Colour me stupid but what is so special about Burger King? I GET that burgers are tasty. I also GET that fast food is convenient at times if you aren't as fussy as me. (Personally, I'd rather push through the hunger until I find something better.) I just don't understand how a burger, made in a fast food joint like Burger King, could possibly be more appealing than a burger made in your own kitchen, thereby giving you power over the ingredients IN said burger. In fact, Burger King is SO appealing to people, that they actually woke up early to go and queue outside Burger King hours before it opened when they could have actually used that time to make themselves a lunch that would have saved them, not only petrol and time, but also a possible heart attack, or some dread disease, later in life.
Recently, Burger King had to come clean, during the horsemeat scandal, and admit that they used horsemeat in their burgers. They only came clean AFTER DNA evidence was found proving that they were using horsemeat, and they were forced to admit to it and apologise for denying it only hours before. Too late, she cried? Apparently not according to the thousands queuing outside of Burger King this morning! It's scary to think that fast food eaters have no CLUE what they are eating, nor do they seem to care.
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| Mmm, delicious... |
There are two possibilities here: One is that Burger King knowingly lied about the horsemeat in order to protect their own profit margins regardless of the harm they might be causing OR the other possibility is that Burger King literally had NO idea that their food contained horsemeat and are innocent of the lies... BUT that makes them ignorant about their own food so I'm not actually sure which is worse.
There are any number of scarily, toxic chemicals in most fast foods and if Burger King, and its clientele, are clueless about the horsemeat in their own burgers, how can they say they have been honest when listing the nutritional value of their burgers on their website? How can any of their clients trust that the nutritional breakdown on their website, is accurate? And if Burger King actually ARE aware of the horsemeat, then the nutritional breakdown on their website is null and void because they haven't declared it there and that means they have lied. Of course, I think we can safely say that they haven't declared it because they KNOW that you won't want to eat burgers made of horsemeat and so they'd rather lie to you and not lose your money. Where are the ethics there?
Unfortunately, horsemeat is actually the least of your worries when it comes to fast food. Here is a list of some of the ingredients NOT listed in the nutritional breakdown on their websites:
- sodium phosphates
- bleached wheat flour
- modified food starch
- dextrose (sugar)
- partially hydrogenated soybean oil and cottonseed oil with mono-and diglycerides, (read: trans fats)
- Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil) (read: trans fats)
- TBHQ, tertiary butylhydroquinone, a petroleium derived product
- Dimethylpolysiloxane
The ONLY things that most of us will recognise as "food" on that list, are the bleached wheat flour, the sugar and the vegetable oil. Bleached wheat flour has been sucked DRY of any nutrients that it might have had to start with. Can someone tell me WHY anyone would do that? You not only remove the nutrients, but you kill any flavour it might have had to start with and you might as well add talcum powder to the burger instead. There is also the issue that your body breaks down the white flour into glucose extremely fast and so you tend to store more of it as fat.
As for sugar, we eat that all the time right? Surely it can't be THAT bad? Well, let's see how bad it can be:
- Bad bacteria LOVE to eat sugar, so sugar can depress your immune system by fueling the bad bacteria
- Sugar contributes to infertility
- Sugars raises blood glucose levels, which can deteriorate blood vessels and lead to heart disease
- Sugar can increase your risk of cancer. Some believe it can CAUSE cancer. Read this article to really blow your mind!
- Sugar contributes to candida, which MANY women suffer from, especially IBS sufferers.
- Sugar cravings are related to stress and the cravings are self-sustaining. (Meaning when you eat sugar because you’re stressed, you’re going to end up wanting more sugar when the stress returns.) Vicious cycle anyone?
- Sugar is addictive. Lisa Byrne says it best in her workbook, Break the Sugar Habit: “Refined, white sugar acts more like a drug than a food in our system…but it started as a whole plant. The sugar cane and beet plant in nature come complete with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytochemicals like any other plant. When glucose is part of the whole plant, it acts like a food in your body -- entering our system calmly, breaking down slowly and providing a range of nutrients in addition to energy. When glucose is isolated, sugar acts like a drug in your body. Too much refined sugar creates a cycle of intense highs and lows, keeping our blood sugar, hormones and neurotransmitters out of balance.
Ok, so sugar = not good! How about those vegetable oils? We've been told that they're good, right? Margarine is made out of vegetable oils and we are supposed to eat that instead of butter to lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease aren't we?
That would be... WRONG!
