By Al Sears, MD

You do your best to feed your children nutritious food, but there’s a problem. The so-called healthy choices may not be as good for you as you’re made to believe.

Nearly all prepackaged “low fat,” “low carb,” and “heart healthy” meals lining the shelves at the market are just shadows of real food … with literally no nutritional value.

Yet we’re buying them in droves. In 2006 alone, the combined sales of just the top four brands of diet foods reached nearly $2 billion!

Corporate Fat Cats Know…
You Couldn’t Stand Their Food Without Tricks

Most people think flavor is what food tastes like. But that just isn’t the case.

The science that goes into flavor-making is quite advanced. Chemists called flavorists create artificial flavors, and companies pay them a lot of money to do it.

Companies need to add flavor because if their food doesn’t taste good, no one will buy it.

Let’s thing about what it takes to prepare a prepackaged “low-fat” roast beef dinner.

First, a factory processes the beef to remove the fat. While they’re at it, they add chemicals to make sure it doesn’t spoil. Then they add more chemicals … in the form of food colors … to make it look more appealing.

Next, they sterilize the food and cook it to excess to ensure there is no risk of bacterial contamination. Then it’s tossed through handling and packaging machinery and sent to another machine where it’s ultimately frozen.

With the extreme heat, machine handling and extended exposure to air, more vital nutrients are lost with each passing second.

It’s a far cry from the roast beef dinner I used to eat on the farm when I was growing up. I’d ride with my dad to pick up a fresh roast from the butcher. Then my mom would cook it. The only processing it went through was slow roasting in the oven.

But a factory-prepared dinner – before added colors and flavors – would taste (and smell) bland, lifeless and sterile.

That’s where the flavorist comes to the rescue. You see, he’s created a delicious new “roast beef” flavor. And it’s very convincing.

If you were to close your eyes and smell their carefully crafted clear liquid potion, you’d swear someone had been slow-cooking a perfectly seasoned pot roast all day in a crock-pot.

One micro-drop of this stuff and you’ll think that mechanized, frozen roast beef dinner is as good as Mom used to make. But it’s all a dangerous trick. These foods are chemical weapons in a box, plain and simple.

Could That Yummy “Butter” Smell in
Microwave Popcorn Give You Lung Disease?

The next time you take a whiff from a bag of microwave popcorn, think about this.

Hundreds of workers at popcorn plants that dealt with this butter flavoring have contracted a rare, irreversible, deadly lung disease called bronchiolitis obliterans. It’s referred to as “popcorn lung.”

Popcorn lung is caused by inhaling butter flavoring made from diacetyl.[i] Diacetyl is that yellow liquid you may mistake for actual butter in your microwave popcorn. It smells like it, tastes like it, and it even looks like the real thing

This problem is not just affecting factory workers. There have been a couple of cases of popcorn lung in consumers, as well.[ii] These cases were of people who consumed large quantities of microwave popcorn. But, microwave popcorn has only been around since 1983. It’s difficult to say what the long-term exposure will bring.

Plus, it’s hard to tell if others have been affected. The disease is so rare it is often misdiagnosed – even in those who work in popcorn factories – as asthma, bronchitis, emphysema or pneumonia.[iii] And the symptoms are progressive with gradual shortness of breath, fatigue, wheezing, and coughing. You may not know you have it until you need a lung transplant.

Over the years, the FDA has banned 23 artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives in the U.S. Most were deemed unsafe after years and years of human consumption. It took 50 years for the FDA to ban the food dye orange #1 when it was shown to cause organ damage.

Still, several food additives are the target of independent food-safety organizations today, including red dye #3, saccharin, sodium nitrate/nitrite, potassium bromate, aspartame and others.[iv]

Take a look at the chart:

