Tag: <span>fresh food</span>

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One should never underestimate the importance of eating healthy food. There are so many benefits but why are there so many people still not eating right? Why has obesity and heart diseases become such a huge factor? Although the statistics are clear, people still refuse to change their life styles.

Eating healthy food may become a struggle, especially when there are so many fast food restaurants everywhere we turn. Often people make excuses like they don’t have time to get healthy food, it’s not that accessible, or that they don’t know how to prepare it. However, there are just as many supermarkets that stock fresh produce as there are fast foods outlets, so accessibility is a poor excuse.

The rate at which obesity in children is rising is more shocking than that in adults. But what is the root of this problem. One cannot really blame the children as they learn from their parents. Children are more likely to eat unhealthy foods if their parents do.

The benefits of eating a healthy diet include living a longer life, feeling happier, gaining vitality, weight loss, and a healthy appearance. Processed food decrease the quality of our lives, so eating healthy foods means we can better fight diseases and live longer. When it comes to happiness, studies have shown that eating healthy foods is an excellent natural anti-depressant.

When you eat healthy your energy levels tend to rise. Because fatty foods cause weight gain you will also have a better chance of losing weight with a healthy diet. You will not only feel healthier but will look healthier. You’ll be surprised at how much healthier your skin, hair, and nails will become.

Sometimes it is not enough just to eat an apple a day. To really gain the benefits of eating healthy foods you need to plan an entire healthy diet and stick to it.

The best time to eat healthy is the morning. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so keeping at least your breakfast healthy is a good start. Drinking a smoothie in morning is a good healthy option. It is packed with goodness and tastes delicious. Yogurt also makes for a healthy breakfast but stick to low fat, unsweetened yoghurt. Eating plain yogurt with freshly cut fruit pieces may be an even healthier option. Eggs and whole wheat bread or bran muffins is more filling. Eating cereals or oatmeal is also better than eating a fatty breakfast or even no breakfast.

During the day you need to eat meals that contain loads of starch because they contain energy. Breads, cereals, rice, potatoes and pasta will do the trick however, stay within the limits. Do not over eat; just eat enough to sustain your energy.

You should also try to eat as much fruits and vegetables as possible throughout the day. One should at least pack in 5 portions. Avoid eating a lot of meats; rather choose fish as a healthy alternative. Stay away from a lot of fatty and processed foods but do not cut it out completely. Lastly, drink loads of water.

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Source by James Zane Johnson

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Over 400 people have been sickened by eating salad, food wraps and other items that contain fresh (uncooked) vegetables at various fast food chain restaurants since May 1, 2018. Others recently became ill after eating prepared salads or using vegetables bagged as salad ingredients brought home from food store chains. Some people who like to lick the spoon after mixing homemade or prepackaged cookie or cake dough also got sick due to the flour (already recalled) or eggs (salmonella) in the mix. Why have things like fresh vegetables and flour suddenly become a possible health threat?

No one will like the answer, but it’s the truth. I have been writing about this for over twenty years. In the late 1990s and early 2000s a lot of people started to become seriously ill and some died after eating fresh vegetables or prepared foods that contain them like salads, tacos, wraps and so on. Others got sick from raw batter and some fruits. Please note that this wasn’t just your average case of food poisoning caused by stale or undercooked food. These cases involved potential killers like campylobacter, e coli and listeria. Why so many cases and how did they get into our food?

You might be thinking that this has to do with home cooks and restaurant employees not washing fresh veggies before using them in something like a salad, sandwich or wrap. Sadly, that has not been the problem. Dirt and outside contaminates like pesticides can be washed off vegetables. Washing will do nothing for vegetables infected with campylobacter, e coli and listeria. There are more cases of vegetables infected with these contaminants today than ever before.

For many years the same groups of migrant workers and their children picked U.S. grown produce. They tended to move around the country because they had work most of the year. When there was no produce to harvest, they got jobs in food processing plants. However, as fast food franchises and chain restaurants became extremely popular in the 1980s and 1990s, growers grew more and there was a need for larger numbers of people to pick and help harvest their crops. This caused a huge influx of new faces from Mexico and South American Nations.

