The All-American Obesity Factor

Europeans are always making fun of American’s and our horrible diets; and I suppose they can since they just don’t have the obesity rates that we do.

• of 22 industrialized countries, the U.S. has the highest obesity statistics
• 2/3 of Americans over age 20 are overweight
• nearly 1/3 of Americans over age 20 are obese
http://www.worldometers.info/obesity/

In the book Fast Food Nation – The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, the author chronicles how we grew up on and became dependent upon fast food. 30% of high schools in the U.S. offer fast food in their cafeterias.

And our fast and processed foods are CHEAP because of the ever-growing subsidized crops like corn and soy. Even cheaper because we have genetically altered them to produce more and increase their resistance to the potent pesticides poured on them. 86 percent of US corn and 93 percent of soybeans were genetically modified in 2010.

Chemically altering our food (or adding chemicals to our food) has serious health ramifications but apparently the U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn’t always acknowledge that. With the European Union it’s a different story. Farmers tend to be small operations not governed by corporate giants and Europeans tend to be less trustworthy of food regulators than we are in the U.S.

They demand more. So should we.

The following chemicals / processes are banned in Europe but NOT in the U.S.:

1. Most genetically modified foods (high fructose corn syrup – a genetically modified food – is banned in Europe). See: Lawsuit: High Fructose Corn Syrup is NOT the Same as Sugar

2. All antibiotics and related drugs fed to livestock for growth promotion purposes (like Bovine Growth Hormone).

3. 22 pesticides used on crops (banned by EU – not approved by all countries yet).

4. Chickens washed in chlorine.

5. Different standard for approving food contact products with chemicals in them (i.e. plastic bottles for water, milk etc.) – EU requires that the manufacturer PROVES safety or it will be banned. Bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles is banned.

6. Stevia – the “natural” sweetener.

7. Synthetic food colors i.e. Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Orange B, and Red 3 (used heavily in candy and breakfast cereals and even yoghurt).

8. Irradiation to kill dangerous organisms in beef, pork, chicken, lamb, herbs, spices, flour and fruit and vegetables. The EU only permits it on dried spices, herbs and vegetable based seasonings.

9. Bleached flour (used in all white bread and some wheat bread). See: The Fantastical World of Wheat – 14 Things You Should Know about Whole Wheat / Whole Grain

10. Partially hydrogenated oil - most European countries completely ban it or severely restrict it.

11. Iodine for use in disinfecting drinking water.

12. Many chemicals / preservatives like Titanium Dioxide (used to make food white or bright and in other products like toothpaste). See: Jelly Bean Jubilee with a Little Titanium Dioxide Mixed In

13. BHA and BHT (found in many frozen dinners, breakfast cereal and meat). See: A Serial Cereal Eater – At Least for the Last Few Weeks

14. Sodium nitrite and potassium nitrate (found in sausage, pepperoni and hotdogs).