Hungry for Change

If you have not seen this movie, I suggest you do so before the free online option is over. In case you don't get a chance, I'll go over what I found to be most enlightening/helpful. I always take notes when I'm watching something healthy the same way I took notes in college.

MSG and glutamates are used in 80% of processed foods. MSG is what is used to make lab mice obese in order to study obesity. This can appear as a number of different things on a food label, such as hydrolyzed soy protein, glutamic acid, sodium caseinate, citrate vegetable protein, monoammonian glutamate, whey protein concentrate, autolyzed yeast extract, or maltodextrin.

Aspartame and caffeine, found in pop (soda), is addictive, just like sugar is addictive, and it can be found in a wide range of products such as breath mints, iced tea, instant cocoa mix, vegetable drinks, nutritional bars, cereal, jam and jelly, juice, fat free yogurt and much more.

The aspartame and caffeine in diet pop kills brain cells while causing you to react as if the drink is pure joy, but it also causes formaldehyde buildup in the brain, migraines, memory problems, can lead to cancer and/or diabetes, and you will lose bone density.

The FDA does not independently study these products and food companies are able to decide what to put on the label, which is often misleading. A product that boasts a certain fruit may not have any fruit at all. A product that claims to be fat free could have ingredients that turn into fat once they are eaten. "Fat free," in fact, usually means it contains a lot of sugar.

The average American eats about 22 spoonfuls of sugar per day. Sugar produces insulin, which creates fat cells, which leads to diabetes, among other things.

Don't get your fats from canola oil or anything partially hydrogenated. Instead, get it from healthy oils, avocados, flaxseed, chia seeds and salmon.

High fructose corn syrup is bad because it is not natural, it had been modified, the same way white bread and flour has been, the same way cocaine has been modified from the healthy coca leaf. It is also addictive. You really shouldn't be having more than 15g of sugar a day.

Sugar is an ingredient in more than you realize, including pasta sauce, bread, muffins, crackers, cough syrup, milk, rice, cereal and salad dressing. Read the ingredient label before you decide to buy something. This is one of the reasons comfort foods satiate us so well.

Don't think about what you CAN'T have, think about adding more of what you CAN have. Try to buy local, organic, natural, as close to its original state as possible, not made by a lab, no added sugar, no preservatives. Don't eat when you're upset and think about WHY you're eating - is it because you're hungry and that food will give you nutrients, or is it because you're upset or don't want to cook something yourself?

I hope you learned something from my notes. If you want part two, let me know. Part two is about what you can have, what you should have, and how to go about becoming healthier. I might post that tomorrow, actually.