“Real food” is:
Whole, unprocessed and unrefined pasture-raised (a.k.a.
grass-fed) and wild local, seasonal and organic.
Whole unprocessed and unrefined: if it comes in a bag or a
box, don’t eat it!
The introduction of industrial food processing has without a
doubt had the most detrimental effect on our health of any other factor in the
last few hundred years – and possibly in the entire history of humankind.
Food refining has brought us all four of the food toxins
destroying our health: white flour, white sugar & HFCS, industrial seed
oils and processed soy products. It has also brought us chemical additives and
preservatives, some with known negative effects and others with effects still
unknown.
New research is revealing the harm these newfangled
processed foods have on us almost every day. Just yesterday a study was
published demonstrating that emulsifiers used in packaged foods ranging from
mayonnaise to bread to ice cream increase intestinal permeability (“leaky gut”)
and cause a chain reaction of inflammation and autoimmune disease.
Another study showed that diet soda consumption increases
your risk of stroke and causes kidney damage, possibly because of the
phosphoric acid used as an acidifying agent to give colas their tangy flavor.
To avoid the harm caused by processed and refined foods, a
good general rule is “if it comes in a bag or a box, don’t eat it.”
Of course not all foods that come in bags and boxes are
harmful, so this isn't meant to be taken literally. It’s just a helpful
guideline. Butter is often packaged in a box, and Trader Joe’s (for some
strange reason) packages vegetables in sealed plastic bags. That doesn't mean
you shouldn't eat butter and vegetables.
But in general, if you follow this guideline, you’ll avoid
most common food toxins. And that’s more than half the battle.