One of the (many) problems with vegetable oils is that, unlike butter or coconut oil, vegetable oils can’t be extracted just by pressing or separating naturally. They have to be chemically removed, deodorised and altered. Vegetable oils are some of the most chemically altered foods in our diets and yet they get promoted as healthy. What's frightening is that they are found in pretty much EVERY processed food, from salad dressing to mayonnaise (and fast foods) and even on the "healthy" nuts and seeds you buy (look at the ingredients).
The last few times I've been in Durban, lately, I've heard an advert punting Canola margarine as a healthy alternative. It's practically on repeat and I get so mad when I hear it I turn off the radio! Here is the scary thing about Canola oil:
- It was developed by making a hybrid version of the rapeseed, and it was given its name in the 1980s as part of a marketing effort organised by a conference on mono-saturates.
- Rapeseed oil contains high amounts of the toxic erucic acid, which is poisonous to the body. (it has been linked to the formation of fatty deposits in heart muscles in animals) Canola oil is an altered version, also called Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed and it is commonly genetically modified and treated with high levels of pesticides.
- Canola (modified rapeseed oil) is produced by heating the rapeseed and processing it with a petroleum solvent to extract the oil. Then another process of heat and an addition of acid is used to remove nasty solids (wax) that occur during the first processing.
- At this point, the newly created canola oil must be treated with yet MORE chemicals to improve the colour and separate the different parts of the oil. Finally, because the chemical process has created a horrible smelling oil, it must be chemically deodorised to be palatable!
- If the vegetable oil is going to be made into margarine, it undergoes an additional process called hydrogenation to make it solid at cold temperatures. Unlike saturated fats (butter, coconut oil, etc) vegetable oils are not naturally solid at these temperatures and must be hydrogenated to accomplish this. During this process of hydrogenation, those lovely transfats we’ve heard so much about, are created.
Still thinking about that Burger? Did I go through all the other stuff listed that we DIDN'T recognise?
- Sodium phosphates: According to web definitions: phosphate of sodium is used as a laxative to cleanse the bowels...
- Food starch is usually modified via a chemical process and is used in most processed foods
- TBHQ or Tertiary Butylhydroquinone is found in many foods, ranging from crackers to crisps to fast foods. It is also found in certain brands of pet foods, as well as in cosmetic and baby skincare products, varnish, lacquers and resins and it is used in the stabilisation process of explosive compounds... and you want to eat it because... ?!
- Dimethylpolysiloxane is an antifoaming agent (a form of silicone used in cosmetics, and Silly Putty) It is also found in diet coke, sprite etc.
Some people will read this and say, "So what? Life is short and I want to enjoy it! My parents ate all this stuff and they're ok! But are they really? I challenge you to say you don't know a single person who has cancer or heart disease or diabetes or some other physical ailment. Ageing prematurely also counts. If it's no-one in your immediate circle, then there will be someone who you've met through someone close to you. Doctors will tell you that these diseases are genetic. I will agree that some people ARE genetically predisposed to some diseases. BUT I also believe that it is our lifestyle that will determine whether we get those diseases or not. You are not powerless unless you choose to be.
So, you have a choice here. To continue to live in ignorance, despite having the knowledge at your fingertips, or to begin to affect a change, not only in your life, but in the lives of those close to you. The choices you make will affect your children, and your children's children. Look what happened when food became a booming industry and people realised how much money could be made by deceiving the masses. Our parents were told that eating certain processed foods was much better than eating real food and THEY bought into it. So WE bought into it. That's the power of advertising.
But I also believe in the power of the influence we have on those around us. So it's up to us whether we choose to continue that legacy, or to affect a change. We need to start a food revolution. That's what I'm doing here and I can see the change happening in people around me and it gives me a great amount of hope. By looking after ourselves, we are also looking after those close to us, AND a great side benefit is that we go easier on our planet too. It's a win-win situation:)
That's enough of that! Tomorrow is THE REAL FOOD FRIDAY FEAST and I'm finally going to share that banana bread recipe I've been talking so much about! I happened to spot a banana bread loaf in a grocery store yesterday and, out of interest, I peeked at the ingredients. All I can say is, it wasn't far removed from a fast food burger! Wouldn't it be nice to eat a banana bread that, you know, was actually good for you? Bet you always thought ANY cakes were cheat meals destined to land on your thighs and hips and you needed 3 gym sessions to work them off! Not this banana bread, I guarantee!
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| Can I get a YUM!? |
Don't miss tomorrow's post;)
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