The hidden ingredients that make food more appealing to our taste
buds are added to a large percentage of all heavily processed foods. The 3 main
ingredients (fat, sugar, and salt) are known to stimulate our taste buds and
make us want more. They propagate an addictive cycle many people struggle with.
However whole foods, with their amino acids, vitamins, minerals, glucose and
fatty acids packed with fiber, do not propagate the same addictive problem.
Whole foods represent foods that retain their natural
composition as well as contain no artificial additives or preservatives and
have gone through little or no processing. Whole foods contain vitamins,
minerals, water, fatty acids, amino acids, carbohydrates, fiber and much more.
Each whole food, be it an apple, banana or quinoa, contains more nutrients than
we are presently familiar with.
Our bodies have been in close-fitting relationship with
whole foods for as long as we have been on this earth. We require the full range
nutrition for ideal functioning, which only whole foods can provide.
Processed foods have their natural composition altered in
some way. Foremost, not all processing is unhealthy. Light processing like
cooking, freezing, blending, soaking, fermenting or drying can be reasonably
healthy if done using whole foods and avoiding heavily processed ingredients.
Heavily processed foods can be extracted from whole foods
(e.g. oils, sugars, MSG, food dyes, extracted proteins, other food stabilizing
additives, etc.) or artificial sources. Most food processing also involves
natural or artificial agents (salt, sugar, sodium, etc.) to preserve freshness
and stop spoiling. Solid fats and added sugars are known to stimulate our taste
buds; however they provide nothing but empty calories.
We live in a culture where many no longer recognize what is
real whole food and what is an artificial product made of its parts. We overeat
on convenient foods, not comprehending that we have overeaten on fats, sugars
or salt, which create nutritional imbalance along the way.
We forget that individual nutrients are not our foe, but the
form in which they come from and thus, their surplus is. These heavily
processed foods and drinks promote weight gain and obesity throughout the
world. This leads to an increase our
risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain types of cancers.
We can’t always avoid heavily processed foods, however
having whole foods as a staple is the surest way to re-claim not only our
waistline, but also our well-being.
~ J. Lynn
