I Ate What?

According to Forbes magazine, Cargill is America's largest private company. Founded after the civil war, over time Cargill grew from a grain storage facility into an international producer and distributor of agricultural products. It owns the public held Mosaic Company a producer of fertilizer and other agricultural chemicals.

Salt has been under attack for it's ill effects on the nation's health. As one of the biggest producers of salt, Cargill is pushing back and has produced a video which proclaims that " Salt is a pretty amazing compound. So make sure you have plenty of salt in your kitchen at all times. Salt is life enhancing they say and we should sprinkle it an foods as varied as chocolate cookies, fresh fruit, ice cream, and even coffee. " You might be surprised by what foods are enhanced by its briney kiss."

Salt works in tandem with sugar and fat to achieve flavors that grip the consumer and do not let go. In his best selling book, The End of Overeating, Dr. David A. Kessler quotes a high level food industry executive who wanted to remain anonymous," Higher sugar, fat, and salt make you want to eat more. They are called the three points of the compass. They make a food compelling and indulgent. They make it high in hedonic [pleasure] value which gives us pleasure." Then Dr. Kessler asked," Do you design food specificaaly to be highly hedonic?' To which the executive replied," Oh, absolutely. We try to bring as much of that into the equation as possible."

There are scores of examples of the hedonic foods offer by the industry. Here are just a few:

Chicken Tenders are so soaked with BATTER and FAT that Dr. Kessler's source joked that they are a UFO- an unidentified fried object. SALT and SUGAR loaded onto FAT.

Blommin Onions-the trademark of Outback Steakhouse-are very popular and provide plenty of surface area to absorb FAT. Fried in BATTER and topped with SAUCE, their flavor comes from SALT on SUGER on FAT.

McDonald's Big Mac bun contains not only REFINED flour, water and SALT but also HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, SOYBEAN OIL [made with Monsanto's GMO beans] and PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED.

T.G.I.F. Friday is targeting the children's market by offering the Cup-of-Dirt-chocolate pudding with CRUMBLED OREO COOKIES,and GUMMY WORMS. Its FAT on SUGAR on FAT on SUGAR on SUGAR.

Hardee's Monster Thickburger contains 1,420 calories and 108 grams of FAT. It is essentially FAT on FAT on SALT on FAT on SALT on FAT, and all on a HIGH GLYCEMIC, REFINED CARBOHYDRATE bun.

There are many more examples but I think you get the point. Eating all these highly processed foods laced with syntheic chemicals, salt,sugar and fat which are highly hedonic,can play a role in creating very real overpowering cravings and crippling appetite. Cravings are based on appetite and not real hunger. Its easy to fall into the carbohydrate "black hole" with a diet based on these "dead" foods. Your body wants real food-"live"food in order to get the essential amino acids, complex carbs, essentiial fatty acids, water, vitamins and minerals, fiber and antioxidants which it needs. Deprive the cells of these nurients and you can lose the ability to tell the differnce between appetite and hunger. Then you may have a problem controlling unwanted body fat.