Processed and refined sugar are problematic. And they are prevalent in cakes, candies, cookies, muffins, sodas, ice cream, energy drinks, sports drinks, and condiments such as ketchup and relish. Although no one should judge you or what you do with food, you can judge yourself in the context of your desire to improve.
The masters of whole foods and pure living taught us to leave out white and brown sugar, as well as artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose (just to name a few). The two greatest teachers with incredible longevity, health, and compassion both used raw honey. And clean sweeteners such as maple can be taken in moderation in the context of overall diet improvement.
It’s even more important to be concerned about preservatives, nitrates, butylated hydroxyanisole, sulfur, sodium benzoate, potassium benzoate and benzene, iodized salt, American cheese, cold cuts, canned meat, pastries, white flour, and produce sprayed with a host of pesticides than it is to be concerned about the sugar that occurs in whole fruits and vegetables.
The crops sprayed with the greatest amount of poisons are grapes and coffee beans, so think USDA organic or similar standards before you buy. Foods that contain concentrations of heavy metals are a major problem. All fish are susceptible to this, even farm-raised fish and fish from lakes.
One should avoid tobacco, hydrogen cyanide, formaldehyde, benzine, lead, arsenic, ammonia, and radioactive elements such as uranium. All these compounds can make guest appearances in our foods. Admittedly this may be difficult to take in. Or maybe it’s fun! It’s often hard to think about these things without becoming discouraged or frightened. But reality must be confronted. High fructose corn syrup is real and it’s not good for us. Neither are the huge numbers of chemicals that are damaging to the natural world and to our flesh and blood: They’re found in many commercial cosmetics, shampoos, toothpastes, and household/industrial cleaning products.
Think more carefully regarding wine, tequila, gin, scotch, moonshine, cocaine, DMT, GHB, heroin, crystal meth, ketamine, and anything smuggled into the country in a condom up a person’s butt. (This is a suggestion free from my judgment.)
As if all of this was not enough to contemplate, how about the more than twenty thousand approved prescription medications, many of which may have side effects? Would we need them as much if we kept the right diet and lifestyle? Most likely not. Medicine and science are excellent forms of life saving intervention. But they both can be overused and poorly administered.
Plastics, paints, and household building materials are everywhere. What’s in them? When did we stop caring what’s in them? Granted, all this is disturbing. But don’t be depressed about it. Instead, be aware, and be an activist of some kind. Vote with your choices on what you buy. Spend your money with your health in mind. Take your time digesting this information. Sleep on it.
Then, take action. Start by taking bad things off of your regular shopping list. Then totally rid your home of all those nasty chemicals that are spoiling our great oceans. Purge the pantry of unhealthy foods and feel improvements the next day. We now have cleaner choices and bigger stores—more so now than ever before. Vote for your favorite companies with your hard-earned Dollars, Pesos, Yen, Rupees, Euros, or whatever currency you use.