Upgrade your ‘junk food’
I would not insult you, dear reader, by saying something as pedantic as simplistic as 鈥渏unk food is bad for you: don鈥檛 eat it.鈥� Neither am I naive enough to expect anyone, including yours truly, to follow through on such an unrealistic directive. Rather, we shall explore the realistic alternatives which would move us closer to defeating our culturally programmed addictions to 鈥渇oods鈥� which, if honestly described, can be called nothing less than poison.
For convenience, let us offer a casual definition of 鈥渏unk food.鈥� Dictionary.com defines it as: 鈥淔ood, as potato chips or candy, that is high in calories but of little nutritional value.鈥�
I would agree with the second half of the definition, and perhaps modify the overall to something like 鈥渇ood-like substances which offer a pleasant taste, but which have zero or negligible nutritional value, and in fact do harm to the body and/or mind in some way.鈥� You will notice I did not refer only to the effect on the physical body. Some food-like substances cause brain fog and brain damage, in addition to organ and tissue damage.
So what do we want to target for improvement? Some of the worst offenders of body and mind are refined sugar, pesticide residue, hormones and antibiotics (mostly found in animal products), trans fats and damaged fats, chemicals used in food processing which are anything but food, and animal products from unhealthy and mistreated fellow residents of the planet.
Let us take these one at a time. In my opinion, formed from years of reading as many sources as I can find time to review, refined sugar is the leading ingested killer for most people. Refined sugar has zero redeeming value. And please note it is even more harmful to children, who have smaller organs, and less body tissue to dissipate ingested poisons; in fact, this is true across the board for children. So please, if you choose not to make changes for yourself, at least consider it for they who depend on you to protect them from harm. Feeding significant refined sugar to children is doing them harm; anything less is untrue. Go back and re-read that if it did not horrify you the first time.
Where do we look to eliminate and replace refined sugars? Obvious places are candies, cakes, ice creams and powdered sugars (does not matter what color). Why is sugar so harmful? First, the liver does not know how to handle at least half of it, so it gets stored as fat鈥es, FAT. And here is a real dirty little secret: 鈥淟ow fat鈥� foods make up for the loss of taste and satisfaction of removing the fat by, you guessed it, adding sugar. So NEVER eat foods which have had their fat artificially lowered and replaced with poisons such as sugar. Fat is an essential nutrient that is used in vital bodily processes. In a future column, we will look at good versus bad fats.
Remember that in general nothing naturally occurring in nature is bad for us, allergies aside. Other places that contain 鈥渉idden鈥� sugars 鈥� only hidden to the untrained eye 鈥� are white flours, white potatoes, white rice, and to some degree all grain products. Sprouted grains seem to be the best choice 鈥� I like Ezekiel Bread found in the frozen foods section of better grocery stores and health food stores. I choose organic non-GMO sweet potatoes, and purple potatoes full of antioxidants where available.
The best alternatives to refined sugar that I know of are real maple syrup and raw honey, and the very best is Stevia. I buy pure organic powdered Stevia, and in the summer I grow the herb myself and just use the leaves like lettuce. I buy organic unsweetened ketchup, and use the Stevia to create the sweetness. Some people say Stevia has an 鈥渁fter-taste,鈥� but I have found it to taste perfectly normal, especially after my body detoxed from all the refined sugar.
Change always takes time, but in terms of sugar, it is worth every effort. There are even products showing up with Stevia instead of sugar. I found a dark chocolate bar brand called Lily蘑菇视频 made that way. I believe there are others. If you absolutely cannot stomach Stevia, then choose the best quality, highest percentage cacao dark chocolate (with NO dairy) you can find. Even Aldi has some good dark chocolate last time I checked. The high dark/cacao means way less sugar, and far more of the antioxidant benefits.
The other offenders are a little simpler to change. Hormones and antibiotics are addressed by only eating grass fed animals. Look for locally raised, and ask questions. Many brands such as Applegate specifically state that the animals are grass fed, well-treated, and hormone and antibiotic free. Many towns have farmers鈥� markets where you can actually ask about these things. Reject meat from grain fed animals (including farm-raised fish). If the animal does not eat a natural diet, and is unhealthy, its fats and nutrients will be poisonous to you. Consider cutting meat consumption down by a third or more; studies have proven that the longest lived people worldwide eat far less animal products than the typical American.
Dairy has been shown over and over to be a huge concern. If you choose to eat dairy, go organic so you avoid the hormones and pesticides. Moreover, evidence is mounting that raw unpasteurized dairy is the only type worth anything nutritionally. It contains friendly gut bacteria and other health benefits. Try a gluten free pizza made with organic tomato sauce, nitrate-free grass fed meat of some sort, some clean green veggies, and raw cheese 鈥� an entirely different thing from what is normally served. This pizza is much further from junk food that what is served commercially. I also make use of almond and coconut milk.
In general, organic and locally grown are our best defenses against pesticides and chemicals, not to mention that the faster the fresh produce makes it to us, the more nutrition it will pack. Support local farmers markets. Even better, start a garden of your own. Use organic soil. Do not spray toxic chemicals. Utilize natural ways to protect your plants such as adding nematodes to the soil.
Lastly, damaged and trans fats are necessary to eliminate and replace. This will be addressed more in the future in an article on fats, but for now understand that heating fats, over anything but low heat typically changes them to toxic compounds. To my knowledge, the best oil for cooking is coconut oil. I also use Ghee butter, which is clarified, and is less susceptible to being damaged by heat. Avoid fried foods. Stir frying is okay if you do not overheat, and do not use oil with a low smoke point. If you like olive oil, drizzle it over the stir fry after it is on your plate. I also do this with steamed veggies.
Hopefully you see that we do not have to outright give up all 鈥渇un鈥� food. We just need to replace them with more sensible versions. Yes, there may be an increase in upfront cost for some, but doctor bills and pain and sickness are far higher costs to my way of thinking.
And I will once more plead with you that if you will not consider these improvements for yourself, please do so for the children who trust you to lead them through the gauntlet of toxic choices marketed to them by corporations who value profit over people.