THE CAUSES OF OBESITY: PHYSIOLOGICAL CRAVINGS - DENATURED FOOD AND NUTRIENT DEFICIENCIES

By altering the natural foods that have sustained us for thousands of years, we are harming ourselves more than we realize. Attractive packaging and titillating tastes should not deceive us into believing that we are eating anything of substance nutritionally. The food business places nutrition low on its list of priorities, and even attempts to fortify foods with vitamins are paltry compared to nature's offerings.

Dr. Donald Davis, a research associate at the University of Texas at Austin, notes that the whole foods that have sustained us for thousands of years have a complex metabolic machinery very similar to our own. When we eat plants, we ingest the amino acids, vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, fiber, and fatty acids that our cells need. Processing, though, destroys this natural synergy. For instance, when sugar is separated out from the sugar cane or beets, the nutritious elements of these plants are destroyed. Similarly bran and germ, the most important parts of wheat and rice, are removed when white flour or white rice are made. When oils are extracted from beans and vegetables, their wholesome value is destroyed by heat, light, and the addition of heavy solvents. "If you think about that a minute," Davis states, "sugar, shortening, and white flour is the basic recipe for a cookie. The sad fact is that Americans, on average, get close to two-thirds of their calories every day from those three things. Basically, we're getting 1,500 calories a day from cookies and missing a tremendous number of vital nutrients."

Processed foods have long been endorsed by governments as an inexpensive way to feed large populations. Since the mid-1800s, when food manufacturing techniques were first introduced, the world's population has grown to depend more and more on these products. Davis surmises that the results of this trend will do more harm than good. "You could not convince any farmer to feed mostly cookies to his animals," says Davis. "The animals would undoubtedly become sick and die. The strange fact is that we can tolerate a great deal more ill health among humans than farmers could ever afford in their animals."

Another problem is that a lot of food eaten in diet typical American diet is grown in nutrient-depleted soil, and as a result we lose the full spectrum of minerals so important for good health and metabolic balance. Food does not "grow" minerals. A food can get its minerals only by absorbing whatever is in the soil. Throughout the ages, plants have benefited from the natural process of decay that creates mineral-rich soil. Today, though, modern agricultural practices, such as monocrop farming, strip the soil, and thus our food, of some of their mineral content. Ways to counteract this are choosing organic produce when possible, because organic farmers practice environmentally conscious agriculture, and eating sea vegetables, which have been called "mineral concentrators" because of the way they absorb these elements from sea water. But most people don't do these things, and so most are not getting the minerals they should.

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