How Did We Get Here

How Did WE Get Here? ... as a collective, I mean.

An excerpt from my bio page: "I grew up in your typical Standard American Diet (SAD) home eating some of the best American comfort food and spending my allowance on junk food, donuts and soda. Now, don't get my wrong, Mom made everything from scratch, including bread, biscuits, gravy, home-raised pork, chickens, eggs and the works. I didn't even know what Dinty Moore meant when somebody from school asked about my soup. That said, despite Mom's best efforts, it was tough to get me to eat veggies and I rarely enjoyed fruit. I predominately ate meat and carbs. Even though my mother tried to limit my intake, soda was a daily beverage. I was never very active but wasn’t exactly lazy either." (if you haven't already read my bio, click here to read the rest before continuing)

This is not my Mom's fault - nor mine exactly ... so who is responsible here?

The answer is the FDA, Food Industry and Marketing, followed by the lack of genuine nutrition education!

So if I were to tell you that this 4-pound bag of PURE CANE Sugar is not only a mere 15 calories per teaspoon (written to imply that you can easily add that to your daily calorie intake) but it is also 100% fat free (added to imply that reducing your fat consumption is supposed to be good for you - when it is not. Quality fats help protect the cardiovascular system, improve cellular communication, cognitive function, the execution of complex skills, reduces inflammation, alleviates depression ... and the list really goes on. One can easily live in their healthy weight range eating a diet of 33% quality fats!

Does this make this product good for you? Just because it is 'pure', 100% fat free', and 'only 15 calories per teaspoon'? In truth, it can be labeled all of these things, but it is certainly not good for you! The job of any marketing is to make you believe you need what they are offering. Marketing likes to make you think you have something of quality and tricks you into NOT thinking deeper.

“If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't." Michael Pollan

An even greater example includes the marketing used by Food Industry companies whose goal is to make money, not support your health.

You may have read about this in the news back in 2011; but if you didn't already know ... this cereal contains zero blueberries or pomegranates! Just look at the label --------->>>>>>>>>

It does contain eight different sweeteners: Sugar, Corn Syrup, Barley Malt Extract, Brown Sugar Syrup, Malt Syrup, Sucralose, Molasses and Honey. Did you know they can now label this 'Naturally Sweetened' because it does in fact contain some amount of naturally derived sweeteners? Yet clearly, that isn't the only method of sweetening this.

The blueberry-like appearance of small bits in the cereal are accomplished through the use of artificial colors like Red #40 and Blue #2, combined with various oils and sweeteners such as soybean oil and sugar. These are also the same style of 'blueberry bits' used on cheap blueberry muffins. Learn more about this story here.

Let's consider this All-American meal...

Main dish includes corn syrup, plastic, mechanically separated byproducts of low grade meat, glue, slugs and bones.

It shall be prepared in metal vats with tons of pork and chicken trimmings where it is squeezed through metal grates and blasted with water. Tons of powdered preservatives, flavorings, red coloring and water will be added before it is squeezed into plastic tubes to be cooked and packaged.

Click the image on the right to see what food is being described.

We will wash it down with corn syrup, methanol, Red #3, Blue #1, formaldehyde, sodium benzoate, phosphoric acid and aspartame.

Aspartame mixed with caffeine causes instant brain cell injury and/or death. Read more about that here.

Other ingredients contribute to osteoporosis, tooth decay, cancer and diabetes.

Click the image on the right to see what food is being described.

And for dessert, we will have growth hormones, antibiotics, estrogen, glue, corn syrup, artificial flavors and propylene glycol.

Anti-freeze solutions for cars contain propylene glycol.

Other ‘naturally derived’ flavors include piperonal used as vanilla – also used to treat lice; diethyl glucol as an emulsifier instead of eggs – also used in anti-freeze and paint solvents; butyraldehyde for nut-flavored ice creams – also in rubber cement; aldehyde c17 for cherry ice cream – also an inflammable liquid used in dyes, plastic and rubber; ethyl acetate for pineapple – also a cleaner for leather and textiles.

Click the image on the right to see what food is being described.

We Try Our Best ...