The old joke (and even a movie title) says, “Don’t drink the water south of the border.” Why? Because the water supply in many of these poor countries is dangerously contaminated with all sorts of bacteria. That’s because raw sewage is dumped into whatever water is available to move it away from populated areas in places lacking treatment facilities. This fact is proven by the regular pollution of seawater off San Diego beaches which is sometimes so contaminated with Mexican sewage that swimming is unsafe.

In many cases the same freshwater that is badly contaminated with sewage is used for drinking and washing clothes. Because this has gone on for so long, the people in these places have built up immunities to most of the contaminates. However, they remain in their bodies. Sometimes growers do not provide any or proper portable restroom facilities for pickers or workers. Contaminates in their bodies end up in the ground. Likewise, food processing plants that do not enforce handwashing or other food safety procedures end up with the same problem if their employees make physical contact with food through touch or sweat.

Dangerous bacteria are sucked up into crops through the water they absorb from the ground. That type of contamination cannot be washed out; it’s in the food. The same is true if bacteria gets into processed food through carelessness. Testing helps with processing facilities, but it’s usually too late to catch all the tainted food products in time to keep everyone safe. Last year uncooked vegetables and some fresh fruit made one in six people in the USA and Canada sick. Far more than became ill because of undercooked or tainted beef, chicken, pork or seafood. We do not have the immunities that the pickers and food workers have to fight off dangerous contaminants. So what can be done?

There are some things you can do to protect yourself and your loved ones from these dangers. First, identify the problem foods that people tend to eat uncooked. These would include lettuce, celery, cabbage, any leafy veggies, sprouts, cucumbers, jalapeno peppers and other seeded veggies. I recommend microwaving uncooked veggies for 1-2 minutes on high power. Scientists disagree with one another on the benefit of microwaving, but it’s worked for me and my family for years.

Fruits, well I can only suggest that you purchase fruit and veggies grown in the USA. Be especially careful when it comes to strawberries, cantalopes and grapes. There are also many ways to cook fruit and still retain its taste and health benefits. Then, there are always fruit pies (yum). Cook meats and eggs thoroughly and avoid unpasteurized milk and cheeses. Beware of meats or seafood produced and processed in other countries. Not long ago people were sickened by shrimp raised in severely contaminated breeding pools outside the USA.. Visit http://jsi4.tripod.com for health alerts under Health and Foods.

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Source by William A. Edwards

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“He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything”.

(Thomas Carlyle)

Health is far better than wealth. Better health is considered essential for human happiness and well-being. Persons who are physically and mentally healthy also play a very vital role in the economic growth of their country as they are more productive and live longer.

Being healthy is considered a dynamic process as our health changes with the course of time. Every one of us has times when we feel fit and healthy and then we have times when we feel sick and unwell.

Diet plays an important role in personal health it can be described as a pattern of eating and balanced diet provides nutrients that are considered necessary to maintain our health. Studies have revealed that diet is one of the sources through which diseases such as cancer, coronary heart disease, birth defects and cataracts can be prevented.

There are many food items which are suggested by doctors and experts that are considered healthy and must be included in every meal. Some of these food items are green tea, oats, curd, olive oil, salad etc.

We can also lose weight by adjusting some of our diet plans and eating habits.

Mentioned below are some diet tips to lose weight while staying healthy:

Eat fresh and organic foods. Recent research and studies have revealed that pesticide, herbicides and other chemicals used on food and vegetables are one huge cause of obesity and weight gain.

Bite slowly and chew it. This tip is very helpful as your brain gets the message that you are eating more than you actually are. One should use smaller plates and bowls for eating as it also one way to fool your brain into believing that you have eaten more.

Water is a very important essential element of human’s body. One should drink at least 8-10 glass of water per day. During a glass of water 15 minutes before having your meal as it makes you feel fuller without eating any kind of food.

