Many of us think that we are eating healthy, although there is no doubt that Americans eat some unhealthy junk foods. An alarming new study published in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis reveals that Americans are getting nearly one-third of their calories from junk foods.
But even if we are trying to eat as healthy as we can, the foods that we think are healthy are often far less nutritious than they used to be. It is no coincidence that the quality of healthy food has been deteriorating as malnourishment and illness have been on the rise in the U.S. and other developed countries.
Here's what several notable experts in the field have to say about the quality of our food today:
* "Wheat from the US has been rejected at China's ports because the protein content was so low," states Dr. Michael Colgan, LaJolla, CA.
* A statement from the Agricultural Testament given to the Congress of the United States states "the impoverished soil of America no longer provides plant food with the mineral elements essential to human nourishment and health."
* Dr. Alexis Carrel, Nobel Prize Winner says, "Chemical fertilizers, by increasing the abundance of the crops without replacing all the exhausted elements of the soil, have indirectly contributed to change the nutritive value of cereal grains and vegetables."
A recent analysis of a range of staple foods in Canada, commissioned by The Globe and Mail and CTV news, included potatoes, tomatoes, bananas, apples, onion and broccoli.
This is what the analysis found for potatoes:
Over the last 50 years the potato has lost:
* 100% of its Vitamin A
* 57% of its Vitamin C and iron.
* 28% of its Calcium.
* 50% of its riboflavin
* 18% of its thiamin
Of the seven nutrients analyzed only niacin levels had increased. The results were similar for all the 25 fruits and vegetables tested. One of the worst results was from broccoli in which ALL nutrients had declined measurably including niacin, with Calcium down 63%.
Tim Lang a professor at the center for Food Policy in England says as a further example of how our food has been degraded is that you would now have to eat eight oranges today to get the same amount of Vitamin A that your grandparents got from eating just one orange.
These foods that have low nutritional values play an important part in obesity and poor health in general. How can the body function when it doesn't get the good fuel it needs? Many experts believe that the human body is capable of healing itself of every disease known to man. However,we must give it what it requires to heal itself and stop interfering with its innate healing process.
What can be done about this problem?
* Try to eat organic fruit and vegetables wherever possible.
* Avoid processed and junk foods! Not only are they nutritionally empty, but they have harmful ingredients that poison the body, such as trans-fats due to the hydrogenated processing methods that are used.
* Take a quality nutritional supplement. A multi-vitamin/mineral tablet is not adequate because they use synthetic ingredients with both questionable efficacy and bio-availability. They isolate a few nutrients and leave out many other important nutrients. Find a nutritional supplement that is made of whole foods. It should be raw so you get all the enzymes you need as well.
The best raw whole food supplement I have ever found is called FrequenSea by ForeverGreen. It is a raw food liquid supplement based on the powerful nutrition of marine phytoplankton.
FrequenSea is comprised of hundreds of species marine phytoplankton, which make their marine phytoplankton more powerful than anything you can find elsewhere. The exclusive extraction process allows them to combine the benefits of phytonutrients with a natural and balanced composition of sea minerals.
FrequenSea's ingredients provide our bodies with the essential minerals, nutrients, vitamins, co-enzymes, enzymes and amino acids that we need to promote optimum health.
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