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In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto Michael Pollan See book keywords and concepts

Food safety didn't become a national or global problem until the industrialization of the food chain attenuated the relationships between food producers and eaters. That was the story Upton Sinclair told about the Beef Trust in 1906, and it's the story unfolding in China today, where the rapid industrialization of the food system is leading to alarming breakdowns in food safety and integrity. Regulation is an imperfect substitute for the accountability, and trust, built into a market in which food producers meet the gaze of eaters and vice versa.

Timeless Secrets of Health & Rejuvenation: Unleash The Natural Healing Power That Lies Dormant Within You Andreas Moritz See book keywords and concepts

The food industry is entitled to use a large variety of solvents and chemicals to improve the taste, color, and texture of its products. food producers have free reign over food production, and there is nobody out there that is going to make sure our children don't get fed with another sweet tasting poison. But the common practice of producing food synthetically and making it "healthier" by adding synthetically derived vitamins and minerals is at the root of many health problems afflicting both children and adults in the developed world.

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto Michael Pollan See book keywords and concepts

Regulation is an imperfect substitute for the accountability, and trust, built into a market in which food producers meet the gaze of eaters and vice versa. Only when we participate in a short food chain are we reminded every week that we are indeed part of a food chain and dependent for our health on its peoples and soils and integrity—on its health. "Eating is an agricultural act," Wendell Berry famously wrote, by which he meant that we are not just passive consumers of food but cocreators of the systems that feed us.

BEYOND THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE e eaters, alas, don't reap nearly as much benefit from V V nutritionism as food producers. Beyond providing a license to eat more of the latest approved foodlike substance, which we surely do appreciate, nutritionism tends to foster a great deal of anxiety around the experience of shopping for food and eating it.

Bacon, sausage, hot dogs and processed meats hike cancer risk by 67% due to chemical preservative, says nutritionist Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

If sodium nitrite is so dangerous, why do food producers continue using it? The chemical is added primarily as a color fixer that turns meats a reddish, fresh-looking color that appeals to consumers. Packaged meats like hot dogs would normally appear a putrid gray, but with enough sodium nitrite added, the meats can seem visually fresh even if they've been on the shelves for months. "Food producers use sodium nitrite for marketing reasons," says Adams. "It makes their food products look visually appealing, even while that very same ingredient promotes cancer when consumed.

Superfoods Rx Diet: Lose Weight with the Power of SuperNutrients Wendy Bazilian, DRPH, MA, RD, Steven Pratt, MD, Kathy Matthews See book keywords and concepts

The truth is that the food industry—restaurants, food producers, food packagers, and marketers—with clever strategies and alluring ad campaigns entice us to buy too much food for our needs and encourage us to eat too much of that food in countless situations. Their business success is based on their ability to get you to buy their food. Food marketers have helped make the absurd seem normal. You have been an easy target—unknowing and unarmed and without the strategies necessary when it comes to resisting the lure of buying and eating ever more fattening foods in ever growing amounts.

Sugar Shock!: How Sweets and Simple Carbs Can Derail Your Life-- and How YouCan Get Back on Track Connie Bennett, C.H.H.C. with Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D. See book keywords and concepts

Indeed, in this new climate, an increasing number of experts are contending that large food producers may be liable for health problems that their products could be causing in certain members of the public. Although many people may find these arguments to be on shaky legal grounds, they raise strong ethical questions about the role of corporate responsibility. In fact, if the trend continues, both attorneys and lawmakers may decide to take a closer look (if they haven't already) at the part corporations may play in harming the health of our citizens with their nutrient-deprived food products.

Alternative Medicine Magazine's Definitive Guide to Sleep Disorders: 7 Smart Ways to Help You Get a Good Night's Rest Herbert Ross, DC with Keri Brenner, L.Ac. See book keywords and concepts

Instead, wanting to avoid the sugar stigma that could negatively impact sales, many food producers hide the sugars in their products behind a host of chemical synonyms. Take note that products listing any of the following ingredients really do contain sugar: corn sweetener, dextrin, dextrose, fructose, fruit juice concentrates, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, lactose, malt, maltodextrin, maltose, mannitol, sorbitol, sorghum, sucrose, and xylitol. Although all of these are sugars, fructose does stand apart from the rest. Of all the sugars, fructose causes the least severe insulin reaction.

Sugar Shock!: How Sweets and Simple Carbs Can Derail Your Life-- and How YouCan Get Back on Track Connie Bennett, C.H.H.C. with Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D. See book keywords and concepts

In fact, journalist Greg Critser, author of the intriguing Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World, observes that the lower-priced high-fructose corn syrup has allowed food producers to increase portion sizes without sacrificing profits. Ultimately, he notes, overconsumption of HFCS is "skewing the national metabolism toward fat storage." Now, a growing body of research and articles support that statement.