Do not drink sodas, Pepsi; cola etc. as they are full of chemicals and sugar. One bottle of Pepsi contains at least 20 tablespoons of sugar so there is no point in drinking any of these.

Other things that can help you to lose weight without losing your health are:

1- Eat your favorite meal once in every 15 days it will help you in starting afresh for your upcoming days and you will not feel deprived.

2- Include salads and vegetables in your every meal.

3- Exercise daily and consistently. If you exercise with gaps it will lead you to nowhere. Instead, you will feel frustrated.

Eating healthy is important however one should not overlook the exact meaning of the statement. Eating to stay healthy does not mean suppressing your appetite; it means to eat “smartly”. A proper and balanced diet plan can also help you to reduce your weight without losing your health.

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Source by Syeda Nida Ali Rizvi

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The Northeast Georgia Mountains are home to some of Georgia’s leading fresh food producers. Vegetables, fruit, flowers, cheese, wine, nuts, grain, poultry, eggs, fish, pork and cattle are all seasonally available throughout the area. An abundance of fresh water, combined with soil rich in nutrients and a temperate climate offer a recipe for great fresh seasonal foods. Rabun County is particularly known for its cabbage crop. Maybe it’s the soil, but the cabbage grown here just tastes better. As spring moves towards summer we can hardly wait for our first ears of Osage Silver Queen Corn.

With all this local abundance we fret each spring as to what things we should plant in our culinary garden next to the Inn. We’ve been to restaurants where just moments before you are seated for dinner you observe the chef clad in her white coat tip toe into the gardens to snip fresh herbs and edible flowers. You just know you are in for a treat. We want to offer the type of experience where the diner sees and tastes things on their plate they know came out of the garden minutes before. The chef’s culinary garden should provide wonderful products but also needs to be close to the kitchen’s back door so it is as handy as walking into the pantry. And we want the garden to enhance and add to the variety, color and unique flavors for our guests’ dining experience.

Through the years we have honed our culinary garden to our style of cooking. Here is what we have planned for this year. We will plant a hedge of Genovese basil, as well as about 8 other varieties and colors. Other necessities include bay, dill, English thyme, tarragon, lavender, mints, oregano, rosemary, sage, parsley, savory and fennel; a rainbow of toy box tomatoes, lemon verbena, bee balm, heirloom tomatoes, edible flowers to bloom in succession. We also have an established asparagus patch, raspberries, blueberries, two varieties of crabapples, wild cherries (for drying), peaches, plums and a forest of Chanterelles. We can also count on Leckie Stack supplying us with some seasonal fruits from the Stack farm including Asian pears, persimmons and grapes. And Jenny Sanders will share with us wild ingredients in season such as ramps, elderflowers and berries, fiddleheads and a variety of mushrooms.

We would plant an acre of basil if we could. To many gardeners, basil is the king of herbs. Basil can play many roles while basking in the sun. Basil is essential in our kitchen, but it is also highly ornamental in our gardens and on our tables. We add branches to bouquets of flowers. Hot summer days become bearable if I can pluck fresh basil and use it in pestos, herbal vinegars, vegetable dishes and, most heavenly of all, nestle the leaves between slices of fresh bread along with a large slice of a ripe heirloom tomato and some creamy homemade mayo.

Members of the mint family, basils are native to India, Africa and Asia but have a long, rich history of legend and use worldwide. Basil is best used fresh. Small leafed varieties can be grown in a pot on a sunny windowsill during the winter. To preserve summer’s flavor for winter make plenty of pesto and freeze it.

We make sure that each year our garden has several Thai Basil plants. It is characterized by a strong licorice fragrance and flavor. Thai basil has many applications in the Beechwood kitchen due to its flavor appeal. It is the highlight of many Asian cuisines, including Thai, Vietnamese and Indian fare. The inn’s specialty is Thai Basil Rolls with Satay Peanut Sauce.

