I think we all knew that ultra processed foods were bad for us due to the lack of vital roughage, high sugar and high salt, but recent articles indicate that the negative effects are a lot more sinister. The occurrence of cancers in the under 40's has risen dramatically and medical science is pointing the finger directly at increased consumption of processed and ultra processed foods.
Thankfully Mrs Jones does not have to work and is a wonderful cook so the majority of our meals are prepared with raw ingredients and even spices are ground rather than having sat in a packet or jar for many months and maybe even bulked up with other cheaper substances. I always considered that a quick meal of pasta and sauce from a jar is so simple that it cannot be unhealthy but I was wrong and the list of chemical preservatives and flavour enhancers is long. Have a look at the ingredients in a simple shop bought sandwich. I bought one at a motorway service station and it contained six different E numbers. Why? Well of course they need to extend the shelf life for cost reasons and as a result we ingest a mixture of chemicals that exceeds the number of edible component parts.
I read an article yesterday about nutritious lunchtime food replacement drinks containing over 40 items essential for the human body. Is this better for you than a mass produced sandwich or even ultra processed soups. Well yes seems to be the answer but the experts explained that the body is unlikely to be able to absorb all these vitamins and minerals in soup form and the roughage could be ineffective. It seems that they cannot replicate the benefits of good old fashioned raw food that is chewed, swallowed and digested as nature intended.
Are lives too busy or have we become too lazy to prepare food from basic ingredients? It is probably a combination of the two issues but we may need to think again and ditch the convenience foods in order to dramatically reduce the risks of cancer in the relatively young.
It would seem logical that the human body works best on the foods that it has adapted to over hundreds of thousands of years. As the food eaten would depend on what was available at the time, it would have been berries, nuts, grains and meat and fish when available. To be a vegan is to run the risk of becoming deficient in some essentials but with care it can be achieved without negative impact on health but how many of us are as lucky as Lewis Hamilton and have a nutritionist to look after our diet?
It would seem that we need to turn the clock back and try to eat as much fresh food as possible whilst limiting animal fat but I have read so many conflicting articles on the dangers or even benefits of cholesterol that I am totally confused. I guess everything in moderation is the best that we can achieve. Eat eggs, don't eat eggs, eat eggs, don't eat eggs messaging from medical science has left me totally confused.
Mrs Jones bought a healthy looking brown seeded, sliced loaf of bread from one of the main supermarkets and it was excellent as well as seemingly healthy. After one week, I was amazed that it still seemed as fresh as the day she bought it so I looked at the ingredients and put it straight in the bin. I was eating so many preservatives that I think the loaf was capable of outliving me.
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