Part 2, What the Heck do I Eat? - Exposing Food Industry Lies

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February 23, 2021 - Episode #55 - Part 2, What the Heck do I Eat? - Exposing Food Industry Lies
1.77 Trillion dollars!! That stat represents how much the food industry is worth.  An industry that we are dependent on.  An industry that just wants your money and could care less about your health! I’m doing some exposing today of the food industry because this is what you asked for!  After the podcast a couple of weeks ago, I got some great feedback and you wanted me to go deeper on this topic! 

In this episode, I reveal the lies and strategies that food companies use to deceive you into thinking that something is healthy, when it is anything but!  Ready for eye opening info and some more incentive to focus on real, whole foods? 

Listen to this podcast and then hop over to Facebook for more discussion, pics and revelations as we dive in our kitchen pantries and uncover some of these food lies ourselves!  This FB group is just for women.  A place for you to receive support, accountability, encouragement and education.  A place free from diets, guilt and shame!  Click here to be a part of this AMAZING tribe! https://bit.ly/FMwomenswellness

Missed Part 1 of What the Heck do I Eat - Simple Nutrition Tips for the Overwhelmed? Listen here!! https://www.inspirehealthyharmony.com/simple-nutrition-tips.html#/

​Want to dig in more on this topic and curious about the book I mentioned by Dr. Mark Hyman...Food - What the Heck should I Eat?  Click here https://www.amazon.com/Food-What-Heck-Should-Eat/dp/0316338869/ref=sr_1_2?crid=39RR5FVIP1RO4&dchild=1&keywords=dr.+hyman+what+the+heck+should+i+eat&qid=1614011545&sprefix=Dr.+Hyman+W%2Caps%2C185&sr=8-2
 
If you are sick and tired of being deceived by these big companies and need simple, realistic tips to take control of your health, stick with me my friend!  We are in this together!

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FULL TRANSCRIPT

February 23, 2021 - Episode #55 - Part 2, What the Heck do I Eat? - Exposing Food Industry Lies
​$1.77 trillion. That stat represents how much the food industry is worth. 1.77 trillion! An industry that we're completely dependent on an industry that just wants your money. They could care less about your health. I'm doing some exposing today of this industry, because this is what you asked for after the podcast a couple of weeks ago, what the heck do I eat? Many of you stated it got your attention. You gave me some great feedback and you wanted me to go deeper on this topic. So here we go.
 
Hey there. Welcome to the Healthy Harmony podcast. I'm Jennifer Pickett, your host, your health coach, your friend. If you're ready to tap into the healthiest version of you. So you can live life with confidence and intentional harmony. Then my friend you're in the right place as a Dietitian turned Functional Medicine Health Coach. I'm here to walk beside you and show you how to take control of your complete health body, mind, and soul.
 
Before we jump into today's podcast, I have to share because it's one of my soapboxes and I have a feeling it's yours too. Does this frustrate you? You're looking for solid health advice. You need info. You need some community, some accountability, some support, you know, you need to take control of your health. So you start researching. You're scrolling on Facebook, on Instagram, on some websites or blogs and eventually you land on some popular influencers page. And the advice that you see there is so complicated, so intense and just unrealistic. You're a wife and a mom and you're working and you're trying to juggle all the things you don't have time for a complicated or a stressful health plan. This has happened to me way too many times. And I've wondered like, where did the moms like me go? Where can we go and share health information?

That's not extreme that doesn't make me feel guilty or ashamed. Wait, where can we go? So you know what I've done? I have created a community, a tribe on Facebook, just for us, a place for support, accountability, encouragement, solid information, and yes, even fun. And laughter it's a safe space just for us to share our struggles, ask questions and celebrate wins. The group is called functional medicine for weight loss, body, mind, and soul wellness for women. And if you looking for simple and realistic answers to losing weight and feeling great, this is it. If you're tired of losing weight only to regain it, this is for you together. We're going to use a functional medicine approach of addressing those root issues and helping you identify the obstacles that have been holding you back. If you're tired of feeling deprived and ready to ditch the diet and find freedom from all of the fads, this group is for you.

