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And the Beat Goes On …
By Barbara Latulipe, Harwinton
After the cigarette debacle, now we have the "food cops" accumulating all the nonsense and pseudo-facts they can gather to make one's daily life as uncertain and insecure as possible. The fact that so many people in our society lack solid information about nutrition means that they are both susceptible to nutritional charlatans and also more likely to make poor choices. Take the current case of a New York man who is suing several fast food restaurants claiming they did not tell him that eating their food would make him fat. (Such frivolous lawsuits are very profitable for the trial lawyers who take them on.)
Worries about dietary fat have led to increased consumption of low-fat and fat-free foods—which very often contain high levels of added sugar in order to compensate for the reduction or elimination of the fat and to make the blah taste acceptable. Now it seems that this new diet, disproportionately high in sugar and other carbohydrates, may be responsible for at least as many health problems as the old fat-rich diet.
There are so many pesticides, additives, colors, flavor enhancers and emulsifiers added to our food it is mind-boggling. For instance, we have Aspartame in diet drinks and in artificial sweeteners; it has been linked to brain tumors. Many commercially produced products like bread and ice cream contain a list of artificial ingredients and chemicals that would at least dampen a person's appetite. Most consumers are unaware of all the chemicals they are consuming, and even those who read labels cannot be sure of getting all the information they need to make educated choices.
According to the EPA, each year more than 200 million pounds of pesticides are dumped on California crops by that state's agriculture industry. One of these substances is methyl bromide, which was to have been eliminated under the Clean Air Act by 2001 but will remain in use until 2005; in 1999, 3 million pounds of this fumigant were used on California strawberry fields. Who is protecting the consumer? Not our present government agencies, that's for sure!
People need to seek out knowledge about the principles of a healthy diet. Authors who have made important contributions in the field include Adelle Davis, Dr. Linus Pauling, the Shute Brothers (for their work investigating vitamin E), Dr. Ben Feingold, Dr. Roger Williams, Dr. Emanuel Cheraskin, Dr. Carlton Fredericks and Dr. Paavo Airola, to name just a few. Also worthwhile reading are works by Dr. Helen Caldicott (on nuclear dangers), and Rachel Carson (on pesticides, and toxic dangers).
There are numerous excellent nutrition books at your local health food store. Learn all that you can about the food you eat—better health is sure to result from your findings.
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