Ingredient	Used in	Caution
Blue 1	Beverages, candy, baked goods	Suggestions of a small cancer risk.
Blue 2	Pet food, beverages, candy	The largest study suggested, but did not prove, that this dye caused brain tumors in male mice.
Green 3	Candy, beverages	A 1981 industry-sponsored study gave hints of bladder cancer.
Red 3	Cherries in fruit cocktail, candy, baked goods	The evidence that this dye caused thyroid tumors in rats is "convincing," according to a 1983 review committee report requested by FDA.
Yellow 6	Beverages, sausage, baked goods, candy, gelatin	Animal tests indicate it causes tumors of the adrenal gland and kidney. In addition, small amounts of several carcinogens contaminate Yellow 6.
Sodium Nitrite, Sodium Nitrate	Bacon, ham, frankfurters, luncheon meats, smoked fish, corned beef	Several studies have linked, but don’t prove, consumption of cured meat and nitrites by children, pregnant women, and adults with various types of cancer.
Potassium Bromate	White flour, bread and rolls	Causes cancer in animals. The tiny amounts of bromate that may remain in bread pose a small risk to consumers. Banned virtually worldwide except in Japan and the United States.
Saccharin	Diet, no-sugar-added products, soft drinks, sweetener packets	Animal studies link to cancer of the bladder, uterus, ovaries, skin, blood vessels, and other organs. Increases the potency of other cancer-causing chemicals.
Aspartame	"Diet" foods, including soft drinks, drink mixes, gelatin desserts, low-calorie frozen desserts, packets	Brain tumors in rats; lymphomas and leukemias, and mammary (breast) cancer
Acesulfame-K	Baked goods, chewing gum, gelatin desserts, diet soda	Two rat studies suggest that the additive might cause cancer. In addition, large doses of acetoacetamide, a breakdown product, have been shown to affect the thyroid in rats, rabbits and dogs.
Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA)	Cereals, chewing gum, potato chips, vegetable oil	U.S. Department of Health and Human Services considers BHA to be “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.”
Propyl Gallate	Vegetable oil, meat products, potato sticks, chicken soup base, chewing gum	The best studies on rats and mice were peppered with suggestions (but not proof) that this preservative might cause cancer.

Propyl Gallate

	Vegetable oil, meat products, potato sticks, chicken soup base, chewing gum	The best studies on rats and mice were peppered with suggestions (but not proof) that this preservative might cause cancer.
Olestra (Olean)	Lay's Light Chips, Pringles Light chips	Diarrhea and loose stools, abdominal cramps, flatulence and other adverse effects.
Trans Fats	Stick margarine, crackers, fried restaurant foods, baked goods, icing, microwave popcorn	Promotes heart disease.

Source: Center for Science in the Public Interest

Bottom line: It’s better to be safe than sorry. Avoid these packaged chemical weapons as much as possible, and concentrate on getting your nutrition from real foods.

Three Ways to Eat Real Food

Power Up Your Metabolism with Protein – Your body stores fat when it doesn’t get the fuel and nutrition it really needs. And your body relies on protein as the main source of fuel for every function in the body.

So when you don’t get enough, your body thinks that it’s starving and stores fat to use as fuel.

Eating more protein will tell your metabolism that it doesn’t need fat.

I recommend grass-fed beef. Traditional beef is grain-fed. This artificial diet makes the meat harmful because it changes the composition of fats in the animal.

Another great protein choice is eggs. They have every amino acid you need in perfect ratio. Eggs are the most complete source of protein you can eat. And contrary to popular myth, they don’t cause heart problems. They help prevent them because they contain “good fats.”

Eat the Right Fats – Eating the right kind of fat is critical to feeling your best. Fats of all types play vital roles in nearly every function in the body.

Here are the fats you need, and the ones you need to avoid:

• Eat More Omega-3s – Omega-3s protect you from cardiovascular disease. Eat plenty of fish, avocado, walnuts and olives. Cod liver oil, Sacha Inchi oil and nuts are also great sources.

• Eat More Animal Fats – Saturated fats are not only less dangerous than the media would have you believe, they’re also vital to your health. They help your body absorb calcium8 and boost your immune system among many other things.

In fact, if you deprive yourself of animal fats, you’re robbing yourself of what you need to absorb vitamins.

The best sources of saturated fats are grass-fed beef, raw milk and raw butter.

Choose Whole Foods – A whole food is a food that you can pick right out of the ground or off of the tree and eat it. It doesn’t require any processing or packaging. Think apples rather than applesauce. Walnuts are a great whole food. Just be sure to look for organic fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Or, better yet, plant your own garden, and really take charge of the food you eat!

***

Dr. Al Sears, MD is a board-certified clinical nutrition specialist. His practice, Dr. Sears' Health & Wellness Center in Royal Palm Beach, Fla., specializes in alternative medicine. He is the author of seven books in the fields of alternative medicine, anti-aging, and nutritional supplementation, including The Doctor's Heart Cure. His proven anti-aging strategies for building a vibrant, disease-free life can be found at www.alsearmd.com. You'll learn how to stop Father Time without giving up the foods you love.

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[i] FG van Rooy, et al, “Bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome in chemical workers producing diacetyl for food flavorings,” American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2007

[ii] Reuters UK, “FDA to probe popcorn link in man's lung disease,” Sept. 5, 2007

[iii] U.S. Dept. of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration, “Hazard Communication Guidance for Diacetyl and Food Flavorings Containing Diacetyl”

[iv] Center for Science in the Public Interest, http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm#Food%20additive