Here's what I love the most. There's no guilt and no shame, just simple, realistic encouragement to help you live life to the fullest has your friend who happens to be a Dietitian turned Functional Medicine Health Coach. I want to empower you to live confidently in intentional harmony. Remember intentional harmony equals physical health, mental and emotional health and spiritual health. This Facebook tribe is just for us girls and it's going to feature secrets to lasting weight loss, easy, healthy recipes and meal ideas, anti diet, nutrition tips, holistic body, mind, and soul training and education free wellness classes. Weekly Facebook lives answering your questions, fun gifts because gifts is my love language and inspiration and motivation. In addition to accountability and support. Do I have your attention yet? Is this what you've been looking for? Are you ready to check out this amazing community, go to bit.ly/FMwomenswellness again, that's Bitly forward slash F M women's wellness, and you will be able to join that Facebook group.

And by the way, to make this really easy, I will have it in the show notes.

Let’s get started because this will be a surprising and eye opening podcast for you. I'm going to reveal some things that the food companies do not want you to know. The goal of this is to open your eyes, not to make you feel guilty are repeat not to make you feel guilty as moms, we feel guilty enough and especially when it comes to our kids and our family's health. And I know from my own personal experience in working with lots of women, you can't move forward when you're held back by guilt and shame. So we're going to let go of the past. All of the food purchases we've made in the past. I don't want you to feel guilty about realize you can't go back, but maybe we need to make some adjustments on what we're buying on a regular basis.

Bottom line is the food industry does not absolutely does not care about your health. All they care about is money. That's it. So for years now they've been adding things to food for one purpose, and that is to make that product shelf stable. So it can sit there a awhile. It's all about the bottom line. These food additives are destroying our health. Now of course, of course they don't want us to know this. Oh no, this is where they're using brilliant marketing. Marketing solely meant to deceive you so that you think they care about you and that the product is good for you. You think it's healthy. So you just grab it and buy it. Ready for me to reveal the big secret the big lie?  It's called health washing. By definition, health washing is adding marketing and health claims to the packaging, which imply a product is healthier or more nutrient dense than it actually is.

A second definition reveals that health washing is when companies add synthetic or processed additives to the food again, to make it appear healthier than it actually is. These activities of health washing are rampant with big companies and groups that want to position themselves as leaders in the crusade for good health, all the wow engaging in these despicable practices that are contributing to our poor health. Okay. Ever like look around in the produce section and wonder why the items in the produce aisle aren't plastered with marketing claims. Well, it's kind of hard to load up an avocado or a head of broccoli with fancy graphics or popular buzzwords. I mean, there's no room, right? And it, but it's really easy to do this, incredibly easy to do this on a box a can or a package. You know, I've heard it said that scientists could not invent a more perfect diet than the standard American diet, which is called sad by the way, the standard American diet.

If the goal was to produce disease in a population, what we eat really does affect us. So health washing the strategy, this works because so many of us are struggling with our health. We're overweight, we're sick, we're tired all the time. And we're stressed. We're looking for a quick, easy fix to solve our health problems. They're taking our struggles and our stress and they're manipulating that. So here's a quick story for you. This is years ago and my daughter and I were at the gym, a very large gym in North Texas. It had a fantastic reputation and they had a little cafe in that gym. And so I thought, well, good. We'll grab a snack. Maddie was asking for a snack after we finished working out. And we go in there and I'm thinking good. They should have some good, like healthy selections in here because it's a cafe inside a gym after all.

Well I'm looking on the counter there and they have pop tarts and I'm like, what? Like what in the world? Why would you have pop tarts in a healthy like gym? Like, I mean, that doesn't make sense to me. And then I saw the word, whole grain. They were whole grain pop tarts. Y'all can I just tell you whole grain crap is still crap. Okay. And pop tarts. Yes. They're crap. They are junky as all get out. And I was shocked to see that this cafe in the gym was offering whole grain, pop tarts. Now I don't know what happened. I did try to make my opinion known because you know, me and honestly they didn't care. They said the cafe was owned independently at the gym. And I was like, well, people don't realize that. So it was just shocking to me, but that's a great example of health washing.

So I want us to look at some, a list of terms that are commonly used for health washing gluten free, low fat, low calorie. Fat-Free, sugar-free, natural or 100% natural, fortified with calcium vitamin D vitamin C, made with real ingredients, made with real fruit, low sodium, cholesterol free, source of fiber, source of probiotics. One of my favorites. Source of Omega threes, free from you name it, artificial colors, artificial flavors, dairy free, vegan. It's so interesting.