One mother wrote me with a description of how she tried her best to raise her daughter, who also has an autoimmune disease. It is a bit long but I highly recommend you read through to the end. She writes:

"Dear Stephanie,

I know your story is important for people to open up and see you are just like everyone else. We all have a story. We all have a beginning, which affected where we find ourselves today. I've sat in your classes in the past and wondered if people are looking at my weight and asking themselves about "the unhealthy lady" in the front row. Granted, I'm taking the steps to get healthier and perhaps being the underdog inspires others. But I digress... I wanted to share with you how my story would read from the other side - as the mother of a child with an autoimmune disease. It is a little bit different than yours.

I did not want to be like all the other moms. I wanted to give the best start to my child's life that I could. I didn't want to follow the media or the norm. I always questioned the nurses and doctors too. In fact, I was labeled as “one of those” in the hospital due to refusing the standard treatment. I didn't need an IV - I wasn't sick - I was having a baby as women have done forever!

When offered tablets of fluoride for her teeth, I declined thinking God gave us other sources so why did we need more? Was that a bad choice? I later learned from the dentists that she had soft teeth from the lack of fluoride. She ended up having cavities and even broken teeth in her youth. I didn't grow up with good oral hygiene so I didn't have any lead in this area.

Nursing didn't work well for us so I sought the advise of other people who were the 'experts' or more 'experienced' in this subject. At first we did goat's milk but that quickly exceeded my budget and the talk of bacteria concerned me. I switched to soy milk powder because it was easy and I used disposable bags so bacteria was no longer a concern. I used the Nook style nipple because the package said it was most like mother. I've since learned my daughter was allergic to soy, but it was the only option I thought I had.

I did the works - cloth diapers, sunshine and fresh air rather than creams ... no powders and perfumes to clog my baby's skin.

I heard all about the crap that went into commercial baby food so no way was my baby getting that. So I happily made all of her food. I went to the growers for the fresh fruits to make purees. I cooked all of our food - no cans or packaged foods. I baked fresh each week so as to avoid preservatives. I'd use honey or brown sugar because "everyone knew that was better than sugar." LOL

I reached for dairy to provide calcium because the mainstream media at that time suggested it was the best source. Side note - you have since taught me it is a poor source of calcium and even leads to bone density issues. Nonetheless, my daughter didn't much like cheese at first but she did eat a lot of yogurt.

She didn't touch a soda until at least after 5 years old. We had juice or Kool-Aid instead. I always picked breakfast cereals that didn't appear loaded with sugar. Rather than Apple Jacks, it was Honeynut Cheerios. Laughable now ... but they were the only choices I had at the time. I know better now though. She didn't eat much candy until her later teens or when she used her allowance to buy junk food. I regulated the Halloween candy, cakes were frosting-free and I made Kool-Aid with half the sugar.

Since I wasn't a mom who ran to the doctor every time something came up, I'm not sure if I would have taken her more, if she wouldn't have this autoimmune disease or not. I'm not sure. I would give anything for her to be healthy...

With all of this said, what really makes me angry is that the people we should be able to trust - we CANNOT. The FDA, our doctors, the health industry... It is so poisoned. The very fact we NEED the dirty dozen list is a crime. We have so much to learn. Learning we CANNOT trust labels and that foods we once through were better, are not - like that Total cereal you showed us in class.

Your sharing has empowered me to make so many changes and I am able to share with others what I have now learned - even on a small scale. I enjoy helping others feel better about the choices one can make. I just wanted to show you how much thought was put into the choices I made, based on what I thought was the best decisions.

Why have I shared this with you?

Because that person who wrote about her daughter ... is MY mother.

We raise our children the best way we know how based upon 1) how our parents raised us, or 2) guided by those who we hope are leading us in the right direction - whether that be through labels, commercials, doctors, nutritionists, availability on the shelves, etc. But today's dairy isn't the milk of your grandmother's farm, today's wheat is different than even 50 years ago, and consumerism is at an all-time high. We have been led astray and I suggest we return to Mother Nature for guidance. Eat foods closest to nature and you will reap tremendous benefit. You don't see a Cheez-It growing in a field, now do you? Delicious? Indeed. But not food.