Ahhhh, now there’s a topic I love writing about — the true meaning of healthy eating. Before I actually start sharing the healthiest foods to eat, though, I want to discuss the current state of what is considered food in the U.S. (and most other industrialized countries) versus what our bodies need.

There was a time even just 50-60 years ago where it was perfectly normal for people to eat plenty of whole foods every day — meaning unrefined foods that are still in the state nature intended. For example, corn was served as corn and not refined into corn oil, high fructose corn syrup and corn starch, all of which are virtually nutritionless and should be avoided (despite those asinine corn syrup commercials funded by, you guessed it, the Corn Refiners Association, who might be just a wee bit biased and want your money). Sure, it was common to serve up too much meat and not enough green veggies, and certainly people made cakes and pies out of refined foods like white flour (which is highly refined to the point that the U.S. government requires that wheat manufacturers add back in a few vitamins and minerals just to bring it up to very minimal nutritional standards) and sugar.

But still — folks ate much less refined food then. And in previous generations, there was even less refined food available.

Essentially, prior to the 1950s, the human body simply didn’t have to cope with many refined or engineered foods, meaning that there have been huge numbers of generations of humans that never had to deal with the stress of unhealthy refined foods.

When food changed to “food”

Fast forward to the 1950s and 60s, though. Though SPAM, that finest of processed meats, had already been introduced in 1937, the 50s and 60s were a boom time for scary engineered foods like Tang and Cool Whip. In fact, in researching the origin of Cool Whip, whose ingredients list is a horror story the likes of which I haven’t seen in a long time (I do have tunnel vision at the grocery store, I have to admit — I go there seeking actual nutritious food!), I learned that a food chemist created Cool Whip for Birds Eye in 1967.

A food chemist. Not a chef. A chemist. Who made a new “food” out of chemicals. Notice I said “food,” not food. I don’t consider Cool Whip something humans should consume (nor any other species, for that matter).

In fact, let’s take a look at the ingredients in Cool Whip so that you can see what I’m talking about. According to the Kraft website, regular Cool Whip whipped topping contains the following:

water, corn syrup, hydrogenated vegetable oil (coconut and palm kernel oils), high fructose corn syrup, less than 2% of sodium caseinate (from milk), natural and artificial flavor, xanthan and guar gums, polysorbate 60, sorbitan monostearate, beta carotene (color)

Analyzing Cool Whip is like shooting fish in a barrel, but I’ll do it anyway for those of you reading who aren’t quite the food nerd I am.

We’ll skip the water, of course, but corn syrup is the second ingredient. There are all sorts of reasons why corn syrup is bad, such as low nutrient level for the ingredient that is really the first actual item containing any calories and the fact that widespread use of corn syrup has led to epidemic numbers of corn allergies (I happen to be allergic to corn, likely due to huge corn syrup/high fructose corn syrup consumption in my younger years).

Next let’s consider hydrogenated vegetable oil. Trans fat central. Given that trans fats are linked with many types of cancer, it’s best never to consume them. And so far, we have a “food” created from water, a sugar of sorts and an engineered high-cholesterol carcinogen.

The following ingredient is, again, another form of corn syrup — this time the high-fructose kind, meaning it’s just that much sweeter and an even more heavily concentrated form of sugar.

Now to the “less than 2%” items: sodium caseinate is a milk derivative. I’m not going to get into the dangers of consuming dairy today because this really needs a full article all unto itself (and if you want a little dairy and aren’t sensitive to it, that’s your choice). But those who are allergic to dairy may react to this chemical, which isn’t actual milk. (I’d personally be happier to see actual milk in the Cool Whip than this insanely refined chemical coming from it.)

Natural and artificial flavor isn’t so awful, though the less artificial flavoring, the better. And they don’t tell you which flavorings they use either, which can be risky because the way the law is written, manufacturers of “food” can call a flavoring natural if it comes, for example, from wood (from which artificial strawberry flavoring often is made). I tend to steer clear of anything with mystery flavorings personally because there are plenty of hidden goodies (or is that baddies?) that I’m not willing to risk eating.

