“Big Food” companies and why you should show more concern for your health
Written by April Pretz, APRN
For additional discussion regarding my lesson on Inspire Motivation Be in Motion
Lifestyle Modification let’s talk about personal responsibility.
Understanding your consumer's role for monitoring “Big Food’s” and the significance of
ingredients that go into products, is all of our jobs. Big Foods have their hands in industrial
markets, industrial farms, social marketing, and maybe even your local grocery stores.
The leading Big Food companies are steered by the top three: Kellog’s, Nestle, and General
Mills. Many food scandals are brought about by inadequacies in quality, lack of safety and illegal production. Such as did you know harvesting palm leaves and palm oil is destroying the rainforests.
We all pretty much know what drives Big Food, just like Big Pharma, its....money! The more
they sell the more they like. With over 4 billion dollars a year going into the Big Food profitability, industrial food companies are finding new ways to increase profit by lowering their expenses. They do this by using filler ingredients to replace quality ingredients. Are you aware how Big Foods have been known to add fillers like gluten and other ingredients? Do you know what enriching food means?
In my lesson on Lifestyle Modification I talk about personal responsibilities. The responsibility of knowing what you put in your body. Knowing about food, what is healthy and what is not.
Without knowledge of ingredients how do you know what you are eating and what is safe to eat! Be advised Big Food slips unknown and scientifically unsafe products into your favorite boxed and bagged foods items. All for the benefit of making a quicker, cheaper or maybe even a more addictive product. The National Institute for Health at the nhi.gov site runs an evidence based research article titled..get this “Toxicological and Teratogenic Effect of Various food additives”, this article in 2022 by Sambu suggests that “synthetic chemicals used as food additives have harmful impact on health”. Additives are chemicals that keep your food from maybe spoiling or enhancing taste or maybe even color. According to this study, Sambu suggests that health issues such as Asthma, ADHD,
heart difficulties, cancer and obesity are harmful effects from additives. And now the real kicker who eats more of these foods, our children. WOW! I mean wow our kids are starting their lives off with additives and chemicals that have a risk of contributing or being a cause for cancer, ADHD and obesity.
Some of the substances that are discussed are sodium benzoate, aspartame, tartrazine,
carrageenan, and potassium benzoate and vitamin A. And the long term use has teratogenic
risks as well as high allergy potential. Wait, you know that teratogenic means it affects embryos and fetuses right!. So this means that what you are eating in your pregnancy can already be adding risk to your unborn child's health. Some of these additives can induce histamine responses in the body and affect your mast cells which increases mucus production or leads to skin allergies and more. And did you know that benzoate derivatives can cause hemorrhage and eye tissue disorders?
Look into the chemical effects of using hexane to express almonds and nuts by the vat. Hexane is a neurotoxin used in processing natural foods. Say what! To avoid this you should only be buying cold pressed or mechanical expressed products to ensure they are safe from chemical harm. Or what about the effects of Degraded Carrageenan in almond milk. Know your ingredients and understand your labels and make sure that you are attempting to eat more natural foods, unprocessed goods and high fiber grain foods for a better you, for less inflammation, and overall better health.
The more they sell the more they make. So are you aware of how Big Food and the food
industry manipulates your food and markets you to buy their products. At times your decision to choose a food on the shelf may not actually be made solely by your own cognition. Big Food markets their products through the power of persuasion. Often relying on your ignorance or the power of suggestion. Sometimes they use a famous sponsor who stands behind the product and takes a photo, and you like that person so they are banking on you liking the product.
You have to realize that if we are using an ingredient to make a food last for years in a bag it
has to have some effect on our own preservation. What can you do to change this.....
Use natural additives and not chemicals, know your products, and educate yourself.
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