Food For Thought

I truly believe that the world is going through a shift of consciousness right now. People are becoming more aware of what is in their foods, even though the food industry is trying their absolute best to keep the wool over the populations eyes.

It’s extremely hard to break away from food beliefs when the market constantly bombards us with the false advertisement of things we are told are healthy. Gluten Free Fruit Roll-Ups, Fat-Free Yogurt, and Low-Sodium Soups. If you stop to think about it for a second, why would Fruit Roll Ups contain gluten? Yogurt is a great source of healthy fats for your body, and our body requires sea salt to conduct many of its important daily functions.

Unfortunately, it is not only these large food corporations that are pushing these catch phrase products on us. A lot of health professionals, the very people we rely on to educate us about safe and healthy eating give the ‘Kids Nutrition Seal’ to many processed products, “A great source of [Insert Vitamin Here] for kids.” Funny, because you know what else is a great source of [Insert Vitamin Here] for Kids? Broccoli, kale, eggs, and salmon just to name a few. Grocery stores should start an initiative to put this ‘Stamp of Approval’ over every vegetable and unprocessed food product in the store.

Soda companies are also working with fitness workers and health professionals to market their products as healthy snack alternatives. When you look up the definition of snack it reads, “A small amount of food eaten between meals,” correct me if I am mistaken, but soda pop is a beverage. You wouldn’t tell someone to drink a fresh squeezed orange juice as a snack alternative.

These foods may contain some items that fall under the healthy nutritional profile, but what else is in these foods that are being promoted? Chemical processing, artificial sugars, preservatives, and many more ingredients that are bodies do not recognize. Can these said attributes possibly counteract the toxic effects from these other ingredients? I would strongly debate not.

With this kind of misleading information the population will suffer greatly from nutritional deficiencies. When we stop to ask ourselves if we think either of the above products are healthy for us most of us know the answer to be no. But yet, someone in charge of education on healthy products told us so, who are we to argue with that?

With rising numbers of people with nutritional deficiencies I think it is important for people to consider adding supplementation to their diet. I don’t recommend that people start using supplementation in the place of healthy food choices, but as an insurance policy for their bodies. It is important that you go to your local vitamin store to find clean, natural, and organic supplements free of unnecessary fillers and extras.

Canadians do not on average consume large amounts of seafood. Seafood is not to just be considered and alternative to for non-meat enthusiasts but should be seen as a great source of essential fatty acids, and vitamin D, which are crucial to the human body. Lack of vitamin B from a healthy diet and green vegetables can easily lead to deficiencies, which can be known to play a part in depression and other health concerns.

I would urge anyone who may fall into the marketing trap, to ask questions, do your own research, and follow your intuition about which foods your think are healthy. Use the old rule of thumb “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”