Some terms like natural are completely unregulated and really doesn't have much meaning, but man, it gets our attention, right. You know, health wise thing can draw attention to the benefits of a nutrient like fortified with a full serving of Omega threes in an attempt to make us believe that it's healthy, but just because it has an additive in there and that additive could be a nutrient. It doesn't negate all the other health destroying ingredients that are also in that food.

So something could be low in sugar or sugar-free, but still be chock full of artificial sweeteners. Let's talk cereal. A box of cereal can be fortified with vitamins, but loaded with junk. Look at the marketing for cereal ever get confused?  Of course you do. They say they've added some vitamins or it has whole grains or it's heart-healthy and you mistakenly believe, Hey, it's a good choice. Or maybe it's a better choice than the other one. And then notice the placement on the shelves. You've heard this before. Those loaded with sugar, junkie cereals, they're lower on the shelves. They're on the lower shelves. It's eye level for kids. By the way, while we are on this subject, the worst breakfast you can have is milk and cereal. You're setting yourself up for a blood sugar disaster. The sugar in the cereal is massive. The milk has carbohydrates.
All of that dumped in your system at one time, causing a blood sugar spike and then a crash. How do you feel? You feel like crap. Okay. Speaking of blood sugar disaster, let's talk about that glorious health claim of gluten-free. Well, gluten free should be really good for you, right? Well, here's some things you need to consider. Gluten-Free can still be full of sugar, meaning it's a glycemic nightmare because what they do with gluten-free products, these processed products is they're stripping away the wheat containing products, and they're filling it up with corn starch and potato starch, et cetera. So it's a glycemic nightmare. All of that starch like sugar causes a blood sugar spike. What goes up must come down now. Why is this blood sugar roller coaster such a disaster? Let me put it this way. You ate something that dramatically affects your blood sugar and you have a high blood sugar.

Then you have a low blood sugar. You have elevated adrenaline and elevated cortisol output. Long-Term that elevated cortisol output equals chronic disease, heart disease, obesity, inflammation, diabetes, cancer. Just to name a few. How about some of these other claims out there? These other health washing claims low sodium. Oh, it must be good for you if it says low sodium. I know I don't need to be getting a lot of salt, but it can say low sodium and still contain MSG. You've heard me talk about MSG before it is an additive, a flavor additive, and it's a disaster having a hard time finding ranch dressing without MSG. Yeah, it's amazing. Right? It tastes good. And it keeps you coming back for more. Some of us have a particular aversion to MSG, but others I'm just going to tell you, it's just not good for you.

So when my son JD was playing baseball, you know, all the kids love those little, those sunflower seeds. And so they have flavored sunflower seeds. And so I thought, Oh yeah, no big deal. I mean, I'm just going to give him some sunflower seeds and I'm sure it's okay. Well, I, again looked at the back of the package and started looking at all the ingredients and sunflower seeds now has really confused. There was all these chemicals and then I saw it monosodium glutamate. So it was in the ranch flavored sunflowers seeds, that dill pickle flavored, sunflower seeds, like and how does that affect your performance on the field? You've got to consider this. And it's funny because you would think that sunflower seeds is just so innocent. What if it contains a vegan label? That's a wonderful example of health washing.

The vegan is just means that it doesn't contain animal products. That's it? It can still contain all sorts of junk and be loaded with sugar and chemicals. So isn't that an opening? Like what are you thinking of right now as you're kind of like listening to this and thinking about what's in your pantry, what are some of those claims on those boxes and own those cans that you're like, wait a minute, I need to look into this.
So today I'm giving you six tips to detect health washing.

Number one, read the ingredients, look at that ingredient list on the back of that package. And look at those words, can you even pronounce those? Do you need a chemistry degree to try to decipher what those terms are? Is it a long list of unrecognizable ingredients, full of chemical sounding names and artificial flavors, artificial colors, just chemical junk.