Bacon, sausage, hot dogs and processed meats hike cancer risk by 67% due to chemical preservative, says nutritionist Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

Packaged meats like hot dogs would normally appear a putrid gray, but with enough sodium nitrite added, the meats can seem visually fresh even if they've been on the shelves for months. "Food producers use sodium nitrite for marketing reasons," says Adams. "It makes their food products look visually appealing, even while that very same ingredient promotes cancer when consumed." The USDA once tried to ban sodium nitrite, but was unsuccessful due to political influence and lobbying efforts of meat processing companies.

Seeds of Change: Six Plants That Transformed Mankind Henry Hobhouse See book keywords and concepts

Food was also always a political matter because of food producers. In no country in the world before 1845 was less than half the population engaged in food and agriculture, raw, processed, and manufactured, ancillaries included. In only a few countries in 1845 was the economic importance of alimentary products less than 90 percent of all human activity. The production, distribution, and exchange of food are of primary importance, and without them all other activity would grind to a halt.

Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back Michele Simon See book keywords and concepts

They must begin to talk about dismantling the mechanisms of corporate rule—about taking the what, how, and why of food production out of the hands of private, self-interested food producers and giving it to communities and institutions that could democratically determine how to produce and distribute food. Local community-garden and food-security movements are important steps in this direction, as are efforts to contest the "personhood" rights of corporations and global "free-trade" initiatives . . .

But according to CREW, CCF lobbies exclusively on behalf of food producers and the restaurant and tobacco industries and is "not remotely charitable."15 Indeed, CREW notes that Rick Berman initially pitched the organization to Philip Morris as a vehicle to "unite the restaurant and hospitality industries in a campaign to defend against attacks from anti-smoking, anti-drinking, anti-meat activists." CREW's executive director, Melanie Sloan, said that, "Given all of the violations CCF has committed, a full and fair investigation should result in the organization losing its [tax] exemption.

Grocery Warning: How to recognize and avoid the groceries that cause cancer, diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and other common diseases Mike Adams See book keywords and concepts

Liquid vegetable oils present food producers with a number of problems. Corn oil can't be spread on bread, for instance, and it makes a poor pie crust. It is also prone to oxidation by light, air, and heat, especially after the refining process has robbed it of its natural antioxidants and phytochemicals. Hydrogenation was the answer. Through modern alchemy, vegetable oil could be heated, exposed to a metal catalyst such as nickel or copper, and transformed into a more plastic, less perishable fat.

The combined industries of food producers, media owners, and pharmaceutical companies, when taken as a whole, simply aren't interested in making people healthy since that would destroy their profits. This phenomenon is described by Marion Nestle in Food Politics: Ethical or not, a message to eat less meat, dairy, and processed foods is not going to be popular among the producers of such foods.

You see, at this point, the food producers couldn't go back to producing bland, tasteless foods. The American public had gotten used to chemically enhanced foods, and as a result, the food industry had to aggressively defend the only ingredient (MSG) that kept them in business: When MSG was first being added to foods as a taste-enhancing substance, glutamate receptors had not been discovered, and no one knew that excess glutamate could cause brain cell death. The food industry invested millions of dollars in developing the use of MSG and hydrolyzed protein.

As always, the FDA ignored the reports and continued to support the financial interests of food producers. MSG and cancer Numerous studies have shown that MSG, free glutamate and other excitotoxins produce enormous amounts of free radicals in tissues - which are a major cause of cancer induction in tissues and organs. By consuming foods on a daily basis that are high in excitotoxic additives, we would certainly expect high levels of free radicals and lipid peroxidation in numerous tissues. - Russell Blaylock, M.D.

Disease-promoting ingredients in everyday foods and groceries are far more dangerous than terrorists Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

It's no more complicated than good old-fashioned food politics: the soft drink companies, sugar industry and mass food producers lobbied the USDA to make sure the new guidelines would not cause a decrease in the sales of their products. So the anti-sugar message was censored. The result, no doubt, is that more Americans will continue to consume added sugars, and they will increasingly be diagnosed with diabetes and obesity as a result. The food lobby, the big sugar lobby and the soft drink lobby have all blockaded what would have otherwise been good nutritional advice.

The Honest Food Guide empowers consumers with independent information about foods and health Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

So the message from the USDA at that time was very much aligned with the message of all the food producers. The grain farmers were happy because the USDA said, "Eat more corn and wheat and rice." The beef industry was happy because it said, "Eat more beef." And, of course, the milk industry was happy because everybody said, "Eat more butter, drink more milk." The message basically was, open your mouth and stuff as much as you can down that throat. That was the government position. Ben: Which was fine for it's time. Mike: Absolutely. It served a purpose.

Slow Food Nation: Why Our Food Should Be Good, Clean, And Fair Carlo Petrini See book keywords and concepts

Guaranteeing the right to travel (almost a duty for the young food producers and the gastronomes of the whole world) is another task for the network of gastronomes, weaving a system of values that will give to all the right of earthly citizenship, the right to be an active part of our "community of destiny." 4.2 The human values of the network: a new form of economy The network of gastronomes will inevitably clash with individualism, the distances between cultures, and the distances between economies.

Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back Michele Simon See book keywords and concepts

From restaurants and food producers to doctors, schools and even parents, no target is too big or small for these sharks who see dollar signs where the rest of us see dinner.17 Once again, no data is offered to back up this absurd claim, just histrionic and vitriolic language—perfectly designed for members of the media who love a good fight. The reporter made no other reference to CCF's involvement in the legislation, suggesting that the Web site attack was all he needed.

Grocery Warning: How to recognize and avoid the groceries that cause cancer, diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and other common diseases Mike Adams See book keywords and concepts

In Bad Taste: The MSG Symptom Complex MSG shown to damage the liver, the brain, the circulatory system and more With increased use of MSG by food producers, more and more people were beginning to show these symptoms. At least 50 million people in the United States show reactions to MSG, with varying degrees.

Q&A: How to unclog your arteries without surgery or drugs Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

They are created by food producers for the convenience of food producers – primarily to add shelf life and consistency to foods so that those foods not only taste great, but can sit on the shelf for months at a time without going bad. A lot of people think they know that hydrogenated oils are bad for them and they think they avoid those oils by not eating fried foods or other more obvious items. But here is where most people go wrong on this: hydrogenated oils are found in virtually every baked or fried and sometimes even frozen food product in the grocery store.

Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century Alex Steffen See book keywords and concepts

While the regulations represented progress in terms of unifying the organic requirements and bringing organics closer to the forefront of consumers' minds, they also had negative implications for small farmers and food producers. The standards essentially boiled organics down to the lowest common denominator, making it difficult for farmers who already went above and beyond that level to demonstrate the superiority of their product. Even worse, the prohibitive costs associated with obtaining USDA certification made it impossible for many small organic farmers to label their goods "organic.

If It's Not Food, Don't Eat It! The No-nonsense Guide to an Eating-for-Health Lifestyle Kelly Harford, M.C., C.N.C. See book keywords and concepts

Start thinking for yourself and become a magnet for those food producers that have something better to offer. Just from having read this you will start to notice health-oriented vendors and better food choices more often, watch and see! All well and fine, you say, if I were on my own. However, most people are immersed in a community that includes immediate and extended family members, friends, colleagues, coworkers, and various other human beings. Co-habitation and social get-togethers with these numerous other humans almost always involves food, which can indeed be a problem.

The Leptin Diet: How Fit Is Your Fat? Byron J. Richards See book keywords and concepts

They are networking together to form a community of food producers who want to produce high-quality food and make a decent living doing so. It is a battle to maintain financial dignity, a rural way of life, and provide something of true health value to the American people. It is part of our culture. It is a battle of David versus Goliath, and they need our help. Helping is easy—buy their food. Get to know your local farmers who support the cause of raising and growing food in harmony with nature. It is a lot easier to trust people when you can talk to them.

Many "natural" foods contain questionable taste additives like yeast extract Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

I believe that food companies who continue to manufacture foods containing these ingredients are misleading consumers, and you should not purchase any products from these companies, which include many of the top veggie burger and "healthy" snack food producers.

The Seven Laws of Nutrition Mike Adams See book keywords and concepts

So food producers and manufacturers certainly do not want to acknowledge the links between high fructose corn syrup and diabetes. They don't want to talk about the relationship between sugar and obesity. In fact, they will go out of their way to deny these correlations. Naturally, they don't want to be held responsible for the diseases their foods are actually causing in the population at large. But in a common sense society, doesn't it seem logical that companies should be responsible for the products they sell to consumers?

Grocery Warning: How to recognize and avoid the groceries that cause cancer, diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and other common diseases Mike Adams See book keywords and concepts

But by hydrogenating them, food producers transform them into highly toxic substances. As a consumer, you have to be especially wary of the labeling claims on oil-based foods and actually read the ingredients. Just because something is "made with canola oil" doesn't mean it's healthy: Margarine and shortening, furthermore, contain hydrogenated polyunsaturated vegetable oils.

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ABOUT THE CREATOR OF NATURALPEDIA: Mike Adams, the creator of this NaturalNews Naturalpedia, is the editor of NaturalNews.com, the internet's top natural health news site, creator of the Honest Food Guide (www.HonestFoodGuide.org), a free downloadable consumer food guide based on natural health principles, author of Grocery Warning, The 7 Laws of Nutrition, Natural Health Solutions, and many other books available at www.TruthPublishing.com, creator of the earth-friendly EcoLEDs company (www.EcoLEDs.com) that manufactures energy-efficient LED lighting products, founder of Arial Software (www.ArialSoftware.com), a permission e-mail technology company, creator of the CounterThink Cartoon series (www.NaturalNews.com/index-cartoons.html) and author of over 1,500 articles, interviews, special reports and reference guides available at www.NaturalNews.com. Adams' personal philosophy and health statistics are available at www.HealthRanger.org.