Since our ancestors foraged for food in the forest with other herbivores [2 million years ago] have the grocery products bagged and boxed on shelves in the cereal aisle, the cracker-cookie aisle and chips aisle become an example of progress for those living on Eden/Earth, today?
We are what we eat and since the late 1950s two major shifts appeared, almost simultaneously. Television began to alter home entertainment and how we got our news of the day. With that - previously recognizable food morphed into convenient frozen TV dinners and even faster products like Pop Tarts and dry breakfasts in a bowl - just add milk.
Snacking in developed nations is almost a pastime that has evolved into our modern-day foraging…Why is that? Should we blame television, or personal computers or video games? How about all of them, because long before Covid humans of Eden/Earth had become as sedentary as tree stumps.
Now, I’m not just picking on Kellogg’s, or Post or General Mills, or Nabisco or Lays or Swanson’s or Sara Lee, or Hostess or…or…or… We know who the culprits are, but truly the fault is in our own ‘stars’. We open our mouths and insert the stuff that has made 41% of the adults in this nation overweight/obese. Worse yet, it’s become generational with 39 million children under the age of five and 340 million children aged 6 to 19 also overweight/obese!
Besides obesity, I have another health concern researchers might investigate. Why has Alzheimer’s become so widespread so quickly? It was first described in 1906, but since the mid 1970s it has taken off and showing up not just in seniors, but younger and younger adults. Could it be the additives, preservatives and dyes in so much of our prepared food?
Moving on…’Fruit’ Loops was first introduced in 1959. However, since the only accurate part of the product’s name was that it was in the shape of a ‘loop’ it was re-released, then renamed in 1963 as Froot Loops. Over the decades since - breakfast products have exploded to several dozen such as Count Chocula, Lucky Charms, Franken Berry etc…from the original six. Rice Krispies [Snap-Crackle-Pop] actually made from rice, Corn Flakes - actually made from corn, Cheerios and Puffed Wheat - actually made from wheat, and two breakfast cereals to cook like Oatmeal and Cream of Wheat.
If the early Egyptians had only known about degerminated seeds they could have been included in all those pyramids. Centuries from now perhaps archaeologists will discover our degerminated boxed and bagged food, still shelf-stable. Hmmm…
Besides making our ‘food’ more visually presentable with such common dye additives as Red #40 and Yellow #5 and Blue #1 and Yellow #6 - there’s another very interesting additive, this one for flavor - Maltodextrin. The problem with Maltodextrin is that it has an even higher glycemic index [GI] than table sugar. So, maltodextrin causes a sharp spike, in our blood sugar shortly after we eat any food that contains it. A sudden rise in blood glucose can be particularly dangerous for people with diabetes or insulin resistance. [No mystery here why the descendants of Adam and Eve can’t fit in airline seats. Obviously, we need more apple trees!]
I’m puzzled as to the need for so many artificially added-extras in our diet when refrigeration and transportation is swift, so available and reliable. Are factories making our ‘food-products’ several years ahead of when they are stocked on store shelves?
Anyway, I’d be remiss if I didn’t also note that makers of the breakfast ‘cereals’ also include vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin C, B6, B2, B1, B12, D3, folic acid, reduced iron and niacinamide…Though, they pretty well need to include these or the cardboard box they come would have more nutritional value…
Most crackers, packaged cookies, chips and whatever those puffed orange ‘cheese’ things are, contain besides dyes and ‘shelf-stable’ additives, may also have one of the hundreds of FDA approved inorganic compounds like Trisodium phosphate (TSP). Soluble in water it produces an alkaline solution. TSP is used as a cleaning agent, lubricant, stain remover, degreaser -and- food additive. [Apparently fine for human consumption in small doses.] Apparently…
My grandmother had a baking day every Saturday and she knew every ingredient that went into her banana bread, her peanut butter cookies, chocolate cupcakes and apple pie. Every Saturday morning was an event. Anyone who stopped by joined in to visit, to help and have fun, even the youngest could beat eggs. There was no chemical reaction to her food other than what the oven provided. She also discovered that if she eliminated salt entirely from all desserts then she could cut the amount of sugar [in almost any recipe] by half. [Way to go Gram!]
Sad but true, what this blog covers - look at any aboriginal groups that give up their original diet and adopt ours ... over weight, and type 2, and all sorts of illness . Doesn't that make enough of an impact - great scam foods, (Food Companies) that make you ill and a medical system( Big Pharma) designed to have a pill ready for that... amazing. And three corporations own the complete corporate loop Vanguard, State-Street, and Blackrock. Keep up the great work Sherrie