Okay. Maybe not the best idea. So mamas and know you can relate to this. You know, we try to teach our kids good nutrition and I've tried to teach my kids, but also I want my kids to be empowered, to make good choices on their own and I want them to learn. So you can imagine my absolute glee when Madeline came home from high school, one day, she's a sophomore. And tell me about a project for her chemistry class. The teacher had asked them to choose a food additive and research that food additive, what does it do in the body? And where is it found? So Madeline choose yellow number five, a very common food dye, yellow number five. So I didn't, I was hands-off. I did good. And I let her do the project on her own. And after she was finished, we were looking this over and she had her research on the poster board.
She had the pictures of the, and I was like, okay, tell me, like, what do you think? I mean, I'm just all like I'm salivating. Cause I'm so ready to get into it with her. And I was like, what'd you think? Were you just shocked? And she said, well, not really. I've heard it from you before. I was like, yes you have. And so she said she wasn't shocked, but I said, okay, so fine. What, what stood out to you the most? What, you know, what kind of impacted you through this, this project and what you learned? And she said, well, it causes cancer. And it's in all these products, everything from, I mean the obvious ones, of course, M&M’s and Skittles and sour patch kids and Doritos, some of their favorite things and it causes cancer. She was surprised to see that it's even in things that aren't yellow, isn't that interesting in drinks that she did not expect, like lemonade hands off the lemonade, right?

So I want to emphasize something here. There are, that was, that was just yellow. Number five. And her eyes were opened through that project. But I want you to do your own project. I want you to look in your pantry, look at the things that are in there. What kind of food dyes are you seeing? Are you seeing, you know, other food dyes, the yellow, the red, the blue, and they all have numbers. There's a bunch of food dyes out there, and this can be the topic of a whole other podcast. Y'all but I want to give you a little bit of information here really quick. The main dangers of these food colors, hyperactivity, including ADHD, behavioral changes, irritability, depression allergies, hives, asthma tumor growth, three of the primary food dyes contain benzene. That is a known cancer causing substance. So where are these food dyes found?
Now? Obviously it's in some of these. I mean, some of it's just absolutely evident, right? I mean, we can look at some of these neon colored beverages and brightly colored candy and be like, okay, I get it. That is full of food dyes. But it's also in things that you wouldn't necessarily expect chips, I'm looking at you [inaudible] drinks like Gatorade. So my son JD, because we had talked about food dyes. So when he chose a Gatorade, he chose a white Gatorade. And I was like, okay. He said, mom, I chose this one. Cause it doesn't have the food dyes. And I was like, okay, good. But like, look at, look at the label, tell me what's in it. Sure enough. They put their dyes in there to make it white. Thank you. And it's also in places that you would never expect listen to this list.

Oatmeal, Brown cereal, whole wheat pizza, crust, white. I saying salad dressing, canned fruit. Hello. Fruit is already colored, canned fruit, yogurt, pickles. Look, man, don't be messing with the pickles. Cereal, protein bars, shakes, smoothies, soups, bullion, cubes, gravy. Of course the water enhancers like crystal light, Neo flavored applesauce. And finally another one. And this is not a comprehensive list. Vitamins. What's in the vitamins that you're taking every day. What's in the vitamins that you give your kids every day. Thank you Flintstone. You're a main, they're adding so much junk to these things that it is completely negating any type of nutritional benefit that you could be getting. Now, in case you're wondering Jennifer, you're going off on a soap box in case you're wondering what the FDA says. If you care at this point, the FDA always says, there's no conclusive evidence, more tests need to be done.

That's always their answer. Okay? So they're not going to be banning these sayings anytime soon, because again, money talks and the food companies are in control. So as we look at all this, what is the answer? It comes down to what we're doing. Most of the time, eating real food. We need to eat real food most of the time and realize that real food doesn't have ingredients. You don't see a list of ingredients on that Apple and the produce section, no real food. Doesn't have ingredients. Real food is ingredients. You get it. Okay.

Number two, where are the ingredients splitting? Okay. So the ingredient list, remember the list of ingredients is by weight. It is greatest to least. So a very common trick that they're using with health washing is to split those ingredients. Give it another name so that use other words so that it can deceive you.

This is very, very common with sugar. Oh yes. There are over 50 words that are commonly used to describe sugar on an ingredient list. So they're going to use different words like glucose, fructose, corn syrup, et cetera, so that they can break it up. And it's not all in one place. Okay. So it's very, very deceptive and they are literally daily working to come up with new names, to describe sugar, bottom line, it's still sugar.

