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 a natural health author and award-winning journalist with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, reaching millions of readers with information that is saving lives and improving personal health around the world. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In 2010, Adams co-founded NaturalNews.TV, a natural health video sharing site that has now grown in popularity. He's also a veteran of the software technology industry, having founded a personalized mass email software product used to deliver email newsletters to subscribers. Adams also serves as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a non-profit consumer protection group, and regularly pursues cycling, nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates.
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Wednesday, June 02, 2004
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