Are You Also Being Deceived into Eating Fake

[COUNTRYBUMPKIN]

Here is the latest blog from Dr. Hyman............


Hello Lynn,

Should we buy food with health claims on the
label?

These days, we are seeing more and more health
claims that go beyond the usual. These include
"trans fat-free," "gluten-free," "heart
healthy," and foods spiked with vitamins, such
as my new favorite: Diet Coke Plus, with
vitamins and minerals.

We see whole-grain Pop Tarts and Tyson chicken
with misleading labels such as "raised without
antibiotics." We see natural sweeteners called
Sweet Fiber. We see whole-grain Cheerios that
are still full of sugar.

Now you can get "health food" like salads at
McDonald's, but with salad dressings that have
more calories than a Big Mac.

And we also see antioxidant-spiked junk food and
ginkgo-spiked energy drinks.

What should we make of all these marketing
claims? Do they provide any benefit?

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To see the quick, 5-minute video version of this
on my blog, go to:

==> http://www.ultrawellness.com/blog

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In Michael Pollan's new book "In Defense of
Food," he rails against the notion of
"nutritionism," the idea that we can single out
nutrients from whole foods, add them back to
processed food, or take them as supplements, and
achieve health benefits.

His point is very well taken.

We must be very careful to avoid the marketing
ploys of the food industry, which wants to trick
us into eating more junk food by putting it in
friendlier packaging.

Make no mistake.

These foods are still wolves in sheep's
clothing.

We need to be very wary of any food that comes
in a package, box, or a can. That is not to say
that there are not some good whole foods that
are available in boxes, packages, or cans.

However, most of what is available in the
marketplace is simply not real food.

A recent patient of mine is a food scientist who
works for a large food industry company. His job
is to invent and create new foods in the
laboratory by mixing food and chemicals to
create certain tastes and flavors that mimic
real food or that stimulate appetite and satisfy
our need for various tastes.

Think of these as "Frankenfoods."

My patient became quite sick from handling these
compounds and chemicals everyday. I have been
working hard to get him to not only stop eating
processed food, but also to stop playing with
it.

He wore a funny T-shirt to my office, which
listed the top 10 reasons to major in food
science, a scientific discipline that teaches
people how to invent foods for the food
industry.

According to his shirt, here are the top 10
reasons to become a food scientist:

1. Eat ice cream for breakfast and get credit
for it.

2. We are in it for the dough.

3. Grocery shopping is research instead of a
chore.

4. We get to eat the results of our research
project.

5. Because hairnets are a fashion statement.

6. Because we know what is really in your hot
dogs.

7. Not only do we know how to drink beer, we can
make it.

8. Cheese, yogurt, and buttermilk -- who says we
are not cultured?

9. As long as you are eating, we will be
working.

10. We have not stopped playing with our food
and now we are playing with yours.

***********************************************

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He gave me an industry trade journal called
"Food Business News," which I found very
enlightening.

I was shocked to read the very careful and
deliberate marketing ploys used to gain a
foothold in our increasingly health conscious
market.

The advice to the food industry was clear:
Modify packaging and ingredients in food just
slightly to give the impression of health, while
continuing to provide poor-quality, nutrient-
poor, calorie-dense foods.

For example, there was an ad for Food Ingredient
Solutions, a company that provides new types of
food coloring. This allows manufacturers to
color junk food with natural pigments, which can
replace the artificial coloring used in tablets,
coatings, pan confections, rubs, sauces, and
more.

Who are they fooling?

Tyson Foods cleverly labels their chicken as
"produced without antibiotics that impact
antibiotic resistance in humans," meaning they
did use antibiotics -- just not ones that cause
problems in humans.

Conagra, which has been losing money, is
creating a food line called Healthy Choice
Steamers.

Another article documented a company called
Fitch Ratings who said that innovation in the
food industry will continue in areas of
"perceived" health and wellness, convenience,
and ethnic products.

Read that carefully.

"Perceived" health and wellness -- not actual
health and wellness.

As long as you make people think they are
getting something healthy, that is good enough -
- even if it is the same old junk food.

Other new junk foods include allergy-free junk
foods and energy drinks. There was also an
article about Lean Pockets. This company now
offers whole-grain pocket sandwiches, which are
still full of chemicals and processed food, but
now have a few more flecks of fiber to give the
illusion of a health food.

There is even an ad for something called Vegi
Pure, a compound designed for cholesterol
reduction that puts plant phytosterols in sugary
junk food!

So what's the bottom line?

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As I have always said, if it has a label, do not
eat it. And as Michael Pollan says, "Eat food
[meaning real, whole food]. Not too much. Mostly
plants."

We have to be very cautious as consumers to
recognize label claims for health benefits on
processed foods, which sprinkle miniscule, non-
therapeutic amounts of healthful ingredients
into otherwise poor-quality, high-calorie,
nutrient-poor foods, giving us the illusion that
we are doing something good for ourselves.

I encourage you to eat food that comes from a
farmer's field and not a food chemist's
laboratory -- and you will not have to worry
about all these functional food claims.

Here is what to eat:

1. Whole, real food such as vegetables, fruits,
beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains, lean animal
protein like small wild fish and poultry, and
whole omega-3 eggs.

2. Small amounts of grass-fed, antibiotic- and
hormone-free beef or lamb.

That is it.

Food scientists tend to make us think that we
need all these special ingredients in foods to
stay healthy.

Bu they are just extracting them from real,
whole foods -- so why not start with the whole
food in the first place?

Now I'd like to hear from you...

Have you sampled any of these "Frankenfoods"?

What did you think of them?

Why do you think the food industry is trying to
make junk food seem healthier?

What do you think we as consumers should do about
this?

Please let me know your thoughts by posting a
comment on my blog at:

==> http://www.ultrawellness.com/blog

Just look for the post at the top titled:

"Are You Also Being Deceived into Eating Fake
Frankenfoods?"

To your good health,

Mark Hyman, M.D.

P.S. For more information on this and other
blogs, please go to
http://www.ultrawellness.com/blog.

[Budgetmom]

Wow! Thanks for this article.