ENG102S
Prof. Gunn
Christy Carden January 27,2014
The Unprocessed Life

A source of much debate over the past few decades has been the question of how much of a populations chronic disease occurrence is related to the consumption of processed foods. Both genders, all ethnicities and all ages are affected by this topic. Business is at the heart of many of the studies, unfortunately, so finding unbiased scientific information can be challenging. Even with the vast improvements in technology, processed foods and the effects of it on human health remains a strongly debated topic. For the reader who wants to make the most informed decision, it becomes imperative to consider a broad dietary historical perspective of human diet-related health, as well as the most reliable sources of research conducted in recent centuries. The pathway to our current life-less dietary habits and our societies flawed impression of life-giving foods plays a great part in understanding why the messages we are fed on a daily basis, give a false sense of comfort related to food sources. Then once the reader has the why we have this problem the task becomes to search out the how to make necessary changes. Can you imagine only having access to food sources that were within walking distance of your home and only grew naturally in the countryside? Most of us would not last long if we couldn’t make a short trip to the grocery store when we are hungry, but early mankind did not have this luxury. Some who study the effects of diet on human health might consider it an obstacle to be overcome, as opposed to a luxury that aids Carden2 man’s general well-being. They might argue the human race was healthier when we were forced to survive on a diet free of processed foods, as in the early part of our existence when man’s diet was determined by their habitat. Hunter-gatherers learned what times of the year certain berries, for example, were available by watching the wildlife in the area. Eventually they began to propagate them. Fish and fresh lean meats were hunted until the population became too thin for hunter-gatherers to remain in the area, so they moved the entire village to the more resourceful location. Finally, preservation and drying discoveries for food, allowed ancient people to make more permanent homes. This lead to one of several major shifts that have occurred in humanity’s nutritional history, first of which is the adoption of carbohydrate-rich diets developed around 10,000 BC due to Neolithic farming (Wells 197). Dr. Doug Lisle, in a recent documentary provides a historical view to our society’s current condition. He describes how our evolutionary instincts actually compel us as humans to seek the most energy output from food sources that require the lowest exertion of energy. So our instinct is to take in rich high calorie low nutrition foods because their excessive richness tricks humans into believing they are full of nutrition (Forks over Knives). Another view on the historical dietary habits of humans is given by Antii Sanjatilla in his book on “Major Historical Dietary Changes Reflected in the Dental Microbiome.” Using years of scientific methods, he shows how the appearance of the very bacteria linked to much of today’s cardiovascular disease was due to a dietary changes. This Carden3 data even goes so far as to show the bacteria was non-existent before the intake of refined white sugar and flour. The medical field has a card to play in this game, considering the dollar amount spent each year on an an inarguable diet related disease, diabetes. Dianne Hales, a nutritionist and author, in her college level curriculum, cites studies showing the number of college students who are diagnosed with TypeII Diabetes greatly decreased while incorporating a predominant diet of unprocessed and raw foods. She also presents evidence of much improved academic performance, less substance dependency and less anxiety type disorders. However, she has no patient base to lose by making this data available. She can only gain as a nutritionist by convincing the population of change. But what if Dianne Hales was a corn farmer who grew corn specifically to be processed into high fructose corn syrup or better yet, the owner of a major pharmaceutical company? Would she be so willing to have these statistics revealed to the public? Maybe Ms Hales would hire a commercial advertiser to create an image belying the findings, resulting in higher profits which in turn allow more money available for greater advertising. This leads me to the introduction of another historical marker recognized as a turning point in the dietary habits of society as a whole. The 1973 Farm Subsidy Bill which lead to an abundance of corn products. Among these products were high fructose corn syrup which provided a low cost way for companies to add sweetener to everything from soda pop to hot dogs, and make them widely available at low prices. This processed sugar made the foods much more calorie dense than the whole foods they Carden4 were made from, and the dramatic increase in their use, is the main reason for foods becoming much richer (Forks over Knives). To further explain his standpoint he states “The problem with weight management in humans, is if you make these foods completely artificial which we do today, you wind up with a problem that one has to overeat just to feel satisfied.” (qtd. in Forks over Knives). Humans are drawn to these damaging foods because of what Dr. Lisle describes as the Motivational Triad, a trio of biological mechanisms, that nature has designed into every creature on Earth, so they can survive to pass their genes onto the next generation. The first leg of this triad is the pleasure seeking motivation. The two main sources of pleasure in any animal from the smallest paramecium to a great white shark are food and sex (Forks over Knives). Richer foods naturally excite our senses because they tell us they will provide the greatest sense of pleasure with the least effort. This served our ancestors well in assisting us to select calorie rich foods that required the lowest amount of energy to obtain, which contributed to our survival as a species. However, the unnatural richness created by high-fructose corn syrup and other additives, allows us to gain a sense of pleasure much greater than our ancestors (Forks over Knives). If this scenario sounds familiar it should. It is descriptive of addictive society. Just as drugs create a hightened sense of pleasure , these artificial additives do the same for the human brain. Now lets compare the modern day understanding of what we consume and why and compare that with an example of modern day humanity existing on plant-based Carden5 indigenous foods. The Meditteranean peoples, for example, emphasize vegetables, fruits, nuts, olive oil and grains, with only small amounts of meats and full-fat milk products(Hales 136). The research centered around this pattern of eating has even lead to a trend toward weight-loss based on the Meditterranean Diet Pyramid. When followed even loosely, this eating pattern has proven to reduce the risk of asthma, progressive lung disease, as well as cardiovascular disease (Hales 136). Even closer to home, these studies focusing on college students who choose to eat a vegetarian diet, found they are less likely to feel hopeless, more likely to get better grades, and even get more sleep than those who include animal based processed foods in their diets (Hales 138). On the other side of the table, so to speak, Connie Dickman, Director of Nutrition and Advisor to the National Dairy Council, believes that animal proteins provide a complete spectrum of amino-acids required for adequate cellular growth and tissue repair. This is a position held by a large percentage of the public as well as most of the medical community (Forks over Knives). Partially responsible for this opinion, are studies in women with low levels of iron who were able to improve their anemia by increasing consumption of animal proteins. However, the studies failed to take into consideration the availability of iron in plant sources nor the ease of assimilation of most herbal iron supplements as compared to iron found in meat (Hales 137). The take-away from this overview is that the time is “ripe” for change! Our society provides such positive potential allowing us to choose from an almost endless cultural spectrum of foods. The selection is vast and can become an adventure in discovering Carden6 one’s own personal combinations of flavors, textures, and nutritional density. The wrong approach is to see this documentation as another list of foods we should not eat in order to maintain optimal health. At no other time or place in the global history of Earth has knowledge met provision in a perfect collision of unprocessed possibilities.