Ker-Plunk talks fat: an informative piece from Andy
3 August 2005If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
What happens when marketers make nutritional choices for you?
by Andy Plunk
What happens when advertisers try and choose what you eat? You get fat, have higher rates of cancer and cardiovascular disease and likely live a shorter and more painful life. All as a result of eating foods that are completely contrary to what nature intended. Health costs and insurance premiums are soaring and the government has to make hard choices about whose healthcare they will fund. This should all sound pretty familiar as it is what is happening in the U.S. today. Our diets arent completely to blame: sedentary jobs and inactive leisure time certainly contribute to our collective health woes. Any attempt to better your health should start by taking a hard look at what you eat. Examine the nutritional content on the back of prepared foods and youll see that food manufacturers generally do not have your best interests at heart. I know its easy to demonize groups and point fingers but lets face facts: food manufactures are running businesses and most of them will choose the financial bottom line over your health. The fat-free craze is a good example. Lots of foods are marketed as low-fat or fat-free but this is not entirely factual.
Early low fat pioneers realized that removing fat often resulted in products that tasted like dirt. Taste is King and if no one wants to eat it the food you make soon you will be out of business. Food makers needed a compromise between consumer health and the financial bottom line. The seductive marketability of their products lay in removing the fat but they needed a flavor replacement; some substance to maintain flavor. More often than they resorted to extra salt or extra sugar. High fructose corn syrup and excess sodium were used repeatedly to create taste where there was none. Another wily food science trick was the use of partially hydrogenated oils - also called trans-fatty acids. These fats receive a chemical treatment so they will stay solid at room temperature. They are completely man-made and are not found in nature (though small amounts of trans-fat are produced by the GI tract of cows) The procedure used to produce trans-fat increases shelf life and improves the taste of many prepared foodsyour canned biscuits and cake frosting are fluffier and your crackers are crunchier. Unlike most other fats, our bodies have absolutely no need for trans-fat and in fact consuming them causes a great deal of harm. The problem is even worse for people who eat fast food often or like cheap frozen dinners.
There are all kinds of health problems associated with trans-fats. They have a negative effect on blood lipid levels, increase bad LDL cholesterol and decrease good HDL cholesterol. The Harvard School of Public Health estimated in 1994 that eating excessive amounts of trans-fat could be linked to 30,000 premature annual deaths due to heart disease. The data was pretty convincing but lobbying firms from the food industry kept trans-fat off nutrition labels until 2003. The lobbyists were able to legislate a phase in period that prevented implementation of truth in labeling until January 1, 2006. If you want more information about the health risks of trans-fat, the Harvard School of Public Health has an excellent summary with all the science you could ever want: check out - http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/reviews/transfats.html
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I was really impressed with the lean, functional physiques of the top dancers on this American Idol spinoffI have long admired the fat free physiques of Astaire, Kelly and all the lovely leggy top ladies of dance. The cardio output they exert in practice is off the scale and it shows in the physiquesplus I love the grace and flow of dance mastersgreat to see youngsters carrying along the timeless tradition, Ill be watching tonight. Check it out!
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