ClydeStyle

Category: Fruit

  • Healthwise: Doing fine in the US is cognitive dissonance

    How common is this: You’re walking someplace, and you see a friend. You say, “Hey, how are you?” And the friend says, “Fine, how are you?” For most people, this is a normal conversation which has no real meaning. It is an empty standard greeting.

    The truth of the matter is we don’t know how really bad we are doing until you change behavior and start doing better. Now, this is not a blog on healthy eating or a plea for you to change your diet. What’s this? It’s a blog on awareness with the intent to bring about change.

    Let’s start with the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has sold us a bill of goods. I thought that they were the watchdogs in the food and drug fields to make sure big pharma and food manufacturers don’t kill us in unsafe practices or substance abuse. In fact, what the FDA is doing is searching for the thin line between how many toxins the body can put up with verses the kickbacks they get for allowing mandatory minimums when it comes to our health.

    How much fecal matter can we consume before it kills us? How many insects, poisonous waste, and dangerous substances can we consume with too horrible side effects?

    It is true that the FDA doesn’t even regulate the entire food label. They only oversee the nutritional information on the back. On the front, a food maker can claim a bunch of things, and it doesn’t have to be true. They can use words like organic, wholesome, healthy, sweet, whole grain, or low sodium, and it is up to the consumer to figure out the truth.

    Much of our food is banned in other countries. Our pork, chicken, and beef don’t meet the standards outside of the US. Chicken, for example, is washed in chlorine and injected with salt water so that it weighs more when it’s being sold. Most of the food we consume has so many additives, preservatives, and other toxins that, over time, cause many diseases. Our food is so void of nutrients (about 70 percent is processed) that even if you exercised twice daily while consuming the standard American diet, it would still be harmful to you.

    We have so many degenerative diseases due to our diet that we live very unhealthy lives. Saying we’re “fine” has become a figure of speech and not a state of mind. We can not allow the FDA to be our guide. We have to seek moderation in much of what we eat, consume far more fruits and vegetables (mostly raw), get plenty of sleep, and drink plenty of spring water. Eat meat in moderation and exercise every day. This is just the start.

  • What’s up with the fresh fruit in the US?

    We are being grossly short-changed in our fruit consumption. We pay more for produce than any other nation in the world. Much like healthcare, we are charged the highest price possible, and the purchase is nowhere near the quality.

    We are told that fresh produce costs more to farm than processed foods. So for that reason we are paying a little more for our fresh produce. The problem with this is that 70 percent of our produce comes from California. Arizona and Washington are second and third, respectively, but why? There is a huge difference in living in the South than the North when it comes to produce.

    Although some produce is imported, most of the in-season fruit is grown in the South but not shared across the country. South Carolina and Florida grow very nice watermelon, but if you live in Michigan, you can only get what is shipped from Mexico. You have to really search the farmer’s markets to get something more fresh, but all the commercial grocers have horrible fruit.

    When fruit ripens, the sugar to liquid ratio increases, which is what makes it sweet. Because our government has chosen to ship our fruit from overseas, our fruit has to be picked well before it ripens so that it is more solid and hard so it can make the trip over here. By the time you are washing it off at home, all you have is some strawberry imposter that can’t get any sweeter.

    This placebo effect for produce does not have the nutrients, taste, smell, or vibrance that it had in the 70s.

    You really don’t know how bad this is until you travel outside of the country. Jamaica has more than 30 fruits grown there. Some I had never heard of, but all were absolutely delicious! Not only was the taste amazing but the cost was ridiculous! On welfare, I would be able to afford a bounty of it all.

    In totalitarian regimes, people eat what they are told they can eat. In a democracy, “we the people” are supposed to decide what they consume. I don’t know what to call what we have in America – I just not that it is worse than the other two.