The Super Sizing of America
America’s over consumption of fast and processed foods and the super sizing of Americans has been a gradual, insidious process, leading to a variety of health issues such as obesity and heart disease. It is a conspiracy of greed by the megalithic corporations who essentially run this country. While they get rich, we get sick.
Over the last 30 years, our food containers have gradually increased considerably in size. In the 1950’s, we had a coffee cup that held approximately 6 ounces; our mugs and drink cups now hold 16, 32, sometimes even 64 ounces. An array of all-you-can-eat buffets offers us mountains of food. We have gradually become a nation of gluttons without even realizing it. However, it is not all our fault. Our foods have been genetically modified to keep us hungry.
In the 1970’s, food processors started adding genetically modified ingredients to our foods without our knowledge. The insidious thing about this is that besides drinking a quart or half gallon of our current favorite soft drink, we fail to realize that those drinks are loaded with a substance called high fructose corn syrup or HFCS. This sweet poison is used in soft drinks, beer, jams and jellies, ketchup, pickles, breads, and even so called health food products. HFCS is highly addictive, has no “food” value, and promotes obesity. HFCS makes us fat; after that, it makes us sick. HFCS contains a high amount of fructose, which research shows interferes with the heart’s use of key minerals like magnesium, copper and chromium. It has also been implicated in elevated blood cholesterol levels and the creation of blood clots. HFCS has been found to inhibit the action of white blood cells so that they are unable to defend the body against harmful foreign invaders. (Price, Westona. “The Double Danger of High Fructose Corn Syrup.”www..westonaprice.org/modernfood/highfructose. http://www.westonarice.org/modernfood/highfructose.html. 11/22/2005).
Until the 1970’s, food producers used coconut oil to get that rich buttery flavor and texture in foods that partially hydrogenated fat now provides. The American obesity epidemic began when coconut oil was replaced with partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, most often soybean oil. Hydrogenated oils contain high levels of trans fats. A trans fat is an otherwise normal fatty acid that has been “transmogrified” (Webster’s definition: to change or alter greatly and often with grotesque effect), by high-heat processing of a free oil. Essential fatty acids are the most important nutrients there are, because without them, there is no life. They are the “active ingredient“ in every bodily process you can name. (Armstrong, Eric. “What’s Wrong with Partially Hydrogenated Oils?”. http://www.treelight.com/health/nutrition/PartiallyHydrogenatedOils.html” 11/19/2005). Eric Armstrong is a computer systems designer, writer and philosopher, who focuses on nutrition and fitness on the following website, Armstrong, Eric. “Americans Should Be Mad As Hell.” http://www.citizensadvisory.org/news/ Advisories/ AmericansShouldBeMad.html. 11/29/2005. He says that trans fats are poisons, just like arsenic or cyanide, and they interfere with the metabolic processes of life by taking the place of a natural substance that performs a critical function. They interfere with insulin metabolism, depress the thyroid, and generally screw up the metabolism. (Armstrong, Eric, “Americans Should Be Mad as Hell.” http://www.citizens advisory.org/news/Advisories AmericansShouldBe Mad.html 11/19/2005.)
The definition of poison is “a substance that through its chemical action usually kills, injures, or impairs an organism.” (Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, p 888). Our bodies have no defense against these substances, because they never existed in our two billion years of evolution, so we have never had the need or the opportunity to evolve a defense against them (Armstrong, Eric, “What’s wrong with Partially Hydrogenated Oils?”. http://www.treelight.com/ health/ nutrition/PartiallyHydrogenatedOils.html” 11/19/2005).
Partially hydrogenated oils, trans fats, and high fructose corn syrup are all useless,
Note: Researched and Authored by Bonnie Farnsworth
