Earlier this week, I visited a local restaurant supply store to stock up on earth friendly packaging. This particular store is one of the larger restaurant supply stores in the area and carries a wide variety of goods. Many small restaurants, stores and delis in the area purchase their packaging, canned goods and produce there as it is convenient and the prices are low. As I wandered the aisles and aisles of shelves, I realized that there wasn’t a single food item in that entire store that I would purchase either for myself or for my clients. Nothing was organic. Almost all of the food was heavily processed and contained all kinds of preservatives or chemicals. And then I came across this particular gem:
I stood and stared at this package for quite a while, not entirely believing my eyes. It appeared to say: “Artificially flavored blueberry muffin mix with imitation blueberry pieces.” So many questions came into my mind: Why would anyone make a product like this? Who in their right mind came up with an imitation blueberry? How can anyone actually advertise something like this on a box? Who would buy such a thing?
And yet, this product is made and it is purchased, since it was for sale in the store. And what concerns me the most is that God knows how many local restaurants and delis are actually selling this item calling it a blueberry muffin.
Almost everyone who knows me will tell you that I am extremely careful about what I eat. The reason is that it is very important to me to know what I am putting into my body. I am very sensitive to chemicals, preservatives and additives. When I ingest something artificial or my skin comes into contact with a non-natural product, I get a rash almost immediately. This is my body’s warning mechanism that tells me that the food, water or soap I’m using is bad for me. I am very careful to purchase organic foods, read all the labels, and avoid “natural flavors” among many other things. I realize that many people would call my body’s reactions rather extreme. Who wants to tiptoe around all the time having to be careful about everything? My perspective is a bit different though. I am grateful that my body is sensitive enough to tell me something very important, and that I choose to listen.
We make a lot of choices every day about what we eat, drink and what products we use. There is an endless variety of restaurants and stores that we can get our food from. But we never know what we are eating or what products they are using. In the end, the old saying “You get what you pay for” is very true. The more familiar I become with the products many restaurants are using, the more likely I am to eat at home, or spend more and go to a more expensive restaurant that uses organic or more natural products. The bottom line is that we have no idea what kinds of oils, meats, sauces, vegetables, etc. a restaurant is using. Spending time at the restaurant supply store has made me suspect even simple things that I thought were fairly safe like cooking oil. Who would think that anyone would need to put preservatives and additives into cooking oil? It turns out that most of the bulk cooking oils I saw in this store had both.
For many years, I have been eating only organic produce and meats. The quality of meat in particular is very important, as most chicken and pork are raised on factory farms where the conditions and feed are very questionable. Just yesterday, a client of mine forwarded me a link to the following article: http://www.msn.com/en-ca/foodanddrink/foodnews/finally-the-fda-admits-that-nearly-over-70percent-of-us-chickens-contain-cancer-causing-arsenic/ar-AA8cWca. It says that more than 70% of chickens in the US contain arsenic because they are being fed arsenic in their feed to make them look healthy and plump. I wonder who could have possibly thought that feeding chickens arsenic was a good idea or allowed it to happen? But here it is. And this is just the revelation of the week.
Fortunately, the organic standard in this country prohibits farmers from using these kinds of additives in animal feed, or to use toxic pesticides and herbicides in produce. The word “natural” on the other hand has no standard behind it and therefore has no real meaning. Almost anything can be called “natural” even if it’s arsenic tainted chicken.
My philosophy is this: There are many areas in our life where we can economize and same some money, but what we eat, what we put into our body, what we put on our body (soap, creams, etc.) and what we drink are way too important. I highly recommend a trip to your local restaurant supply store for an education in what not to eat!
