When eating makes you sick...
Food that is harmful and food that heals

Less than a century ago we ate what nature and the earth provided for us, season after season; simple food, locally grown. Today, we are faced with an heretofore unequalled overabundance of food, both in quantity and variety.

In the past we would eat hardly more than thirty varieties of food while today, hundreds of new products come onto the market on a regular basis, which we choose as required. Another important issue in all this is the fact that, our large variety of food harms us instead of being good for us, because most of the food available in our grocery stores is artificially denatured.

In fact, each year every North-American adult consumes, often unknowingly, around 50 kg of inorganic products and not less than 2,000 different chemical substances added to the food, which end-up on our plates and in our bodies, day after day. It is not surprising, therefore, that more and more people, even youngsters, develop numerous food allergies and chronic digestive pathologies. Seasonal allergies, to pollen for example, are the most frequent and are related to a deficient immune system, if they are not hereditary. In almost all cases, the liver and the intestines also play an important role as far as the digestion and assimilation of nutrients is concerned.

The most likely foods to cause allergies or intolerance are: milk, fish, pork, seafood and eggs as far as animal proteins are concerned and legumes, nuts and seeds, onions, wheat, corn and buckwheat, as far as vegetable proteins are concerned.

Furthermore, on the subject of the most dangerous chemical additives, the ones that come to mind first, are sulphites, which produce the worst allergic reactions, especially for people with asthma and those suffering from migraines and colitis. These sulphites are found in most prepared sauces, relish, dips, ketchup, vinegar, chemical fruit juices, dried fruits and cheap beer and wine. Nitrites and nitrates are known as being carcinogenic and are mostly found in delicatessen and cold cuts. Another toxic chemical compound is M.S.G. or monosodium glutamate, a taste enhancer in most ready-to-eat foods, buffets in restaurants, crackers and chips, soups and ready-made sauces. It induces, what is called the "Chinese Syndrome": pain in the jaw and the neck, nausea and trembling, even asthma attacks in very susceptible people. Our children, most of whom generally consume large amounts of cereals and sweets are most directly threatened by a hundred additives, such as colour, particularly in sweets and artificial juices, which in the short term provoke hyperactivity. However, in the long term they are carcinogenic, like the double threat of BHA and BHT, contained in almost all commercial cereals.

In order not to become too paranoid, let us just use our common sense and simply read the labels before buying food and avoid choosing products containing unpronounceable ingredients, which are oftentimes chemical compounds derived from petroleum. Transfats or hydrogenated fats were denounced by enlightened nutritionists thirty years ago and are finally being recognized now as a cause for arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and that they are five times more dangerous than good old butter from the farm.

Also, it is wise to go shopping several times a week, in order to buy a good variety of food that is green and alive. It is paramount to identify and eliminate the foods we know are not good for us but, it is also important to cleanse and regenerate the digestive system, especially the liver, the mucous membrane, the intestines and the colon. We can accomplish that with enzymes from herbs, oils rich in Omega 3-6-9 and with friendly bacteria.

Of all the grocery stores today, it is only the Health Food Stores that are concerned about their clients' good health, overall and specifically and that offer the largest choice of healthy food without additives, without chemical fertilizers, without pesticides; food that is not irradiated, nor genetically modified. The majority of the food is certified organic and that is good for your health.

Anny Schneider
Author, Herbalist and Naturopath