Debunking the Junk Food Craze of Today

We see junk food everywhere- at gas stations, grocery stores, schools, work, on television and even on billboards as we innocently drive home from work or school.  Not a day will go by where we are not exposed to junk food.  Junk food, although immediately satisfying, as the saying goes “a moment on the lips and a lifetime on the hips,” has negative consequences over time and may not seem so appetizing after all.

According to researchers from McMaster University, the ratio of protein to carbohydrates in your diet will determine your waist-to-hip ratio.  Most junk food is carbohydrate-rich and protein deficient.  According to The Journal of Circulation, women and men ages 45-79 that had the highest waist-to-hip ratio also had the highest risk for diseases including heart disease and most of them reported eating junk food on a regular basis. 

We know that junk food is not good for us and when we consume junk food, our body gives us negative signs just like a car if it is not fed the right substances.  Your body gives you hints similar to that of an engine light on the dashboard of your car being turned on in the event of engine trouble.  Junk food will present itself in symptoms such as chronic fatigue , acne, rashes, digestive problems and mood disturbances like depression.  The long term side effects of improper eating can cause chronic inflammation in the body that contributes to almost every disease state.  Weight gain is the equivalent to that of an engine light going on in the car signaling you that you are on your way to becoming a statistic for heart disease, cancer and diabetes, similar to eventual engine failure in a car.

Now, if a light turned on in your car telling you that you need to fill up some gas, check your engine oil or breaks, you would certainly take your car in to be fixed, whatever the cost in order to prevent the vehicle from incurring engine failure or further damage.  Why not do the same for your body?

Our everyday food supply contains artificial colors, flavours, sweeteners, preservatives, pesticides and other chemicals.  Furthermore, our food supply consists of hidden and delayed allergens that most people are not aware of as it can sometimes take four minutes to four days for the body to react.  Lastly, our food supply is plagued with inflammatory foods that can accumulate and damage our body’s metabolic processes, making us inefficientast fighting various diseases.

Other research from high profile institutions such as Stanford and Harvard have shown that people who eat more vegtables not only reduce their risks for various cancers, but other inflammatory diseases such as heart disease and start by eating a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables.  Look for these colors- green, yellow-orange, red, blue-purple and white- as the more colorful fruits and vegetables you eat, the wider the range of nutrients ingested.  Each color offers something unique to your diet, such as disease-fighting phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals as well as fibre that all work synergistically at supporting a good healthy foundation for your diet.  Phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals may act as antioxidants that work at deactivating cancer causing toxins and fibre works by suporting digestion and the elimination of toxins from the body.

The first step to debunking the junk is to be aware that just because it is found everywhere, it doesn’t mean that it is good for you.  It is important to change the way you eat and educate yourself on some of the toxins that exist in our everyday foods like refined sugars, artificial flavours and pesticides.  The toxic burden of these substances over time will lead to diseases, especially in children, whose little bodies are in need of nutrients, not chemicals that eventually build up and cause illness.

Think of all the things about your body that you would like to change: chronic neck and back pain, muscle pain, fatigue, depression, acne, digestive disturbances and high blood pressure.  You can change the biochemistry of your body and avoid these unpleasent and life-threatening symptoms and treat the root cause by including healthy foods into your diet.

Just as different cars require specific gas, oil and parts, different people require different foods.  The right food for you can be determined by the delayed food allergy test IgG, also called an ELISA blood test.  These tests are routinely preformed by naturopathic doctors.  More than 70% of people have delayed food allergies, otherwise known as hidden food allergies.  Avoiding delayed food allergies specific to you coupled with nutritious foods, can modulate and boost your immune system, reduce your risk for cancer, change your mood and even make you feel and look younger.

Research led by John Hopkins University studied how vegetables and fruit, with emphasis on broccoli, reduced cancer growth by up to 40% and, according to the World Research Cancer Fund, people who ate more vegtables also reducedtheir risk for other inflammatory diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, to name a few.

Increase your fruit and vegetable intake by chowing down on the following:

• Blues and Purples: blueberries, purple grapes, plums, purple cabbage, eggplant and purple peppers
• Greens: avocados, green apples, honeydew, kiwi fruit, artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cucumbers, leeks and peas
• Whites: bananas, brown pears, white peaches, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, parsnips, potatoes and white corn
• Yellows and Oranges: apricots, cantaloupe, oranges, papayas, pineapple, butternut squash, carrots, yellow summer squash and sweet potatoes
• Reds: red apples, cherries, cranberries, pomegranates, strawberries, red peppers, radishes, radicchio, tomatoes

You can make shopping a fun and educational experience for your kids by allowing them to pick out different colored fruits and vegetables and explaining that these rich colors are good for them.  At meal times, you can identify the colors and name all the healthy foods.

Colorful eating is an easy and important concept to teach your children at a young age so they too will adopt healthy eating habits and will then teach their children, passing good health and wellness from one generation to the next.