The Whole Food Blog

Once again, the recall of a popular weight loss product reveals that foods and drinks made with cheap ingredients create more harm than good.

All Slim-Fast beverages have been recalled by the manufacturer due to possible contamination from unhealthy bacteria, Bacillus cereus.  A notice posted on the FDA website explains, “The recall involves all Slim-Fast RTD products in cans, regardless of flavor, Best-By date, lot code or UPC number.”

Here’s more on this topic with an excerpt from an article by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger and editor of NaturalNews.com

“The probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote,” says the FDA. But they mean from the bacteria. The possibility of serious adverse health consequences from the other ingredients in Slim-Fast is a whole different matter.

By the way, if you do own some Slim-Fast (and please tell me you don’t), and if there is some Bacillus cereus swimming around in those cans, you might find it interesting to note the bacteria is the only thing alive in Slim-Fast!  That’s because Slim-Fast is a dead food. Every one of its ingredients has been pasteurized, processed, refined, cooked or otherwise destroyed of any living properties, making Slim-Fast just like all the other processed dead foods sold in grocery stores — dead and devoid of any real phytonutrients, but loaded with cheap, dead ingredients like milk and sugar.

Read the rest of the article…

So, as this reveals, you can shop for health food products that save money, but when cheap ingredients are used, your health suffers.  Is it really worth saving a couple bucks to buy products that, at best don’t work, and at worst, make you sick? Better ingredients equal greater benefits for your health and fitness.

The dietary fiber found in many of the natural foods that are loaded with complex carbohydrates plays a key role in fitness because it cannot be fully digested by the body.  Instead, it works to slow down the absorption of sugar molecules.  The results are more consistent energy and blood sugar levels.

Complex carbohydrates are found in a variety of natural foods that provide energy for the body.   However, not all carbs are created equal.  Simple carbohydrates, such as fructose, galactose, glucose, and sucrose, don’t offer the same benefits.  While some of these simple carbohydrates, like fructose, occur in natural foods, others are completely man-made and only cause blood sugar imbalances.

Simple sugars are often found in processed foods like candy, fruit juices, soda pop, white breads and pastas.  While choosing natural foods with complex carbohydrates works to regulate blood sugar and energy levels, eating processed foods full of simple sugars can contribute to diabetes and fatigue.
Produce like fruits and vegetables are a great option, as are grains, nuts, and seeds.  Other types of food that offer this starchy goodness include breads, cereals, and pasta made from whole grains.  More healthy sources of complex carbohydrates include:

•    Legumes
•    Oatmeal
•    Brown rice
•    Quinoa
•    Barley

Because of changes in farming practices, air and soil quality, and numerous other factors, even our natural foods don’t pack the nutritional punch that they once did.  That is why pre-packaged, concentrated formulas loaded with healthy complex carbohydrates can be extremely beneficial.

Network Marketing is the way that many excellent health food and drink products not sold in stores are distributed in the modern marketplace.  Unfortunately, people often confuse network marketing with “pyramid schemes” or scams, without fully understanding the concept.  If a network marketing company does not produce a product, or products of value, then it probably is a scam, or worthless scheme.  However, when anyone buys from a store, be it health food, drinks or diapers then they have participated in a network marketing pyramid “scheme” of some type.

For typical corporations, including some big health food companies, the manufacturer is at the top of the pyramid, the CEO is next, followed by shareholders, employees, advertising agencies and the actors or celebrities promoting the products.  Shipping companies, store owners, managers and employees are also part of this “network marketing scheme” while the customer is down at the bottom of the pyramid.

In a good network marketing company, the health food consumer is the distributor, the marketing agent, the advertising agency, and the store.  In fact, it’s much more of a cooperative relationship between the manufacturer, the sales rep and the consumer.  Often, the top distributors are real business partners with the health food manufacturer and understand all the processes and ingredients used.

Granted, only the idea of getting rich is what a few network companies offer, without any solid products to back up the sales force.  If the company doesn’t manufacture anything or they produce only one health food or drink product, and they don’t manufacture it themselves, then be suspicious. Unfortunately, many network marketing companies do not make their own health food products.  Instead, they use a third party manufacturer, and who really knows what’s going into those products or how they are processed?

Some health food and drink companies that use network marketing for distribution do offer real value and real business opportunities.  However, if the sales pitch is all about making millions of dollars without hard work or solid product focus, then run the other way.  Really, though, in a tough economy, network marketing can be a great way to create income without having to find a job.  Also, helping others find the best health food and drinks available today is a rewarding way to make a living.

Finding health food at fitness clubs is almost as impossible as finding health food at sporting events.  Notice all the protein bars and muscle building drinks being sold at health clubs that are made with chemicals, not foods as their primary ingredients.