Another staple that we plant each spring is lemon verbena (Aloysia triphylla). It is native to South America and grows well in North Georgia, but it does not survive our winters outdoors. The Spanish brought it to Europe where it was used in perfume. It has been a favorite for garden rooms in North America since its introduction in the 1800’s. It has a clean, sharp lemon scent that makes it the Queen of lemon-scented herbs. In Gone with the Wind, lemon verbena is mentioned as Scarlet O’Hara’s mother’s favorite plant. One whiff of the smell, and I predict you will not want to live without this luscious smelling herb.

The inn’s specialty is lemon verbena ice cream but we use the leaves in a number of recipes. It makes an excellent tea, especially when blended with mint. It can also be used to brighten the taste of fish, poultry, veggie marinades, stuffing, salad dressing, sorbets, pana cotta, jellies, and vinegar. As the leaves are tough, remove them before serving. Finely crumbled dried leaves can be added to the batters of carrot, banana, or zucchini bread. Try adding some to cooked rice just before serving.

A rainbow of toy box tomatoes is essential to our culinary garden each year. They are cherry and grape tomatoes in a variety of wonderful colors and flavors, some heirloom some hybrid. The most important thing to the chef is the palette of colors and unique flavors they offer. Some are sugary and sweet some are puckeringly tart. But oh are they beautiful in tarts, salads, bruschettas and as garnish. Last year we planted about a dozen varieties and I had to resist eating them while I picked them fresh off the vine. We plant them in giant containers and they surround the Beechwood gardens. We will often see guests plucking a sample as they walk by.

Our heirloom tomatoes are good in almost anything but one of our favorite recipes is Black Krim Tomato Marmalade. Our wild cherries and crabapples are very tart, so they are best used in coulis, jams and remoulades. The blueberries and raspberries will find their way fresh to our breakfast table and also baked into muffins, breads and sinfully wonderful desserts.

The gardens also yield a succession of seasonal edible flowers. Today, many restaurant chefs and innovative home cooks garnish their plates with flower blossoms for a touch of elegance. They can be sprinkled on salads or added to your recipe. The secret to success when using edible flowers is to keep the dish simple. Most edible flowers have a very delicate taste, so when using them as a flavor component do not add them to something that already has strong flavors. Today this nearly lost art is enjoying a revival.

Not all flowers are edible, and the edible varieties should be grown without the use of pesticides or other chemicals. Edible flowers should be carefully identified and in some cases there are only parts of the flower that are edible (in some flowers the anthers should be removed). The Beechwood Chefs will often use a flower as the central part of an appetizer or entrée. For instance, we use colorful organic daylilies and fill them with a light stuffing of local goat cheese and fresh herbs.

Writing about our culinary garden and thinking of these recipes makes us long for tomato season once again. Planting our culinary garden each spring renews our spirit and brings us joy. We appreciate the efforts brought to bear by local farmers and ranchers, but most of all we thank God for the variety and abundance of fresh products we bring to our table.

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Source by David Darugh

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If you’re looking for a healthy alternative to cooked berry pies or even cooked desserts that are laden with unhealthy fats and sugars, why not try my live-food, free, easy, raw berry pie recipe. Many people are gradually making the switch from cooked desserts and cooked foods which are causing so many of our health problems today. It doesn’t matter if you’re a raw fooder or eat the standard American diet; you’ll love this raw berry pie recipe and know that you’re doing your body good in the process.

In fact making a raw berry pie does not require turning on the oven and can be made in virtually minutes. I have often timed myself and can make this pie in ten minutes or less if the ingredients are assembled. Equipment: food processor.

This is my own creation, one of many vegetarian, vegan and raw food recipes that I have developed and created over the past few years as a raw fooder – eating raw foods, having cured myself of breast cancer, fibromyalgia, arthritis and sinus infections along with many other ailments.

You can use the pie crust for dozens of other types of raw food recipes or live pies including raw or live apple pie. I’ve experimented with dozens of variations and tried various ingredients but I’ve found this raw blackberry or blueberry pie recipe is the best, fastest and easiest recipe to make. In fact if you’re going to have company coming over you can whip this free raw food diet recipe up in no time.

