EXPOSING (AND EVADING) GROCERY STORE FAT TRAPS
My wife recently consumed her
body weight in beef jerky. What was supposed to be light, healthy snacking
turned into an all-out eating binge. Her ravenous consumption of the stuff made
me think it must be an especially good brand. I was in a hurry when I bought it
at my local health food store – and that’s where I messed up big time. Ignoring
the label, I was caught by the number one grocery store fat trap – which was
the cause of my wife’s abnormal appetite.
A grocery store fat trap is
nothing more than a scheme designed by food manufacturers to make you eat more
of something that you think is healthy. These foods and food additives are fat
fertilizer. They are great for a company’s bottom line, but really bad for your
"bottom."
Right before she threw her
head back to dump the last crumbs of the beef jerky into her mouth, my wife
turned the bag over to read the fine-print ingredients. She gasped, "Why
the hell did you buy this! It’s loaded with high-fructose corn syrup!"
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is fat fertilizer on steroids. And she knows
it. A very fit mom, she keeps her lean and muscular build by avoiding grocery
store fat traps.
HFCS transforms people into
eating machines. Once consumed, it sets into motion a chemical cascade that
begins with spiked insulin and ends with feel-good molecules known as
"endorphins." Intoxicated by artificial feel-good, the brain is
unable to sense overeating and demands more, more, more – and the excess
calories get stored in your body.
I’ve even heard of kids
accidentally taking bites out of their fingers when under the influence of
HFCS. Worse yet, many children who overindulge in Frankenfoods that contain
HFCS and other sugars eventually become diabetic.
From beef jerky to bread
and even spaghetti sauce, HFCS has infiltrated most processed foods and turned
them into fat traps. Avoid this ingredient at all cost! But that’s not the only
trap lurking in grocery stores.
"Fat-free" labels
These hoodwink millions of
unsuspecting victims, and have been a goldmine for the food industry since 1993.
The obese seek out this label in hopes of waking up skinny. It never happens –
but that doesn’t stop them from getting ensnared over and over again. I can
hear the rationale: "It just seems so plausible. I’m fat, so I should eat
fat-free foods." Wrong.
After the fat is removed,
sugar is added. Sugar is great if you’re at a birthday party, but that’s it.
Like HFCS, it is nothing more than fat fertilizer and a heart attack waiting to
happen. Look for it listed as sucrose, dextrose, or cane sugar on the labels of
your favorite foods. Then buy something else – like an all-natural food high in
healthy fat.
Healthy fat – which you can
find in grass-fed beef, seeds, nuts, avocados, and eggs – is essential for
proper growth, development, and the maintenance of good health. It provides
your body with vital energy, without causing you to gain weight. In sharp
contrast to carbohydrates, sugar, and trans-fats, healthy fats tell your body
to burn fat and make you feel fuller quicker. Add them to your grocery list.
Artificial sweeteners
This trap gets most weekend
warriors. "Energy" bars, protein powders, and sugar-free goodies –
each and every one of them is loaded with drugs disguised as sweeteners. The
widespread belief that these nicely packaged foods and drinks are good for you
is a perfect example of how marketing strategies supersede medical science and
common sense.
Artificial sweeteners make
your body lose its natural ability to count calories. If athletes cannot
distinguish between proper eating and overeating caused by artificial flavors,
they will never reach their fat-loss or muscle-building goals, period. Exercise
becomes a waste of time. Artificial flavors include sucralose (Splenda),
aspartame, acesulfame K, saccharin, and neotame.
MSG
Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
has several aliases you should be on the lookout for, including hydrolyzed
vegetable protein, hydrolyzed protein, hydrolyzed plant protein, plant protein
extract, sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate, yeast extract, textured protein,
autolyzed yeast, and hydrolyzed oat flour.
This white, crystalline
amino acid is made in a lab and then added to meat products and most canned or
packaged foods to "enhance flavor." One small problem: It doesn’t
have any flavor. It just enhances overeating – and the food manufacturer’s
bottom line.
Once consumed, this fat
fertilizer not only spikes insulin, it also lowers the hormones that ward off
obesity, premature aging, and diabetes: IGF-1 and human growth hormone. And if
that’s not enough to scare you off, it can be damaging to brain cells too.
Consider the shocking
findings by German scientists who recently warned that their country should
abandon the use of MSG at once. Why? They found that pregnant mothers consuming
this fat trap were giving birth to children who were insulin-resistant.
Apparently, fetuses can be
doomed to overeating for life, thanks to neuronal damage caused by Mom’s
MSG-eating habit. The damage was most prevalent in a specialized group of nerve
cells in the medulla oblongata, thalamus, or hypothalamus – the areas of the
brain that control proper eating and metabolism. This might be one explanation
for the drastic increases in childhood obesity worldwide.
Some
things are worth dying for. Fat traps are not. If you want to live thin and
slim, be alert to these common grocery store fat traps. You might have to
dedicate some extra time to carefully reading food labels… but you’ll never
fall victim to them again.
© 2007 Shane Ellison – All
Rights Reserved
Shane holds a Master's
degree in organic chemistry and has first-hand industry experience with drug
research, design and synthesis. With his keen ability to sift through
scientific literature and weed out fact from fiction, Shane has empowered
thousands to assert their health freedom by saying "no" to
prescription drugs. Learn more about his books Health
Myths Exposed and The Hidden Truth about Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs.