Things That Make You Go Hmmmmm

Every time I log onto my computer I am taken to the Yahoo main page where news stories run across the middle of the page. The stories are usually highlights of current events, Hollywood gossip and politics, but sometimes they throw in fun, random articles. The other day when I logged on an article about food popped up so I decided to read it. It was interesting and a bit scary to read.

Did you know…….

1. The food our grandparents ate is not the same food we eat today, nutrition-wise? The food we consume today contains fewer nutrients than food produced 40 years ago. Researchers looked at over 40 different foods and discovered the following decreases in nutritional content:

·        Protein 6%

·        Calcium 16%

·        Iron 15%

·        Riboflavin 38%

·        Vitamin C 20%

2. Cow’s milk contains hormones that may cause cancer. In the 70’s, a typical cow produced 10,000 pounds of milk annually; today a cow produces about 20,000 pounds annually. Cows sure didn’t change, but their feed did. Cows are typically fed an added hormone of rBGH or rBST (recombinant bovine somatotropin). rBST has been linked to cancers such as breast, colon and prostate.

3. Conventional produce can contain as much as nine different types of pesticide. The Environmental Working Group lists peaches as the worst fruit, due in part to its thin, delicate skin. Apples, celery, blueberries, strawberries and spinach are also high on the EWG’s list of pesticide laden produce.

4. Over the course of the past 40 years, the number of daily calories available to Americans has increased by 500 calories. That is about 52 extra pounds of fat per person per year! We can thank easier access to fast foods and processed foods for this.

5. Even the composition of a chicken has been altered in the past 40 years. When we compare a chicken in 2011 to a chicken from the 1970’s we see 266% more fat and 33% less protein. This is due to modern farming practices such as cramped housing environments and unnatural diets.

6. Eating a nutritious diet costs 10 times more than eating junk food. Researchers have calculated the cost discrepancy between healthy food and junk foods and found that 2,000 calories of junk food rings up at a measly $3.52 a day. For 2,000 calories of nutritious foods, the researchers plunked down $36. What worse it that out of every dollar consumers spend, only 19 cents goes toward the food. The other 81 cents goes toward marketing, packaging and manufacturing.

These statistics really make me question the foods I buy and prepare for my family. Last week I stopped by Aldi’s to buy some flowers and noticed how cheap the fresh produce was priced so I bought plums, nectarines, cherries, apples, bananas and grapes. All of that produce, the flowers, a box of graham crackers cost under $16. What a great deal, right?! Then I read this and I questioned what I had just fed my family. Nobody should ever have to question their food! Where did food go wrong?