Helen’s Best Raw Berry Pie – the ingredients: 12 organic medjool dates, 1 cup raw pecans, 4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, blackberries or boysenberries and 2 bananas.

For the crust put 1 cup of raw pecans in a food processor and grind until fine. Add 8 pitted organic medjool dates and process until mixed fairly well. Place into a 9-inch pie plate.

For the binder mix two bananas, 8 berries or so for color and 4 medjool dates in a food processor – use the same food processor – don’t need to wash it. Remove to large bowl and carefully fold in 4 cups of fresh or frozen or partially frozen blueberries, boysenberries or blackberries. Spread berry-binder mixture on top of the crust. Decorate with boysenberries or blackberries around the edge of the pie. Refrigerate.

This live or raw berry pie is a family favorite and one I have served on many occasions to company who are not aware they are eating something healthy containing all the vibrant nutrients – nothing cooked out.

This pie is really good with boysenberries too. You can also slice some fresh kiwi on the top or other fruits that won’t turn color.

One nice thing to know about fixing any raw food recipe is that you can eliminate, substitute or add ingredients easily and it will still taste delicious! In this vegan or raw food diet recipe – you may only have one banana on hand for example or you can make half the recipe. You can substitute the pecans for a mixture of one half cup pecans and one half cup walnuts, or all walnuts.

If you live in an area where you have tons of wild blackberries you can make this pie for pennies. Pick blueberries cheaply in the summer and freeze them for year-round use, although fresh berries are always the best. You can make raw berry pies with this free raw food recipe year-round and you’ll feel good too knowing you have served your friends and family something that will help them better their health and help them lose weight if they need to too.

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Source by Helen Hecker

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Every component of pizza – crust, toppings, sauce and cheese are thought to be unhealthy. This is no longer the usual case today. Many pizza parlors today offer this delectable food in a new way – the use of organic ingredients only. Thus, every slice of organic pizza becomes healthy food.

Many of us believe that pizza is very unhealthy food because it contains ingredients that can add weight to the consumer. A slice of pizza has many calories, depending on its toppings and crust. This connotation will change if you know how the making of pizza had been modified by many people who advocate the use of healthy and organic ingredients.

You may believe that you cannot rely on pizza delivery and that the healthy kind can only be made available when you create it yourself. But you are wrong because today, many pizza stores had started to serve purely organic pizza. The making of a healthy pizza means using the right ingredients, all natural and organic.

Let us take a look at the different basic ingredients in the making of a pizza.

Crust

You can examine the dough which actually is the crust. You can have gluten-free dough. Many people find its taste horrible but then, your palate can adjust to this taste until you get used to it. The gluten-free pizza can either be chewy or crispy; you can have it thin or thick. Good pizza stores find the right balance between crispiness and chewiness to come up with a flavorful and good crust. This good recipe for crust blends together different types of flour. Tapioca flour, brown rice flour and sorghum flour, all organic and gluten-free varieties, can be used. Some ingredients like brown sugar, sea salt and olive oil can be added to add flavor to the crust. Depending upon your choice, you can have a thin or a thick crust. You can even have options for the shape, round or square.

Sauce

The sauce is another important part of a pizza. Organic ingredients can be purchased from farmer’s markets. This can be made of fresh tomatoes infused with fresh herbs and garlic. Then these ingredients are pureed in a food processor. There are different textures of sauce; with diced tomatoes, it can be a little bit chunky. You can opt for a spicy or sweeter flavor and to add more health benefits, this is made with low levels of sugar and sodium.

Toppings

There is a wide range of choices for toppings. To really make it ultra healthy, you can choose organic vegetables such as broccoli or cauliflower florets, mushroom, sweet bell pepper and more other choices. You can have some low-sodium organic ham, bologna and others meat toppings. Meat can also be organic now so this is the kind that is added to the toppings.

Cheese

Pizza is never complete without the cheese. You can use little amount of cheese or you can have lots of it. The most classic kinds are mozzarella and goat cheese. There are kinds that used skimmed milk and with this, you get less fat which is beneficial if your are conscious with your calorie intake.

