junk or food?

David Kessler, MD
"By now Americans know that there's overwhelming evidence of a link between diet and health. But at the same time they seem to be asking themselves, Why do I feel so powerless to control what I eat? The fact is, when food is highly processed and loaded and layered with sugar, salt, and fat, it becomes so stimulating that it hijacks our brain --and our behavior. " (author of "The End of Overeating...")

(me) So, if you have wondered about why its hard to resist junk food, just think of the millions upon millions of dollars that are spent by food company labs to find the combinations of chemicals and additives that give you the most mouth-stimulating effects. They can't make the big bucks selling you fresh produce but they can make a lot giving you smooth, rich, creamy, sweet, crunchy, whatever - Our best way to fight back is to help our own families learn to love real food, and be rewarded with better health.

Mark Bittman
"To me, the message is so incredibly simple: The more unprocessed foods you eat--especially plant-based food--the healthier you're going to be. That's it. It doesn't really matter what the plants are, what order you eat them, or what proportion you eat them in. If you start eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds--and less of everything else--you've radically improved your diet. One of the best ways to do this is to cook at home. I'm living proof that cooking doesn't have to be complicated or difficult, and the investment pays off a billion times." (Author of cookbooks such as "Food Matters" and "How to Cook Everything")

Try reading "In Defense of Food" (Pollan) if you want to know more -- he suggests "food" should mean something your grandmother would recognise as such. OR consider "Twinkie Deconstructed" (Ettlinger) if you are more interested in just what is in processed foods - and why its there and where it comes from.

Isn't it interesting that the more we learn about good nutrition, the more it sounds like the health and eating code taught by the church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) http://providentliving.org/content/list/0,11664,8960-1,00.html