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| Fake food has not co-evolved with the human family |
WHAT I'm about to tell you is hard to accept–that's the bad news. The good news is that with the following information you will achieve real health results. You will learn how to lose weight and enjoy the health you deserve. But first you have to hear–and understand–the bad news.
The reason you can't lose weight is because the forces you are fighting are overwhelming the natural functions of your body. Many people try to lose weight using a variety of diets such as the Atkins diet, the South Beach Diet, or endless variations. These diets target only one dietary flaw.
The Atkins diet, for example, is based on the premise that we eat too many carbohydrates which turn to sugar. The theory says that to offset the negatives of carbs we need to eat more protein. This is a variation of the calories in/calories burned diet that proposes that if we maintain a balance between what we eat and what our bodies burn we won't gain weight. Using this model dieters try to balance how many calories they eat and how many they burn. This strategy only works if the body is functioning properly–which in America means it never works. Because of the Standard American Diet (consumption of foods we have not adapted to) the bodies of most Americans do not function properly.
If you are healthy and only slightly overweight the Atkins and similar diets will work. In this case your body is like a bucket with one hole in it. In order to make the bucket hold water you only have to plug one hole. The problem is most Americans have a bucket with ten holes. Your bucket will not hold water just by plugging one or two holes.
During the last century our food has been evolving from locally produced, highly perishable foods to industrially processed, nearly non-perishable foods. In most cases the motives have been good–trying to provide a cheap source of nutritious foods that have a long shelf life. But the process has proceeded without due attention to unintended consequences. The most recent research proves that our modern, industrialized diets are extremely low in oils essential to proper bodily function.
One of the largest holes in our collective health bucket, and the hardest to plug, is the nearly universal inclusion of processed oils in our food supply. Processed oils, such as canola oil, are freakish, frankenstein creations that have evolved in such a way they are no longer food but more akin to bad medicine or poison. All hydrogenated oils are fit only for running diesel engines and should not be in our food supply. Most people know not to eat margarine, which is simply a solid hydrogenated oil. There is no health difference between consuming margarine and other processed oils like canola oil.
How vegetable oils are processed is complex but I give an abbreviated version here. Canola oil is made from rapeseed which was genetically modified for high oil content. The oil is expressed and heated to extremely high temperatures destroying any nominal nutrition. The oil is then hydrogenated, meaning hydrogen is percolated through the oil at extremely high temperature so the oil will not oxidize (oxidation increases deterioration). The oil is deodorized and detoxified with a variety of chemicals such as Hexane and metallic filaments (Canola is toxic at many stages of its production. Ironically Hexane is also a toxic chemical). Read a more detailed account here.
The end result is that processed oils such as soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, and peanut oil are more akin to poison or bad medicine than they are to food. Such oils are like bad medicine because they suppress and imbalance your endocrine system.
The endocrine system produces a multitude of hormones that regulate your growth, immune, and reproductive systems. It regulates your mental and emotional health, impacts your nervous system, and every other system in your body. Your endocrine system is the central control that regulates every other system in your body.
Let's say you want to eat healthy so instead of eating french fries you opt for sweet potato fries instead. You rightly assume the sweet potato is lower in carbs and has more nutrients and fiber so you will lose weight. What you don't understand is there is so much canola oil in the sweet potato fries the health advantage of the sweet potatoes is not only negated, but because of the metabolism suppressing nature of the oil, you suffer a net health deficit. It literally would be better to deposit the fries directly into the toilet.
A potato fried in coconut oil is better for you because the positive effects of the coconut oil on your endocrine system will offset the carbohydrates of the potato. Coconut oil is expeller pressed meaning that the oil is extracted by pressure, not heat, thereby preserving the health qualities of the oil. Your body needs a very specific type of oil to have optimal health. The net effect of coconut oil is beneficial because it's the type of oil your body needs for endocrine health. Because processed oils are the wrong type of fat when you eat processed oils you are eating bad medicine that causes your body to dysfunction and gain more weight than the actual calories of the consumed foods. In short, processed oils are not food. If you learn this one fact you are on your way to better health.
When you eat real foods, like coconut oil, you are eating good medicine that promotes proper endocrine function. Your body gets the right kind of oil. Weight gain will only result if you don't need the energy (or calories) contained in that food. There will be no additional caloric impact.
People know intuitively that potatoes are real food yet wonder why they gain so much weight when they eat potato chips. They don't realize that the processed oil causes the body to malfunction, lower metabolism, and add excess weight. In short, the potato is real food but the processed oil is bad medicine that offsets the nutritional value of the potato promoting weight gain beyond the innate calories of the potato.
It is nearly impossible to eat processed foods without getting copious amounts of processed oils. The solution is to always check labels and boycott any food with the non-food, bad-medicine ingredients that are ruining your health. If you have a choice between eating non-food and going hungry, go hungry until you can eat real food. Remember that in America far more people die from eating processed oils than they do from hunger.
Healthy oils are virgin olive oil, coconut oil, and organic, hormone-free butter. NOTE: many olive oil brands are cut with flavored canola oil even if labeled 100% virgin olive oil. Some oils labeled olive oil are 100% canola oil. Read more about it here.
When I traveled by bus from Kansas to Utah in 1977 two men sat behind me who were going to a vegetarian convention in Oregon. Like nearly everyone on the bus they were smoking non-stop. When we crossed the Utah border the bus driver told everyone to extinguish their cigarettes. One of the vegetarians behind me asked his traveling companion why. The other man explained that Utah was essentially a theocratic dictatorship and the state didn't allow people to make their own health choices. It is hard to believe anyone holding such antiquated and erroneous ideas, especially since as vegetarians they presumably represented the most health conscious people in America. Such opinions seem laughable now but such willful ignorance is still with us. Those who currently believe processed food sources are healthy and that they can consume such foods without consequences will have the same rude awakening.
One of the primary holes in America's leaky health bucket is processed oils. Stop this leak by avoiding all hydrogenated, industrially processed oils. Only eat oils that are real food.
Brad Teare –2015
These opinions are my own. Do your own research to determine if I am a credible source of information.
Brad Teare © 2015