With all these ingredients put together and baked properly, your pizza can be the healthiest of foods. The secret is just having purely natural ingredients to have a real organic pizza.

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Source by Fuentes Roberson

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A hundred years ago, just before the advent of the agricultural chemical’s like DDT, We were farming as nature intended, using natural farming techniques passed down for centuries. Soils were rich and fertile and farmers knew they needed to keep it that way so crops continued to flourish. We relied on the health of the soils as the foundation of the plants health. No chemical fertilisers or pesticides were used as they didn’t exist yet. This was true organic farming.

Then it all changed, the farming community transformed into an industrialised machine with a profit mindset. From the 1920’s we began synthesising a hoard of agricultural fertilisers that increased plant growth and yield. This meant farmers could focus less time replenishing the soil through composting and growing cover crops, and more time selling their increased yield. This seemed like a great idea in the short term, but removing the process of soil regeneration resulted in soils lacking essential minerals and microbes. This gave nutritionally deficient and therefore sick plants. A peach in 1900 had 52 times the nutritional value of a peach today. Insects, being more attracted to sick plants took advantage of the situation and effected the creation of chemical pesticides. And right up until present day this battle between chemicals and nature has ensued.

Organic food as we know it today, is just farming as we did before chemicals, as nature intended. Organic food is not contaminated with harmful pesticides or other chemicals. There are no chemical additives in organic food that are typically found in other foods. Two independent comprehensive studies each analysing around 40 previously published studies comparing the differences between organic and conventional foods have concluded that there is overwhelming evidence that organic food is more nutritious. One report found that on average organic food is higher in vitamin C, mineral levels and phytonutrients – plant compounds that can be effective against cancer.

So the choice between conventional and organic food is a choice between food grown in deficient soils with chemicals and food grown in soils which farmers must keep healthy without the use of any chemicals.

A great way to get started is with home delivery as produce is sourced and delivered fresh to your door without the hassles of shops. And ordering can be done from the convenience of your own home.

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Source by Django Cogez

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This document is a guide to the key quality criteria which should be observed when purchasing and supplying tomatoes and is the first in a series of fresh produce quality specifications that will be produced and published over the coming months.

Please be aware that these specifications only reflect what our inspectors and technical staff would consider to be well established industry standards, commonly held knowledge and our own expertise in having conducted thousands of food quality inspections over the past 20 years throughout the UK food industry. If we have made any direct reference to another source it will be referenced clearly within the text.

Size Requirements for Tomatoes

These fruit are typically supplied in grades which are fairly well recognised in the fruit trade, with the following sizes being the most usual:

Size MMM: 40mm – 47mm

Size MM: 47mm – 57mm

Size M: 57mm – 67mm

Common Pack Sizes

Tomatoes are usually distributed in open topped corrugated cardboard boxes of 6kg. They will often be further packaged for distribution within the UK depending upon the industry sector being supplied, often seen in 1kg bags or punnets. Cherry tomatoes are often seen in punnets of 250g, packed 12 to a box.

Common Quality Defects Found in Tomatoes

We break quality defects typically into major and minor categories, with no tolerance recommended for the former, and a small tolerance recommended in the latter. This tolerance would typically be in the region of 5% – 10% of a pack by either weight or count.

• Major Defects
• Mould / Rot / Breakdown affecting the fruit
• Pests or Insects other than an occasional single pest
• Disease / Fungal Growth

Minor Defects

• Sizes outside of the stated grade (see above)
• Colour not meeting the specific ripeness requirements for the customer
• Surface Scarring or Russetting
• Minor cracks to the Surface
• Minor signs of age such as wrinkling and softening fruit

Distribution Temperatures for Tomatoes

Distribution temperatures for this product are usually between 12C – 15C It should be noted here, that in most mixed product distribution scenarios, Tomato along with most other fresh produce is grouped into the chilled storage and distribution network which would be expected to run below 6C.

