Reducing Dietary Junk – BionicOldGuy inkeinspires

I just read the book Ultra transmitted peopleBy Chris Van Tulleken, on the large quantity of highly transformed food in our modern diets, which I recommend. I had always experienced obvious types of treatment such as transforming wheat into white flour by removing the germ and sound, then crushing the rest. But the author puts more emphasis on things in our food that sounds more as if they have come out of a test tube than a garden, like xanthan gum or monoglycerides. Highly processed foods have three main effects, the first is the elimination of nutrient components such as wheat germ, the second is “predigestion”, for example the crushing of fruit in a smoothie that decomposes cell walls. The third is the additives. I always thought that the first two were the most important, which is why brown rice is preferred to white or an apple with apple juice. But the author gives convincing evidence that additives are not good either for us. It also traces the history of how large food companies like Nestlé have recently opened a new market for their products in Brazil, and how it has led to a significant increase in the obesity of the population.

It is difficult to rid your diet entirely of ultra-transformed food, unless you are a good cook and you can prepare most of your meals from zero. But it is certainly possible to reduce. A great food contributor who is too transformed in my diet is “treats” like cookies or candies, and I can certainly try to be more disciplined to eat those less often. In addition, there are “shops” brands of commercial foods such as soups and Chile which have better quality ingredients and fewer additives. These can be consumed directly or used as the start of stews or pots. Boutique brands are more expensive, but the money I save on the consumption of fewer treats can make the difference. Reading this book motivated me to try stronger on measures like these.