Xanthan and guar gums are harmless if consumed in moderation and only add to the smooth texture. But polysorbate 60 and sorbitan monostearate? Polysorbate 60 happens to be a major ingredient in sexual lubricants, i.e., not something you necessarily should eat! And sorbitan monostearate is equally bizarre (though not nearly as funny).

According to Wikipedia (not the best source ever, but the most succinct and corroborated by more technical sites):

It is [...] employed to create synthetic fibers, metal machining fluid, brighteners in the leather industry, as an emulsifier in coatings, in pesticides, and in various applications in the plastics, food and cosmetics industries.

Last but not least, beta carotene is a precursor of vitamin A, which should be good, right? We all know that vitamin A is healthy. But did you know that vitamin A is only healthy when it’s consumed from whole foods? In a groundbreaking study on beta carotene (and therefore vitamin A), researchers found that when patients with lung cancer took supplements of beta carotene, not only did the rate of lung cancer get worse, but the overall rate of all cancers increased significantly. In studies in which cancer patients were asked to consume high amounts of foods containing beta carotene (such as carrots, sweet potatoes and dark, leafy greens), cancer rates dropped significantly. In other words, it’s fine — even highly beneficial — to consume plenty of beta carotene or vitamin A if it comes from whole foods, but not from supplements.

I don’t even want to begin to fathom the process it must take to make all those chemicals combine to make the fluffy goo that is Cool Whip.

Where this is heading

I grant you that Cool Whip is something no one would consider healthy, but one look at the ingredients list on most packaged foods in the U.S. shows an equally frightful list of chemicals instead of actual food ingredients.

Even so called “healthy” items like veggie burgers aren’t exempt. The ingredients in the All American Flame Grilled BOCA Burgers are as follows:

water, soy protein concentrate, reduced fat cheddar cheese (pasteurized part skim milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes, annato [color], vitamin A palmitate), wheat gluten, contains less than 2% of methylcellulose, salt, yeast extract, cheese powder (cheddar cheese [milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes], cream, salt, lactic acid), dried onions, natural flavor (non-meat), caramel color, sesame oil, browned in corn oil

Not only is that a terrible list of ingredients; I’d also be surprised if they are truly vegetarian because cheese culture is typically not vegetarian unless specified. (I’m open for corrections here, folks! I just couldn’t find any verification that they use a vegetarian culture, and it’s really rare for a company not to claim this if they can.)

The problem is that when you purchase nearly any processed food of any kind, you’re vulnerable to whatever they put in there to make that “food” prettier, more consistent, able to brown more easily and so forth. That’s why food chemists are involved — because it’s a chemical experiment to see how they can create a product that can last and last on shelves or in the freezer section without spoiling.

Our bodies are designed for actual food

As mentioned previously, the human species has only been exposed to these crazy manufactured foods for a very short time in the scheme of things, and while eating most of these junk foods once in a while won’t kill you, most people consume them daily. The human body does what it can to adapt to these nonfood “foods,” but realistically, the result isn’t good. Everything from heart disease to type II diabetes and strokes is on the rise. Obesity has gone up exponentially in the last couple decades. These are all things that are completely preventable with diet if you are willing to switch to a truly healthful way of eating in many, if not most cases.

I can easily imagine that when enough generations have passed, there might be a group of people who can tolerate more junk food. But we are not that generation, nor will our grandchildren’s grandchilden be of that ilk either. It takes many, many generations to pass those traits down. (Certainly there are a few people — exceptions to the rule — who eat junk and live healthfully to age 100 and die peacefully, but it’s not a statistically significant number, even though we as humans like to hang onto these extremely rare cases as reasons why not to change our ways. I am personally not genetically blessed in this regard and thus have chosen to protect myself from the diseases that killed my grandparents — all diet-related, sadly.)

No, our bodies still crave actual food — the stuff that our ancestors ate for many years. And even better, we have access to a wonderful variety of food that is both delicious and allows us to regain or maintain our health, achieve our ideal weight and stop suffering from food cravings.

Stay tuned for part 2, in which I will get into the ins and outs of the healthiest way of eating.