Why fast food makes you fat
The most extremely processed of all processed food is fast food. Fast food is so processed that there are few if any nutrients left in it. Flavor is a direct reflection of the nutrient content of food. As a result, processed food in general and fast food in particular have little if any flavor. In a best selling book entitled Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, the author addresses this problem of the fast food industry and how it was solved.
Fast food nation
“About 90 percent of the money that Americans spend on food is used to buy processed food. But the canning, freezing, and dehydrating techniques used to process food destroy most of its flavor. Since the end of World War II, a vast industry has arisen in the United States to make processed food palatable. Without this flavor industry, today’s fast food industry could not existThe small and elite group of scientists who create most of the flavor in most of the food now consumed in the Untied States are called ‘flavorists.’In a meeting room at IFF (International Flavors & Fragrances, the world’s largest flavor company) Brian Grainger let me sample some of the company’s flavors. It was an unusual taste test; there wasn’t any food to taste. Grainger is a senior flavorist at IFF
Grainger had brought a dozen small glass bottles from the lab. After he opened each bottle, I dipped a fragrance testing filter into it. The filters were long white strips of paper designed to absorb aroma chemicals without producing off-notes. Before placing the strips of paper before my nose, I closed my eyes. Then I inhaled deeply, and one food after another was conjured from the glass bottles. I smelled fresh cherries, black olives, sauted onions, and shrimp. Grainger’s most remarkable creation took me by surprise. After closing my eyes, I suddenly smelled a grilled hamburger. The aroma was uncanny, almost miraculous. It smelled like someone in the room was flipping burgers on a hot grill. But when I opened my eyes, there was just a narrow strip of white paper and a smiling flavorist.”
Processed food – A drug
One definition of a drug is that it is a chemical substance which causes addiction. Processed food would qualify as a drug under that definition: it is a chemical substance and it causes addiction. It is addictive because it does not contain the nutrients that the body needs to maintain optimum health. The body craves these nutrients. We eat more of the processed foods whose flavors indicate they contain these nutrients. But they don’t. A vicious cycle is set in motion. The more of these nutrient deficient foods we eat, the more nutrient deficient we become and the more of these foods we crave. We are never satisfied because these foods do not contain what the body is seeking. But the body is fooled because they taste as if they do. The more we eat them, the more we crave them. The more we crave them, the more we eat them. This is how we become fat. This is how we become sick.
For permanent weight loss, what you eat is very important. But equally important is how you eat it. Most people do not appreciate or realize the huge effect how they eat has on what they weigh. They are not even aware of how they eat. The goal of the next articles in this series is to create that awareness.
Mary Lou Williams, M. Ed., is a lecturer and writer in the field of nutrition. She welcomes inquiries. She can be reached at 267-6480.