Ebony's Pearls

'Shrooms!
Originally uploaded by nodigio

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1711763,00.html

I’ve known for decades that people who drink diet sodas, and eat “sugar-free” foods gain weight and keep it on faster than people who don’t. I am always gobsmacked when I read reports supporting this because the reporters always seem so surprised at these findings. Fake sugar is bad for your health. It makes your body store fat instead of burning it off, it messes up your metabolism so your body loses its internal balances and checks, and it keeps you feeling hungry so you eat and drink more – causing weight gain.

Plus, labels on “sugar-free” and “fat-free” foods that have been artificially lowered in fat and sugar content are misleading because the fine print shows the foods aren’t necessarily low in fats or calories.

Artificial food makes the body hungry.

Real food satisfies. It fills people up, provides a balance of fats, sugars, and other essential nutrients in forms the body easily metabolizes, and satisfies their taste and texture cravings. It’s healthier because it’s not loaded with high fructose corn syrup, extra salt, questionable preservatives, soy, and enhancers that shouldn’t be in the food.

Honestly, why do food manufacturers need to add soy to peanut butter? Why do they need to add wheat and soy to garlic salt? Why do they need to add salt, soy, and wheat to canned corn? I picked up a can of tomatoes the other day and the ingredient list was longer than some of my stew recipes – for a can of just plain tomatoes. Not tomato sauce or a tomato blend like the “chili ready tomatoes” or “pizza ready tomatoes”; just plain tomatoes.

People desperate to lose weight will grasp at foods labeled “lo-cal”, “lo-fat”, “sugar-free”, “fat-free”, and other such things in the hopes they will lose weight if they eat them instead of real food, because the media has carried out an extensive demonizing campaign against real food. That campaign began with all sorts of food scares, the “you’re gonna die if you eat (fill in the blank)”. Tomatoes were touted for a while as a poison. Potatoes are regularly demonized, as is bread, meat, spinach, butter, whole milk, and a plethora of other foods. Scientists released studies claiming these and other foods caused cancer, or heart disease, or contributed to a variety of other diseases and early deaths in people. The advertising agencies weren’t far behind in supporting shaky premature science reports.

The demonization continues even to this day. Have you seen the commercials starring the “McButtertons”? Talk about a blatant demonization of real butter while pushing an oil product full of artificial colors, enhancers, and chemicals that bear no resemblance to real food!

Eat real food.