Number three, be wary about the nutrition label or the nutrition facts panel. Now this is coming from a Dietitian turned Functional Medicine Health coach who has been teaching the food label for many, many years. And I always hated it because it's so confusing. Here's where I'm at right now. First of all, you need to realize that a nutrition label is mandated by the government. Honestly, I could just stop there.

And it's so very confusing. If you've been on a weight loss journey, for instance, you've been programmed to look at the calories. Here's some insight on calories. It is a crazy way to measure a fuel count. They've used something called a bomb collimator and without going into all the details and the science of it, a calorie is a very obscure measurement of how healthy something is. Not all calories are created equal. And the bottom line is we don't burn calories in the same way. Calorie burn is affected by if you're a male, if you're female, how hot or how cold it is outside, how old you are physical, is there exertion how well we slept and breastfeeding. All of those things affect calorie. Burn calories is just not a good indication of what your body can use to properly function. It's the quality of the food that you eat that affects your metabolism.

It gives your body information. Those nutrition labels. It's just a confusing distraction. It's not really helping you. So for most of your foods, choose those real foods that don't need a label. And sister, let me free you because I want you to live in freedom. If you're counting calories, stop, it is not going to work. It is not going to work. And that's the subject of a whole other podcast.

Let's move on to number four, the bigger the claim, the more health washed that product is, but where are those big empty promises? The bigger the labels that the last year, the health claim, the more skeptical you need to be, what are they trying to mask? The reality is that real foods speak for themselves.

Number five, be aware of food claims that are recognized by government organization. I think we've all seen this year. The government does not care about your health and wellbeing. Let me tell you it's all about power and money and control and politics. Big food companies, big pharma companies are in bed with our government. In fact, if you look closer at this, you'll see that Europe for instance has much higher standards than the U S we allow so many harmful additives that Europe has panned for years. This is especially true with food and wine and even skincare. Now, if you want to go a lot deeper into this subject food claims and and how disastrous the food industry is in a lot of the deceptive practices that have taken place. I want to reference you and refer you to Mark comment's book, Dr. Mark Harmon. And he wrote a book called food. What the heck do I eat? Fantastic book, very thick book. But if you're one of those people like me and you like to go deeper, I think you should read that book.

Number six, the last one ensure that most of your food doesn't come in packaging that carry these deceptive health claims. So eat real foods. Remember we're shopping the perimeter of the grocery store, spending a vast majority of our time in the produce section. Even better to shop locally from local farmers, if possible, eat real foods. Now I touched on this in the last podcast. What the heck do I eat? So I'm going to reference that in the show notes. So if you have not heard it, I want you to go back and listen to that one, because this is part two. So you're going to love how those go together. As we wrap up, I want to remind you the simplest advice can often be the best advice, eat real food. Don't allow those big food companies to dictate your health. Yes. I have some smaller brand names that I trust that are good.

And I know they're good for me. I just want you to start to be aware of what you're buying on a regular basis. And most importantly, be mindful of how you feel after you eat certain pre-packaged fast and convenient foods. We need to teach our kids to be mindful and listen to their body. How do they feel after eating certain foods? Because mindfulness is that starting shift towards being intentional. Do you have little athletes at home? Use that as a strategy to encourage them to be mindful and listen to their bodies? How do they feel after eating certain foods? You know, I get to walk clients through this health journey of mindful to intentional with not just them, but their whole family. And let me tell you, it works. This is where it's at for long lasting change. So if you need help for you for your family, Hey, I've got you book a one hour virtual session, so you can get that personalized help you need again.

I'll put the link right here. So where are you at? Girl? Has this podcast struck a chord with you? Hate let's talk about it. Let's discuss it. Join our tribe, functional medicine for weight loss, body, mind, soul wellness for women on Facebook, access it at Bitly/FMwomenswellness. And what's around the group. We're going to be taking a look and sat our pantries and posting pics of these outrageous health washing claims. It is your chance to ask questions. And then we're going to share some of our favorite trustworthy brands. I'm telling you this Facebook page is where it's at my friends, and I will see you there.

Be sure and join me next week for one of my most fabulous guests ever Stephanie Gass. She is the host of the top ranked podcast, the Mompreneur Mastermind show. And we're be, we'll be discussing, tapping into your intention in your work, your motherhood and your health. You are not going to want to miss this, my friends. So until then, eat some real food and stay encouraged. We're in this together. Bye y'all.