From 2000-2004 I attended the University of Waterloo. I cringe to think of how many Subway footlong’s I consumed during that period. Studying at the Library, quick run out to Subway. After hockey or lacrosse, late night stop at Subway. It was cheap and convenient.

I knew that eating healthy was important to a healthy lifestyle. I was after all in a Health Studies program. However, at that time I thought that IT WAS the healthy alternative. To show you where my mind was at that point I rarely ever got the combo to avoid any sugary drink.

I remember most stores hung a sign that said owned by Doctor Associates. It’s embarrassing to admit those signs held some degree of weight in confirming my “healthy alternative” bias.

Fast forward to 2019 and I can’t stand the smell of Subway. I haven’t set foot in there for almost 15 years, but sometimes I get a waft passing through the front entrance heading into Home Depot. It makes me my stomach curl.

This isn’t an anti-Subway campaign. My story is simply to highlight the confusion and lack of information I had at that point regarding food processing, genetic modification and the impact of pesticides on our health.

A 2016 study found that the average American, Canadian and UK diet gets over 60% of their calories from Ultraprocessed foods. This is scary.

Ultraprocessed foods are manufactured industrially, with multiple ingredients for several different purposes. Some ingredients make it easier to produce, some easier to transport and prolong shelf life, some to make the food look better and some to enhance the taste. Ultraprocessed foods are ready to eat and ready to heat. This is great for the 10 corporations that control our food system, but bad for our health.

Unprocessed foods on the other hand are foods found in their natural state with no alterations, additives or chemicals.

We now know there is strong evidence that a high consumption of processed meats increases the risk of colon cancer and rectal cancer.

And a recent study published in the JAMA found that there is a dose specific relationship to consumption of processed foods and early death. Essentially the more processed foods you eat the earlier you are likely to die.

 

Although the evidence is emerging on processed foods. I don’t think this is a new concept for anyone trying to eat “clean”. Whether you lean towards Paleo, Vegan, Keto or another health conscious diet processed foods are a common enemy and have been for awhile.

Genetically modified foods (GMO’s) and pesticide use are arguably more challenging and just as big of a threat. Check out our previous blog on eating organic and evidence for a lowered risk of developing cancer.

Currently in North America, it’s not as easy as reading a label. Companies here are not required to label food as GMO. And they are not required to say how much, or what pesticides were used. Essentially we don’t know what we are eating, even if we are reading the labels.

But there is resistance building against this unfair game that is being played at our expense. Monsanto is being taken to task in the courts currently for their blatant disregard for health consequences of Glyphosate, the main weed killing component of Roundup. A recent meta-analysis of Glyphosate found an increase in the risk of Non Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) in those exposed to it by 41%.

The evidence against Glyphosate for NHL is strong. And the courts agree. On May 13, 2019 a 2 billion dollar verdict was issued against Monsanto to a married couple who both suffer from Cancer. And the lawsuits keep coming.

And the health effects are potentially much broader than Cancer. A new documentary called Secret Ingredients reveals many of the major issues surrounding GMO’s and pesticides, specifically Glyphosate. One eye opening part for me was the proposed theory of how Glyphosate alters our gut flora and may be a significant contributor to conditions such as leaky gut syndrome, auto-immune disorders, difficulty getting pregnant and Autism among many others.

After watching this documentary, my wife and I found ourselves analyzing our food purchase patterns. Generally we buy organic produce, which makes up a large part of our diet. If buying organic seems like a huge mountain to climb, start with the dirty dozen (which was updated in March of 2019)  However one item that surprised us is a specific hummus we buy, that is loaded with Glyphosate! Hummus…again you think you are making a healthy choice only to be deceived. Frustrating.

It is certainly easier to turn a blind eye to what is done to our food to get it to the shelves. And it is certainly cheaper to buy non-organic, highly processed food. But to quote Jerzy Gregorek: Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life. The pursuit of healthy eating is worth the struggle.

To boil of all this down to a simple mantra we have adopted (and expanded) from journalist Michael Pollen: Eat real food. Mostly plants. (and buy Organic and non-GMO).

 

 

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