Common Countries of Origin for Tomato

• The Netherlands
• Spain
• The United Kingdom
• Canary Islands

This quality specification is a good starting point to setting out your quality requirements for tomatoes, but does not cover any of the food safety systems for production and handling, or any of the nutritional information which would be expected as part of a full technical specification. Feel free to contact us if you need more information.

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Source by Thomas New

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Here in the technology and information age, we have more knowledge and advancements than ever before in history. Sixty years ago, who would have ever thought that you could send an instant message over a phone, let alone take a picture with it? Sixty years ago, who would have thought we would be capable of sending a man to the moon, but fail the war on obesity and cancer?

Isn’t it oddly shocking that America is so well-advanced in everything except health and fitness? While the fitness industry tells us to count calories and exercise for fat loss, we grow fatter and fatter as a nation.

Running parallel to the fitness industry is the fast food chains, doing their best to keep on the top of “healthy eating” trend. It seems the fast-food industry can tailor to anyone’s dieting needs with “fat-free,” “low-calorie,” and “low-carb” menu items.

Today, fast food is considered a normal eating venture among the average person. People aren’t just eating out on special occasions or weekends anymore; they are eating out all the time. But is it the calories in fast food that’s so destructive to the body and waistline or does the problem lie deeper?

Fast Food and Obesity

Fast food is simply tasty, ready-cooked meals packed to go. Fast food has been around since the early 1900’s, but its popularity sparked and grew in the 1940’s with the birth of good ole’ Mickey D’s; quick food priced cheaply. Within a few years similar fast-food operations popped up everywhere in the blink of an eye.

With the compelling rise in fast-food restaurants since the 1940’s, oddly, too, started the rise in obesity and cancer during that same time period. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to do the math and link fast food to the obesity and cancer crisis.

Fast Food and its Nutritional Value

To say fast food has a “nutritional value” is an oxymoron. There is absolutely nothing nutritional about fast food. Fast food simply feeds hunger and/or your immediate craving. Fast food does not feed your body in the form of usable lasting energy or building materials, the essence your body thrives on for life itself.

Fast food is highly processed with a wide array of additives. The concept of fast food is obviously, food ready-to-eat and served quickly. To ensure fast food’s low cost to the consumer, the fast food products are made with highly-processed ingredients to give it shelf-life, to hold consistency, and to enhance flavor. Fast food is altered from its original healthy form it was meant to nourish the body with, to a denatured form that lacks any nutritional value whatsoever.

According to Diana Schwarzbein, M.D., “The FDA Total Diet Study found that fast-food hamburgers, across the board, contained 113 different pesticide residues.” So my question is why does the FDA want to regulate the sale of vitamins, minerals, and herbs that are actually beneficial for the body when there’s a linking fast-food / cancer / obesity crisis on our hands?

Why Fast Food is Fattening and Dangerous

Wake up people. It’s not the calories in fast food that’s damaging to your health and waistline, it’s the chemical additives such as aspartame and MSG (monosodium glutamate). These chemical additives are approved by the FDA and studies show that they lead to weight and disease issues.

Synthetic chemicals added to processed food, including fast food, damage your body’s cells. Your body is made up of nutrients found in plants and animals you eat. Man-made food items loaded with pesticides, as well as aspartame, margarine, and other man-made chemicals do not nourish your body. If your body can’t use what you put into it you will gain fat and decrease health.

Since we can’t visually see what actually happens at the molecular level when we eat processed food, we discount it and rely on the FDA to do our thinking for us. After all, if its FDA approved, it MUST be okay to eat, right? Not at all.

Nutrients from the food we eat allow us to burn fat and be healthy. Your body cannot process synthetic chemicals. If a food item can’t be processed, it will end up lodged in areas of your body, primarily fatty areas and tissues, creating an acidic pH.

A simple fast-food chicken breast can contain everything from modified corn starch to hydrolyzed corn gluten. Hello? Chicken comprised of corn? A fast-food chicken nugget is nearly 60% corn, and corn is what farmers use to fatten up cattle.

