and what you cannot.

Here are the things that you cannot control:

1. genetic makeup
2. soil depletion
3. soil contaminants
4. weather conditions
5. water contamination
6. industrial monopoly
7. genetically modified foods
8. off gassing and chemical emissions

Things you can control:

1. food you buy
2. where you shop
3. food preparation
4. quality ingredients
5. your intake of food
6. organic vs non-organic
7. how much food you eat
8. knowledge of animal abuse
9. knowledge of agriculture policies

The choices we make directly influence our health. Sadly, many laws control good sense and good health negatively granting mega industrial profit gains while the end product is actually harming and destructive in our bodies. The animal products contain hormones and antibiotics. The meat from feedlot-raised cattle has a higher fat content than meat from grass fed cattle.  Additives such as pink slime and genetic modifications to our corn, and a myriad of chemicals affects the response in our bodies to balance and threatens our immune system. Many foods are acidifying in nature vs alkaline foods which would strengthen and support the body balance.

Eat more Alkalizing Foods 75% of Daily  Intake

As we make the daily choices and plan our menus, consider what exactly you are putting into your mouth. Chances are, what you are reaching for will determine not only the kind of day you will be having, but the kind of life you will be living. 

Chose wisely!