Is Our Food making us sick?
One of the things that I enjoyed in my high school chemistry class was lab days. On those days, we would experiment with different substances to see how they would react with one another. It was amazing to me that when you would put two substances together they would be fine and create a stable compound. While others mixed together could be disastrous and lead to cleaning up a mess at the lab station. So, in the end chemical combinations either create good and bad results.
Did you know that the human body has trillions of cells that are their own lab stations? Each of our cells have chemical reactions every second of the day to generate energy, which keeps us alive and functioning. For the purpose of this blog today, we won’t go into the all of the processes that our cells undertake, but it is interesting to note that it is through chemical processes that our bodies function and maintain energy.
If our bodies are powered by chemical reactions, what does it mean when we consume certain chemicals that our bodies may not know how to process? Or worse, that we consume chemicals that are toxic to our cells and create disastrous results. The best place to start is to see what exactly is in our food.
whole food versus processed food
Whole foods refer to those foods that are mainly found in your produce section at the grocery store, as well as in the meat and seafood section. As you can guess, processed food refers to all of the other foods that go through multiple processes to become a food product that we consume. Each of these foods contains its own set of chemicals; however, the difference between the two is that whole food is created in nature, while processed foods mostly are constructed by man-made chemicals (some with whole food used as the base). (In a future blog, we will be discussing the topic of organic whole food versus non-organic. So, we won’t go too deep into that today.)
The naturally derived whole food consumption provides the human body with the necessary chemicals that drive the cells to respond and create energy. However, when the processed food is consumed the cells may not recognize most of the chemicals within that food and it struggles to find nourishment to create the energy it needs. And in some cases, the processed food chemicals may actually create problems within the cells downgrading their energy production, and damaging the cells.
what’s in our processed food
In 1958, the United States Congress passed a Food Additive law that allowed for a loophole for companies to use the term GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) when it came to the chemical food additives that were used in processed foods. This allowed them to get their product to market quicker than waiting through the FDA process. At the time, the number of chemicals used in processed foods was around 800. Today, there are more than 10,000 chemicals used in process foods. And the most alarming thing to note about that is that many of them do not go through a FDA review process because of the GRAS loophole.
For instance, recently titanium dioxide was in the news for its toxicity to the body. Titanium dioxide is used as a whitener in many foods. The nanoparticles derived from titanium dioxide are actually “geneotoxic” and can damage one’s DNA, and possibly alter cell structure which may result in cancer, especially seen in the intestines and colon. Titanium dioxide is banned for consumption in Europe; however, it is used in breads, baked goods, and candies in the United States.
Another chemical called Azodicarbonamide (ACA) has been linked to cancer in lab animals. So what foods use this? It is used to bleach commercial bread dough. What else is this chemical used for? Typically, this chemical is used to form bubbles in foams and plastics like vinyl. ACA is banned in Europe, but is considered GRAS in the United States.
It appears that there is a pattern forming here that many toxic ingredients banned in other countries are still found in the United States food supply. And with it still in use in our country, it naturally begs the question as to why that is.
If you are interested in finding out more about what is in our food, one of the most popular blogs is from Vani Hari who writes the FoodBabe.com. She has written several petitions to fast food companies, processed food companies, and has gotten several toxic chemical items removed from processed foods.
What will you consume
In the end, it all comes down to the consumer and what we will choose to put into our bodies. Remember, the human body is a compilation of chemical reactions that gives it life and function. When chemicals react they can be great drivers of energy, while other reactions can lead to disastrous consequences not always envisioned. What we put into our bodies can either make us thrive, or it can make us sick.
What are you going to choose to put into your body? The egg that came from a pasture-raised chicken; or, the “egg” that many fast food companies use that actually has 4 or more ingredients in it to make it an egg. The choice is yours to make.