Michael Pollan, author of, The Omnivore’s Dilemma says it perfectly – “How did we ever get to a point where we need investigative journalist to tell us where our food comes from?”

A good visual that Dr. Mark A. Gustafson found is that it takes fifty-one days to digest fast food chicken nuggets or French fries. FIFTY-ONE DAYS! Does that sound healthy? I could care less about the caloric, fat, or carbohydrate content. That’s not the problem, people. The problem with fast food is that it’s void of nutrients and loaded with chemicals not recognized by the body.

What’s even more devastating is the book The Fast Food Diet written by Stephan Sinatra, M.D. This is a sad state when a doctor promotes eating chemically-altered food with addictive chemicals and damaged fats that scars the artery walls and contribute to total metabolic damage.

Eating Good and Avoiding the Hidden Dangers

Granted, calories do count to an extent, but what counts more is the quality of the calorie. If you want to lose fat then you have to change your eating habits. This doesn’t mean opt for Healthy Choice® and Smart One’s® frozen meals because they appear to be healthy. Food manufacturers use deceptive marking tactics to create an illusion to make people buy their product.

To lose fat and keep it off you should choose foods in their natural state, such as fresh organic cuts of meat, fresh organic fruits and vegetables, essential fats, and plenty of filtered water. It’s vital that you go back to the basics.

Make eating fresh and organic food choices the bulk of your diet. If you do that, you will never have to count calories again. The quality of food outweighs the quantity every time.

References: Schwarbein, Diana M.D. The Schwarzbein Principle. 1999. 287 Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore’s Dilemma. 2006. 1

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Source by Karen Sessions

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Could you imagine if the next time you pass a billboard on your way to work, you see an advertisement for a cologne that smells like food? How about Kate Moss standing next to a giant cheeseburger and holding her little perfume bottle saying “Now I don’t need to go to McDonald’s to get that great scent anymore”.

Why don’t people want to smell like the foods they love? After all its the smell of thanksgiving supper that makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside, and doesn’t the smell of sushi make you feel adventurous, young and hip? The scent of coffee alone is indeed refreshing- so why not save ourselves from the dangerous caffeine and simply spray ourselves with the scent of Starbucks?

Instead we opt for scents of floral infusions and exotic spices. Maybe that makes a woman’s head turn but how about the men? Wouldn’t the scent of a juicy steak walking down the street make a man turn his head? On the contrary, women are busy worrying about how to get the odor of all that cooking off their clothes that were in the kitchen a moment too long. It seems the most logical answer would be that, firstly, most men want to eat the steak when they smell it. No girl wants to walk around advertising an enticing food and then turn out to be a disappointing…well, woman.

Secondly, is there really any way to mimic the scent of fresh food piping hot out of the oven? Would the fragrance rot after some time? I can just see someone saying “well this used to be eau de filet mignon but apparently its gone bad…”. Or maybe the food companies would sue. The population would be so satisfied with just the scent of champagne and strawberries that no one would feel the need to go out and buy any! The supermarkets would have to start featuring a perfume isle!

Additionally, I don’t suppose there is any way to diffuse the scent of a hamburger off the grill. Although I have heard of bakeries releasing an artificial scent that attracts customers to believe that the picture perfect pastries in the window will match to that incredible smell. I myself have witnessed such a bakery, which after following my nose to the location, discovered that the pastries tasted nothing like the scent that puffed out from the walls. And of course I had to test everything, not just the pastries to make sure I didn’t count anything out by accident. This is a brilliant if not completely manipulative advertising scheme.

But perfume that smells like food would have to be labeled correctly, with massive letters warning not to actually ingest the contents of the bottle. All that alcohol could possibly cause some damage. Yes that really makes the most sense. Perfume has such power that it would lure everyone to dunk the contents of its appetizing scent that no one would be able to resist it. The law suits would be unbearable. Better stick to fresh food and safe fragrances and give up the hope of ever smelling like a hamburger with french fries!

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Source by Erica Osch