Natural Foods Vs Processed Foods

A healthy diet is one that consists primarily of ‘natural’ foods, including vegetables, herbs, fruits, berries, grains, seeds and nuts. Unfortunately, the diet of the majority of people in the western world consists predominately of ‘processed’ foods. Typical problems with various processed foods are:

• They are infused with harmful preservatives in order to promote ‘shelf life’. When a food’s shelf life is artificially prolonged, it does not only resist bacteria but also being digested properly.

• They tend to be laden with unhealthy sugars, sweeteners and salts, designed to appeal to our taste buds, but which are detrimental to our body.

• Many processed foods contain artificial vitamins and inorganic minerals intended to convince consumers that the food products are ‘enriched’ in nutritional value. In reality, these synthetic vitamins and metallic minerals cannot be assimilated into the bloodstream, and only tend to clog the digestive tract and damage the kidneys and blood vessels.

• Meat and meat products are usually derived from animals that have been fed large quantities of antibiotics, growth hormones and other toxic additives, all designed to maximize production on ‘factory farms’. The residuals of such additives find their way into the tissue of the animals and are passed onto consumers. In addition, many meat products are contaminated with illness-producing bacteria, such as Salmonella or E. coli.

• Some food products are ‘irradiated’ in order to kill bacteria and promote shelf life, resulting in food that is lifeless and lacking in nutritional value.

• Most processed foods contain artificial coloring and flavoring designed to appeal to the aesthetics and taste buds of the consumer, but which are toxic to the body in many cases.

• Processed foods are frequently prepared by cooking them in oil that contains significant quantities of polyunsaturated fats, resulting in food that damages or destroys cell membranes throughout the body.

• Numerous types of processed foods, such as the traditional ‘TV dinners’, are prepared and packaged in such a way as to be conveniently heated in a microwave oven prior to eating. Microwave cooking destroys enzymes and other important nutrients, leaving essentially ‘dead’ food that has very little nutritional value.

A diet that relies heavily on processed foods is sometimes referred to as the Standard American Diet, or “SAD” – the acronym says it all!

On the other hand, natural foods, if they are grown and prepared properly, and eaten when they are fresh, tend to provide the nutrients and life forces that are needed for a healthy body.

Modern commercial agricultural practices, unfortunately, tend to work against the production of healthy, natural foods. There has been an over-reliance on the use of chemical fertilizers that are used to increase food production. With repeated growing cycles year after year, the soil tends to be leached of its natural minerals and other life-supporting nutrients. Such agricultural practices tend to diminish the life force and nutritional value of the fruits and vegetables.

Nature has its own way of dealing with the death of plants and animals, keeping our planet tidy. When the life force diminishes, various types of microbes, fungi, insects and other ‘scavengers’ are naturally attracted to the dying plant or animal as a source of ‘food’. The residuals of this process then become ‘fertilizer’ for the next generation. The concept of composting is based on this principle.

When plants are grown in leached and lifeless soil, their natural life force is diminished. Consequently, they tend to attract microbes, fungi, insects and other scavengers as part of the natural scheme of life and death. To protect the plants from such an invasion, chemical insecticides and fungicides are applied to them.

Chemicals that are used in such fertilization and protective practices tend to find their way into the fibers of the resulting vegetables, fruits and other agricultural products. Virtually all such chemicals are toxic to the human body, some more than others.

The emergence of ‘organic’ farming is an effort to move back to more natural agricultural methods that do not rely on chemicals. Originally, ‘natural’ food stores were the most common source of organic food products. Now that consumer awareness has heightened, organic fruits and vegetables are being sold in ‘specialty’ sections of produce department in most mainstream supermarkets.

Since the marketing of organic produce is still in its relative infancy, uniform standards for specifying the conditions under which produce can legally be labeled as ‘organic’ are not yet well established. So one cannot yet be absolutely certain when purchasing produce that is labeled ‘organic’ that it is, indeed, totally chemical free. On the other hand, one can be relatively certain that produce that is not labeled ‘organic’ probably has been subjected to at least some degree of chemical contamination.

The best possible solution to this situation is to have an organic garden of your own. In addition to being certain that the produce is raised in a chemical-free environment, there are other advantages. For example, fruits and vegetables can be eaten at their exact peak of ripeness and maturity, yielding the maximum nutritional value and tastiness. In contrast, commercial fruits and vegetables that must be harvested prior to peak maturity in order to allow for processing and distribution delays. This is a particularly important issue related to fruit, which is much healthier if eaten when it is naturally ripened. Also, for a variety of reasons related to the life force and cycles of the planet, fruits, vegetables and other natural foods are of the greatest nutritional value if they are grown in the same geographic vicinity as the area in which one lives.

Having your own organic garden is obviously much more of a challenge for city dwellers than for people who live in suburban or rural areas. In this regard, European cities have generally been much more progressive than American cities in creating ‘community’ gardens where residents can rent a small plot in which to have their own garden or natural oasis.

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This is an excerpt from the book SIMPLE STEPS TO TOTAL HEALTH by Andreas Moritz & John Hornecker