Food

When I grew up in the 70's it was normal to be of a normal weight. Today, many in US will not know what it's like for the majority to be of a normal BMI. Today, in regards to BMI, it's normal to be abnormal. It's the normal that stick out.

From the later 80's to early 90's there became a massive change in America. Weight gain happened on an unprecedented scale never seen before in human history. The person who first realized this, at first didn't believe her numbers. But looking every which way, she realized she was right. Her name is Katherine Flegal and she was a research scientist for the CDC.

Have you ever seen the BMI charts where the nation's BMI per state is calculated? It's quite dramatic and where the state with the lowest obesity today would have been the state with the highest obesity back in the 90's. The change in the last 20-30 years is unprecedented in the evolution of mankind.

Dr Kessler, former head of the FDA, wrote a book called "The End of Overeating". He talks "off the record" with a food industry leader. The exec tells how food is created to make what is called "Bliss point". Where salt, sugar and fat are mixed together so that food becomes hyperpalatable.

Food becomes hyperpalatable through two ways, loading and layering. An example of loading is tortillas fried in oil. An example of layering are potato skins (first fried (that's loading)) and then adding the bacon, cheese and sour cream.

So foods like spinach dip might sound healthy, but far from it. The spinach is merely coloring to all the added fat. Salads sound so nutritious, but when the fried chicken, cheese and ranch dressing is added (layered), it hardly can qualify as an healthy food.

When eating at restaurants, one is going to battle with one's health against the greatest minds in food science. Drugs, cigarettes we can do without. Food we need. But the food we've learned to eat reaches our bliss point and is so hyperpalatable that we constantly overeat.

I have a friend that everytime she eats she makes a comment about the food. It's sad because while she does the battle constantly in her mind, she realizes she will never win. One can't eat the way America eats and have any chance of being an ideal weight.

The foods we're meant to eat are whole and from the earth. They don't taste nearly as good as the food we're accustomed to. To eat these foods is difficult. But to wean oneself from these hyper foods is the only way to find long term health and happiness.