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It is a common assumption that the human species grows more intelligent as time progresses
We are certainly learning more about how the world works from space exploration to the smallest atoms
Our knowledge is expanding
But is all the scientific knowledge making us healthier
when it comes to food
Scientific research has done little to make us healthier as a species
But rather it has done far more to ensure the profits of massive food corporations
For centuries now humans have studied food the field of food science began in the early
1800s when English chemist William Prout proclaimed that he had identified the three pillars that make up all food
fat
protein and
carbohydrates
shortly after this discovery German scientist juice dis von Liebig added a few new minerals to the big three and
Declared that he had uncovered the mystery of animal nutrition. This was the dawn of
nutritionism an
ideology of viewing food for its nutritional value
Rather than its taste or tradition
This would be the biggest shift in the way humans ate food since the invention of Agriculture
Liebig would go on to concoct the first ever baby formula consisting of cow's milk
wheat flour malted flour and potassium bicarbonate this invention would reveal itself as a massive failure of liebig's
understanding of nutrition
For babies fed, exclusively on his formula would suffer serious health effects
regardless of this failure
Scientists were determined to break down food to its smallest elements and unlock its nutritional secrets
Enter the 20th century and the rise of the Kellogg Empire John Harvey Kellogg
Considered a diet guru at the time went on an unfounded
campaign to smear animal protein in an attempt to promote is much healthier snacks and cereals
Kellogg convinced the public that protein proliferated toxic bacteria that destroyed organs and
even spread the idea that protein caused obsessive masturbation in
the mid 1900s the focus would become fat as
Americans gain weight throughout the century a logical target was fad
Short-sighted consensus would lead us to believe that eating fat makes you fat
Science and the media would support that logic by demonizing fat and soon every aisle in the grocery
store was nonfat this or low-fat that as
you do a little more investigating you uncovered that many of the studies that demonized fat in the
1960s and 70s were funded by sugar companies
the same thing happened in the tobacco industry with physicians approved cigarettes that could miraculously
heal a sore throat clean your teeth and lead to a longer life of
Course these studies and claims were all funded by the tobacco industry
Today it's the same story
But different culprit packaged foods are now covered with health labels of no carbs and sugar free
The science is now telling us that some fats are a necessary part of a healthy diet
Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats which are found in foods like fish seeds nuts
Olive oils and avocados are a major source of energy
Help you absorb, vitamins and minerals are needed to build cell membranes
Essential for blood clotting muscle movement and hormonal balance for the last 40 years
Marketing on food labels has convinced the public that fat makes us fat which could not be farther from the truth
Yet many of us go on trusting food labels that claim to be backed up by science
What happens when we zoom out at the last two centuries and review all the nutrition science?
You'd think that with all these studies and health
revelations that the population as a whole would be much healthier if the goal of foods
Was to produce the most optimal most nutritious food wouldn't there be ultra healthy?
superhumans walking around everywhere
The fact is the exact opposite is true after
All the studies and research the Western world is more unhealthy than ever
More than 100 million people in the United States have diabetes or prediabetes
About 70% of the population is overweight and 40% is obese heart disease is the number one killer of Americans
Nutrition science may have its intentions rooted in the right place
But ultimately it has been manipulated to serve the capitalist profit machine not our health
Nutrition fads health claims and diet plans have fueled the food industry into a nine trillion dollar glutton
The bottom line is the Western diet is not good for health
if this wasn't already obvious enough
We have startling proof of just how unhealthy the Western diet is when it gets introduced to an isolated
Population like the aboriginals who for thousands of years lived on animals, they hunted and plants they could gather
Once the Western diet was introduced to them the rates of obesity heart disease
addiction and diabetes
Skyrocketed when aboriginals get off the Western diet and go back to their traditional ways of eating they lose weight
Lower their blood pressure lower cholesterol and dramatically improve their health in all areas
We should ask ourselves. How different are we from aboriginals?
What's even more concerning is the conflicting alliance between the health care system and the corporations that produce our food?
The unhealthy addictive food that is force-fed to the masses ensures that there is a steady flow of paying customers
for hospitals and drug companies in
2016 Bayer pharma acquired Monsanto the world's largest food
agriculture company for sixty three billion dollars
This merger put Bayer in control of 1/4 of the world's food supply
Why would a pharmaceutical company want to control the food supply?
This is just one example of how the large corporations don't have your best interests at heart
They only care about profit and they use
Scientific research to manipulate the population at the expense of our health
So what can you do to escape the complicated misleading maze of information surrounding food?
The answer could be an entire three-hour video on its own
But here are a few simple rules to follow
Don't eat anything. Your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food
avoid food products containing ingredients that are a
Unfamiliar B unpronounceable C more than five and number
avoid food products that make health claims
shop, the peripheries of the supermarket the middle aisles are where all the processed foods are get out of the
Supermarket whenever possible and go to farmers markets
in
closing we need to move away from
Deconstructing food into nothing more than calories and nutrients it's time
We reevaluate our relationship with food and it is a relationship
Everything in nature has a deep relationship with what it eats. This is what keeps nature's balance in
Ancient times a human's entire day would revolve around food growing it catching it
Preparing it and sharing it
Now the average person spends only an hour per day interacting with food
We want instant gratification with food and with everything today
We want our nutrition now
We want our meals instant the faster the better, but it's time
We reconsider that relationship get as close to the source of where your food comes from if you have space
Plant a garden it is time to reconnect with the source that nourishes us
You will find that this connection will lead to re connections in every aspect of your life
The information in this video comes from Michael Pollan's book in defense of food, which brilliantly breaks down
How our relationship with food has changed over the last two centuries
You can listen to the entire audio book or any other audio book on audible. Just visit audible.com
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