Foods Without Nutritional Value

HOME-COOKED MEALS VS CONVENIENCE FOODS

With the arrival of convenience foods in the 1950s and fast food in the 1960s, Americans were offered a cheap and convenient alternative to home cooking. It also began the American love af- fair with high-fat, salt-laden meals accompanied by soft drinks. Today more than 90 percent of Americans get less than two daily servings of fruits and vegetables.

REDUCED ACTIVITY

Another contributor to America’s obesity problem is the decrease in activity. With all of our mod- ern conveniences and an abundance of desk jobs one can get through the day with little physical effort. Dietary changes along with sedentary lifestyles contribute to our declining health. Without a doubt, obesity and diabetes are fast becoming our number-one health problem. Health and Wellness

FOODS WITHOUT NUTRITIOUS VALUE

Soft drinks, candy and sugar-free gelatin - just to name a few - are non-nutritive foods. They are have no nutritious value as they are devoid of complex carbohy- drates, proteins, fat , vitamins, minerals and sometimes even calories. In today’s America it is entirely possible to be overweight and yet be starving to death!

Most Americans rely on white bread and other refined breads and ce- real products. But white flour, when processed, loses almost all of its nutrients (Iron, Vitamins B1, B2, and B3). The 1942 Enrichment Act required for these nutrients to be added back into white flour again, which is now our ‘enriched’ bread. However, compared with whole- grain bread, enriched bread is still deficient in nutrients:

15% less Iron 75% less Magnesium 60% less Zinc 80% less Vitamin B6 35% less Folate 75% less fiber

SUBCLINICAL NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCIES

A new area of concern has emerged: subclinical nutritional deficiencies. These are nutritional insuffi- ciencies that are slowly and subtly eroding the state of your health. A subclinical deficiency can take years to show up as a symptom. The situation becomes even more difficult for people who are taking medications that are depleting nutrients form their bodies -e.g. Statin (cholesterol lowering) drugs’ de- pletion of CoQ10. Other individuals may have specific diseases or conditions that may demand more nutrients. And finally, nutrient needs also increase with the demand placed on all out our bodies from the toxic environment we live in.