The human body is not designed to digest isolated chemicals, but rather whole foods that contain proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals and fiber.  It’s not easy to find health food products made with whole food ingredients that are processed carefully enough to maintain their natural structure.  Once the nutrients are separated from the whole foods and then cooked at high temperatures, then the natural structure is gone. This means that prepackaged health foods must be processed very carefully at low temperatures before being shipped to health food stores and fitness clubs.

It is easy to understand why nutritional supplements are so popular.  Consumers now realize that much of today’s food supply is grown on depleted soil, processed with chemicals and shipped under industrial storage conditions. Unfortunately, that’s why too many health food consumers have turned to protein health drinks and synthetic supplements. The problem is that an excess of any one substance in a supplement, including vitamins, minerals, or protein, can be potentially as harmful as its deficiency. Many of those power bars at the gym or health food store have way too much protein for most people, and it is isolated protein, which is even harder on the body.

When vitamin dosages are high in a particular supplement, usually they are synthetic. Chemical sources for synthetic vitamin supplements include petrochemicals, coal, tar, sugar, and inorganic materials. Synthetic vitamins, even if they were purchased at a health food store or health club, are received by the body as drugs, and like all drugs, they can potentially disrupt normal metabolic functions, often with devastating side effects.

Eating the chemical isolates that are in all those protein bars, drinks, and vitamin pills at gyms and health food stores can create problems. Too much protein may cause irreversible kidney damage. B Vitamins in excess can cause depletion of other B vitamins, as well as toxic side effects. Too much Vitamin C increases the aging process. Recent studies indicate that ascorbic acid, the most common chemical Vitamin C at the health food store, actually impairs muscle function*.

For more information, see these resources:

*The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
(Vol 87, No 1, Jan 2008)

Are We Destroying Our Health with High Potency Vitamins
By Ori Hofmekler
(Warrior Diet, Posted July 21, 2009)

If the topic of health food is about getting healthy through nutrition while health care is about managing sickness, doesn’t it make sense to spend more money on quality nutrition than on medical insurance? Some health conscious people do spend more on quality health food in a month than they do on insurance. These are usually the healthiest individuals who need insurance coverage the least.

Others, who base their food choices on cost while ignoring nutritional value, are often those who consume the least quality nutrition. When a double cheeseburger costs less than $2, a family of 5 can eat for $10. Unfortunately, unhealthy food like that has been linked to obesity, heart disease, diabetes and high cholesterol.

Of course, food is a necessity while health food and health insurance are more like luxuries these days. No one wants to be without coverage if medical treatment becomes necessary, but everyone wants to avoid ever using it. Food, on the other hand is something that people use every day.  If everyone consumes quality health food, that could be a deciding factor in the level of health for Americans.

The problem is that if we all get healthy, then how will insurance and drug companies make money? What if we need fewer medical treatments and drugs? Would insurance companies focus on paying more for preventative care such as health food, rather than medical tests and procedures? Would pharmaceutical manufacturers focus on creating health food instead of medicine? The only way to know for sure is to either get sick and use the insurance coverage, or buy the best health food and see how life develops.

After buying products at the health food store people are often frustrated when they don’t get healthy.  Many times the problem stems from consumers trying to tweak one aspect of their health while another element is tilted out of balance.  The body’s systems are meant to function in harmony with each other and when one nutrient overpowers another this balance is affected.

Really, the balance of healthy nutrients is the most important reason for buying health food and should always be a consideration.  But, to take it a step further, the body needs to be nourished and cleansed on a daily basis in order to achieve this ultimate healthy balance.

What products at the health food store nourish, cleanse and balance the body?

• Healthy drinks – These should be loaded with natural antioxidants, not isolated vitamins.  They should be all natural, not artificially flavored, sweetened or infused with various forms of sugar, like high fructose corn syrup.  Beware of candy-colored sport drinks and vitamin waters at the health food store as these only fill the body up with more useless junk that needs to be cleansed.  With the right combination of natural ingredients, some healthy drinks cleanse fats and waste from the body much more efficiently than even plain water.

• Health food for proper nourishment – This should include a wide variety of whole foods from nature, not pasteurized, artificially flavored or overly processed foods.  For starters, forget about getting healthy with fake meat products at the health food store.  These are typically loaded with isolated soy, preservatives, and other chemicals that create the need for more cleansing.  Don’t be afraid of prepackaged health food if it is properly processed under low heat to maintain the whole food complex of natural ingredients.

In general, when considering health food options, it is best to consume fewer calories, and no artificial ingredients or isolated nutrients.  Also, it’s a good idea to watch out for excess protein in those powder meal replacement formulas at the health food store.  Most of those products contain enough protein for serious athletes, but not for the average person.  Excess protein causes liver damage and creates more waste that needs to be cleansed in order for the body to reach its own natural balance.

Learning how to nourish, cleanse and balance with the right health food choices is an efficient way to achieve a naturally healthy body.