The Standard American Diet (SAD)
Processed foods, preservatives, additives and genetically modified foods have become the basis of our diet in the western world. We have become a fast food nation, and the disease is spreading worldwide. The fast food industry has grown so large that it now affects everything from farming practices to diabetes rates, yet most of us are unaware of the worldwide consequences of the Whopper and the Big Mac.
Just what goes into that Whopper anyway? Have you ever seen an ingredients list? Me either. I mean, I understand that there are basically eight ingredients: burger, sesame seed bun, tomato, lettuce, mayonnaise, ketchup, pickles and onions. What I want to know is this: Just what do they put in these ingredients? Are the burgers all beef? If not, what is in them? What is in the mayonnaise that makes the little bit they put on worth 150 calories?
Gone are the days of the old “Mom and Pop” stores, where you could buy canned peaches that were canned by your neighbor and the butcher where you could get a good look at your meat before you purchased it. The local restaurant has all of their supplies trucked in and the cooks have no say in the matter (unless your local restaurant is rated a four-star). Most of the chain restaurants have everything so prepackaged that we don’t really need cooks anymore, just someone to warm the food up.
There are over 100 different varieties of potatoes, yet most potato farmers only grow red and russet, with russet in the lead by a length. Why is this? Russet is the only potato McDonald’s uses… and Burger King… and KFC… and frozen food companies, etc. and red is the favorite of gourmet restaurants. I thought variety was the spice of life. Besides the fact that the fast food industry has reduced the variety of potatoes now grown in this country, they also process these potatoes beyond what you or I would do in our own kitchen. The ingredients of Burger King’s French fries are as follows: Potatoes, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Modified Potato Starch, Rice Flour, Potato Dextrin, Salt, Leavening (Disodium Dihydrogen Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Dextrose, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate added to preserve natural color. Why do potatoes need leavening? Just what is Xanthan Gum (it is a thickening agent used as a substitute for wheat gluten) and what is it doing to our bodies? (Some people are allergic to xanthan gum, with symptoms of intestinal gripes and diarrhea. Workers exposed to xanthan gum dust exhibit nose and throat irritation as well as work-related illness, with symptoms becoming more prevalent with increasing exposure, according to Wikipedia.)
Ever wonder what goes into a milk shake from one of these fast food joints? Here is a list of ingredients from Burger King, found here: (http://www.bk.com/Nutrition/PDFs/ingredients.pdf)
MILK SHAKE
Milkfat and Nonfat Milk, Sugar, Sweet Whey, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Natural† and Artificial Vanilla Flavor, Guar Gum, Mono- and Diglycerides, Cellulose Gum, Sodium Phosphate, Carrageenan. †Natural flavors from plant sources. Contains Milk.