The American Dietary Disaster or Death from Processed Foods

The American Dietary Disaster or Death from Processed Foods

Because the modern diet in America and much of the world today is so rich in processed foods and animal products and so low in natural vegetation, especially vegetables, almost all Americans are dramatically deficient in plant-derived phytochemicals, and the effects are far-reaching and dangerous.

Twenty-five years ago, we worshipped vitamins and minerals, and nutritional scientists hardly knew phytochemicals existed; now those compounds are considered the major micronutrient load in natural foods, and their effects are recognized as broad and profound. In other words, we now know that vitamins and minerals are not nearly enough. To have normal immune function we require hundreds of additional phytochemicals, found in natural plants. Supplements are appearing in the marketplace that contain these beneficial compounds and they show promise, but nothing can match the immunity-building power of a diet that contains an adequate amount and broad array of these health-enhancing substances fromunrefined plant foods.

Today, the American diet takes over 60 percent of its calories from processed foods—a percentage that has increased gradually but inexorably over the last hundred years. This category encompasses most foods made with added sweeteners, with white flour, and with oils. Processed foods include the following: white bread, bagels, chips, pasta, donuts, cookies, breakfast bars, cold cereals, soft drinks, pretzels, condiments, and premade salad dressings. These processed foods are generally mixed with additives, coloring agents, and preservatives to extend shelf life, and they’re placed in plastic bags and cardboard boxes.

USDAEconomics Research Service, 2005; www.ers.usda.gov/Data/FoodConsumption/FoodGuideIndex.htm#calories.  

Soft drinks, sugar, corn syrup, and other sweeteners now occupy a major share of the dietary pie. The amount of cheese and chicken has also increased significantly in the American diet over the last century, with the consumption of calories from animal products now at over 25 percent. With so many animal products and processed foods in the modern diet, there is little room for unrefined or unprocessed vegetation.

Americans consume less than 10 percent of their calories from unrefined plant foods such as fruits, beans, seeds, and vegetables. However, that 10 percent figure is misleading, because about half the vegetable consumption in America is white potato products, including fries and chips! If you remove the white potato from consideration (not a particularly nutritious food), the other produce would amount to less than 5 percent of the American diet.

The modern diet is not slightly deficient in just a handful of micronutrients; it is grossly deficient in hundreds of important plant-derived, immunitybuilding compounds. These are not optional; you can’t have a lifetime of good health without them. To identify these important antioxidants and phytochemicals deficient in the American diet, we must recognize a broad class of beneficial compounds, including the whole carotene family (including lycopene, beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin); and an assortment of other compounds that maximize cell function, thus enabling the healing properties of immune cells—compounds such as alpha-lipoic acid, flavonoids, bioflavonoids, polyphenols and phenolic acids, quercetin, rutin, anthocyanins and proanthocyanins, allium compounds, allyl sulfides, glucosinolates, isothiocyanates, lignans, and pectins. All these classes of compounds impact our health; and without them our health, and especially our immune system, dramatically suffers.

No matter how many different dietary theories there are out there, pretty much everyone agrees that vegetables are “good for you.” But just how good they truly are has been debated. Sadly, the data from observational studies is often flawed simply because most people don’t eat enough vegetables to have a measurable impact on their health! However, some long-term observational studies do indeed demonstrate that vegetable consumption is the most important factor in preventing chronic disease and premature death.

Referensi : Book Joel Fuhrman, M.D., SUPER IMMUNITY - The Essential Nutrition Guide for Boosting Your Body’s Defenses to Live Longer, Stronger, and Disease Free