An alarming new study published in the Journal of Food Composition and
Analysis reveals that Americans are getting nearly one-third of their
calories from junk foods: soft drinks, sweets, desserts, alcoholic
beverages, and salty snacks. It explains why obesity is rampant,
diabetes is epidemic, and chronic disease is skyrocketing: we are a
nation of people who are simultaneously overfed and malnourished. In
other words, we're getting plenty of calories, but very little
nutrition.
Shockingly, the average American gets over seven percent
of their calories from soft drinks alone -- a situation that most
certainly accelerates both obesity and diabetes. As with soft drinks,
the other junk foods consumed by Americans are so-called "empty calorie"
foods, meaning they're devoid of nutritional value. And yet people keep
turning to these foods with alarming frequency because they taste good.
The upshot of all this is something I've been saying for years: our
national food supply is the #1 source of chronic disease in the United
States. Furthermore, losing weight and preventing disease isn't only
about eating less, it's about making different choices in your foods.
With the right foods and beverages, you can virtually eat as much as you
want. Those foods are, of course, vegetables, fruits, whole grains,
quinoa, and similar items -- all in their unprocessed, unrefined form.
Because once you start refining and processing foods, you end up with
empty calories again.
With this new study, we have yet more evidence
of the link between food choice and personal health. The American public
is slowly coming to realize that foods are, indeed, linked to disease,
and an increasing number of doctors are starting to see the light, too.
Heck, even the medical schools might actually start teaching nutrition
-- something that should have been the foundation of a medical education
but which has been routinely ignored for decades by organized medicine.
This study also reveals the obvious solutions to the national
obesity epidemic: ban all junk food advertising. Ban junk food vending
machines. Run public education campaigns to teach people how to choose
healthy foods and beverages. Require labels on all junk food products to
warn consumers about obesity and diabetes. The solutions are simple to
see, but politically very difficult to enforce due to food politics and
the greed of junk food companies. There's a lot of profit in making
people sick, and then there's even more profit in treating them with
prescription drugs and surgeries.
About the author: Mike Adams is an award-winning journalist and holistic nutritionist with a strong interest in personal health, the environment and the power of nature to help us all heal He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, and he has published numerous courses on preparedness and survival, including financial preparedness, emergency food supplies, urban survival and tactical self-defense. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In 2010, Adams co-founded NaturalNews.com, a natural health video sharing site that has now grown in popularity. He also founded an environmentally-friendly online retailer called BetterLifeGoods.com that uses retail profits to help support consumer advocacy programs. He's also the CEO of a highly successful email newsletter software company that develops software used to send permission email campaigns to subscribers. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and pursues hobbies such as martial arts, Capoeira, nature macrophotography and organic gardening. He's also author a large number of health books offered by Truth Publishing and is the creator of numerous reference website including NaturalPedia.com and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. His websites also include the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the innate healing ability of the human body. Known on the 'net as 'the Health Ranger,' Adams shares his ethics, mission statements and personal health statistics at www.HealthRanger.org
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Wednesday, June 02, 2004
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