I was just settling down in front of my laptop with a big glass of water and some sprouted grain toast to watch a documentary called “The Future of Food”, which according to IMDB, “offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.”

The movie is available for free viewing on Hulu.

And oddly enough, it was being brought to me ‘with limited interruption’ thanks to … STOUFFER’S!

Is that ironic or what??

The commercial says “Bakery fresh taste in minutes from your microwave.”  Hmmm let’s just see how far from farming (read: REAL) this product is.  So I searched for the ingredients of their bakery fresh subs.  Feast your eyes on this long list:

Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Meatballs (Beef, Pork, Water, Bread Crumbs [Wheat Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast], Textured Soy Protein [Soy Protein Concentrate, Caramel Color], Romano Cheese [Pasteurized Cow's Milk, Culture, Salt, Enzymes], Egg Whites, Ricotta Cheese [Whey, Part Skim Milk, Cream, Vinegar, Xanthan Gum, Locust Bean Gum and Guar Gum {Stabilizers}], Imported Romano Cheese [Pasteurized Sheep's Milk, Bacterial Culture, Salt, Rennet], Salt, Garlic, Parsley, Spices, Caramel Color, Brown Sugar and Flavorings, Soy Lecithin Used as a Processing Aid), Water, Tomatoes (Tomatoes, Tomato Juice, Salt, Citric Acid, and Calcium Chloride), Mozzarella Cheese (Cultured Milk, Salt, Enzymes), Onion, Tomato Paste, Red Bell Pepper, Tomato Puree, Green Bell Pepper, Contains 2% or Less of: Flavored Oil (Soybean Oil, Salt, Lactic Acid, Natural Butter Flavor, Turmeric & Annatto and Tocopherol), Garlic Puree (Garlic, High Maltose Corn Syrup), Isolated Oat Product, Soybean Oil, Seasoning (Spices, Salt, Garlic Powder, Citric Acid, Vinegar Powder [Maltodextrin, Food Starch-Modified, and Vinegar]), Olive Oil, Yeast, Dough Conditioner (Guar Gum, Calcium Carbonate, DATEM [Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Mono and Diglycerides], Wheat Flour, Ascorbic Acid, Enzymes), Sugar, Vital Wheat Gluten, Salt, Parsley, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Calcium Propionate, Dough Conditioner (Ascorbic Acid, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Starch).

Out of curiosity I started the documentary over again to see if if the sponsor would change or if it stayed on Stouffer’s.

How about some Skinny Cow Strawberry Cheesecake LowFat cups?  Any closer to natural food do you think?  Let’s take a look…

skim milk, strawberry swirl [corn syrup, strawberries, sugar, water, modified corn starch, citric acid, natural flavor, strawberry seeds, concentrated beet juice (color)]
sugar, corn syrup, polydextrose, whey protein, cream, calcium carbonate, high fructose corn syrup, baker’s cheese powder [nonfat milk solids, lactic acid, cultures], buttermilk powder, Inulin (Dietary Fiber), Propylene Glycol Monostearate, microcrystalline cellulose, lactic acid, guar gum, carob bean gum, natural flavor, Sodium Carboxymethylcellulose, monoglycerides, sorbitol, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, carrageenan, artificial flavor, salt

OK, I just saw Propylene Glycol Monostearate in that ingredient list.  Yikes.  I even try to avoid LOTIONS with propylene glycol and here is it in something being touted as ‘health food’ for people trying to lose weight.  Well let’s see what some of the OTHER uses for propylene glycol are:

• In smoke machines to make artificial smoke for use in firefighters‘ training and theatrical productions
• In electronic cigarettes, as a vaporizable base for diluting the nicotine liquid
• As a solvent used in mixing photographic chemicals, such as film developers
• In cryonics
• As a working fluid in hydraulic presses
• As a coolant in liquid cooling systems

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propylene_glycol

Don’t you want some of that in your “ice cream”?

The College of Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State food.oregonstate.edu says this about propylene glycol monostearate:  “Slightly more toxic than propylene glycol in animals, and in large doses produces central nervous system depression and kidney injury”.

Friends, PLEASE PLEASE read your food labels. Don’t be so concerned with the number of grams of fat, protein or carbs.  Be concerned with what’s in the INGREDIENT list. The stuff shown above is not FOOD!

Is this the kind of crap that you want your cells using as fuel to regenerate?  You are what you eat, truly!  And if you have KIDS, I especially implore you to pay close attention to ingredients.

I know many of my readers to be health conscious label readers already, so I realize I’m probably ‘preaching to the choir’.  But maybe you know someone who just hasn’t had the opportunity yet to learn what stores are selling us as “food”.  So feel free to forward this to your loved ones and I’ll be happy to be the ‘party-pooper’. 

In fact, maybe they’ll want to go watch “The Future of Food” – just be sure they don’t watch it with a bowl of Skinny Cow “ice cream”.

– Shari B. =)

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Shari Becht is a Fit Living Coach and an ACE Certified Personal Trainer offering coaching services to people across the U.S.  She is extremely passionate about teaching her clients how to start making small changes every day to their own lives, built around steps customized to fit their needs.

If you or someone you know could benefit from Shari’s coaching, please feel free to email her at shari [at] fitfeat [dot] com.  For more information, click here.

Tags: documentary, fake food, know your food, The Future of Food