I’m a big fan of the television show The Doctors as they always have all kinds of interesting segments on their show. Tomorrow’s episode is no exception and may be an especially great episode not to miss. On Monday, February 27, the hosts of the Emmy Award-winning syndicated talk show The Doctors’, along with special guest and celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito, take a closer look at American food staples and examines the harmful additives and processes used to prepare them.
I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share this feature from The Doctors because I think there are so many people out there who don’t realize how bad some foods really are. Some of the things you read below you may have heard before, but for many I’m willing to bet that it’s incredibly eye-opening and may really change the way some approach certain foods. What’s so surprising is that our own FDA is allowing harmful chemicals to be used in the food that we EAT.
It’s been four years since Food Inc. lifted the veil on America’s food industry and exposed how the nation’s food suppliers put profit ahead of the health of the consumer. But Americans are still being served harmful foods including burgers made out of pink slime, chicken “marinated” in chlorine and injected with salt water with sodium content equivalent to a serving of fries, artificial flavoring in ice cream that is otherwise used in lice killer and carcinogens in bread commonly found on the kitchen table – all government sanctioned ingredients.
Check out some of these highlights from tomorrow’s show:
- Burgers* – Would you eat a burger made out of “pink slime”—the name given to the mechanically separated meat that’s treated with ammonia hydroxide to kill bacteria like E-coli? McDonald’s, Taco Bell and Burger King, once purveyors of pink slime, say they have discontinued their use of this meat, made from discarded beef (i.e. everything else from the cow that had been deemed inedible), but who still does? Schools serve it up daily in kids’ lunches.
- Chicken – To disinfect and cool chicken post slaughter, chickens are often soaked in a chlorine bath with a water-to-chlorine ratio up to 50 times more potent than the local swimming pool. Then, to help hide the chlorine taste, the chickens are “plumped” with salt water, making the chickens larger in both weight and price. Plus, via a scientific experiment, THE DOCTORS determined that chlorine baths may not even rid chicken of the bacteria the chlorine bath is supposed to prevent.
- Ice Cream – One billion gallons of ice cream are consumed by Americans every year. The most popular flavor? Vanilla. Real vanilla beans are expensive, so to save money, many ice cream makers use a synthetic flavoring called piperonal which is also an ingredient in lice killer. Say what?!
- Bread – Many breads are made with potassium bromate, which has been banned in Canada and the UK and has been named a carcinogen by the EPA, but has been approved by the FDA. Plus, azodicarbonamide, found in many manufactured donuts and hamburger buns – as well as plastics, rubber and foam – has been found to aggravate asthma symptoms and contribute respiratory problems in humans.
So, what does THE DOCTORS recommend to avoid these harmful foods?
- Read the fine print on labels!
- Look for fewer ingredients with words you can pronounce
- Avoid “artificial flavors” as much as possible
- Avoid “artificial dyes”, especially Red 40, Blue 1, Yellow 5 & 6
- Limit processed foods.
- While it’s not economical for everyone to buy organic all the time, it’s worth spending a few extra dollars on organic poultry and beef.
- To save money, purchase the whole chicken. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are the most expensive by the pound.
- Check the “sell by” dates, and plan to shop the day before when your butcher is likely to mark down the poultry and meat.
- Consider buying direct from a farmer’s market
- Check the sodium levels on fresh and frozen chicken packaging.
- A truly natural chicken breast has 50 to 75 mg. of sodium. If there’s more than that, the bird has been “plumped”.
- Cook for your family.
- If you want to know what’s in your food, make it yourself.
- It’s a great way to bond with your children and teach them about health.
Visit www.thedoctorstv.com for a cheat sheet that lists the harmful additives often hidden on food labels as well as a complete list of common additives to avoid. Also find a recipe for a delicious homemade, super low-calorie ice cream by Rocco DiSpirito. If you don’t pay attention to what’s in your food, be prepared to shop for health plans in your area because you’ll need a good one to pay for the medications needed to battle common food-related diseases like obesity and high cholesterol.
Check your local listings for showtime.
Q. What are your thoughts? Are you surprised at what’s found in some of our country’s food? Will this story impact what you put in your mouth from now on? Do you think food companies care more about dollar signs than the health of this nation’s population?
The burger trick has been proven to be a myth, nothing to do with preservatives at all. Lack of water and a high-temp cooking process results is a dessicated burger that does not have enough moistures in it to support mold growth. Put the burger in an air-tight container and watch it rot quickly.
Here is the experiment repeated with some kind of scientific credit:
http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/11/the-burger-lab-revisiting-the-myth-of-the-12-year-old-burger-testing-results.html
Incredible. Thank you for sharing that, I hadn’t seen that before. While it won’t make me like the burgers, I appreciate that they are capable of rotting!
Of course the big food companies care more about dollars signs than the nations health. They are in the business of maximizing shareholder value, plain and simple. They take some of those profits and funnel it to our politicians (both liberal and conservative) through PAC’s and lobbyists to influence their decisions regarding public health. And don’t kid yourself, this happens with politicians on both sides of the ideological spectrum.
The only way to combat this is to vote with your fork, your wallet, and your ballot. Vote with your fork, eat the right foods, reduce your intake processed foods, etc. Vote with your wallet, support local farmers markets, local groceries where you have a better idea of where your food comes from, local restaurants that make food fresh and from scratch. And finally, vote with your ballot, support candidates that won’t take PAC money and fight for your health. Only when the current way of doing things becomes unprofitable, then true change will occur.
Sorry for the the rant, but to quote Dennis Miller, “That’s just my opinion, I could be wrong…….”
“The only way to combat this is to vote with your fork, your wallet, and your ballot.”
I LOVE that. I don’t mind your rant and I agree 100%.
Very interesting post, love the break down of the burgers. Yet I would still like to eat them, I know they are not good. I wonder if there is an all paleo diet burger…hmm
Many breads are made with potassium bromate, which has been banned in Canada and the UK and has been named a carcinogen by the EPA, but has been approved by the FDA.
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