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Food is processed and must travel to its destination: grocery store shelves in our neighborhood. Food manufacturers make sure that the food you receive is fresh and not rotting in the bag when you purchase it.
The process of hydrogenation leads to longer shelf life for foods such as oils, margarines, and shortenings so that they won't go rancid. Most refined oils are solvent extracted at high heat with harsh chemicals, then bleached and chemically treated to obtain an oil that has no color or taste. These products are used in the making of food stuffs such as breads, cakes, and cookies. On food labels, look for "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated", and then avoid them!
Hydrogenation sounds like a good thing, as no one wants to purchase rancid foods. It comes with a heavy price, though. The process of hydrogenation causes an immune damaging synthetic fat - known as a Trans fatty acid - that has been found to elevate blood cholesterol. As we know, a build-up of cholesterol can lead to heart disease.
This is putting the fat into food products. What if we just take the fat out completely?
When grocery shopping, if you see "light", "nonfat", "low fat", or "diet", a red flag should go up. Food manufacturers depend on you to continue buying their products, so they work to make sure those products taste good, keeping you coming back for more. In the case of removing the fat from a product, chances are sugar is added back in as a replacement in order to make it taste good, keeping you coming back for more. Sugar begets the craving of still more sugar, exactly what the manufacturers are counting on.
Here is where the confusion comes in. It seems it is a choice between fat-laden food products, or sugar-laden ones, and trying to decide which is the lesser of two evils.
The body requires fat, in moderation, in order to function. On its own, the body cannot manufacture enough essential fatty acids, so it needs to receive the balance of them from an outside source, from the foods you choose. Eating fat actually stimulates the burning of stored fat in your body and satiates your appetite. Without that feeling of being satiated, you will feel hungry, which leads to the unproductive cycle of overeating, as your body tries to compensate for the shortage of nutrients it is experiencing.
Which is the lesser of the two evils? Neither!
Stick with whole foods eating, the most beneficial habit you can pick up in order to provide your body with the nutrients it requires. When you eat whole foods, you are eating them as close to their natural state as possible. Whole foods eating is an exercise in moderation, giving you some fat and some sugar, but naturally. Keep in mind that the less the product is manufactured, the better quality it is. When you eat quality whole foods, you get caught up in a cycle that your body will love and reward you for, giving you greater energy and vitality.
Would you want it any other way?
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