Lately I’ve heard a lot of people saying things like “He’s a real phony.” Or “She’s a fake.” Or “He’s not the real deal.” Or “What a fraud.” I’m not a conspiracy theory type of guy, but there is something going on here.
Some say we are the products of what we consume. If that’s true, can eating fake foods disconnect us from reality? Do we even know what we are consuming anymore? Let’s see if you can identify some of the faux foods popular in today’s American diet based on the first dozen or so ingredients on their labels:
#1: Can You Guess This Faux Food?
Mechanically Separated Chicken, Pork, Water, Pasteurized Cheese Product, Water, Milk Protein Concentrate, Milkfat, Whey Protein Concentrate, Sodium Phosphate, Salt and Sodium Alginate. Is this:
A) Alpo dog food
B) Oscar Mayer cheese hot dogs
C) Chef Boyardee Beefaroni
D) McDonald’s Breakfast Barito
The answer is B. Each dog contains nearly 20% of your daily value for saturated fat and salt. Beyond the lack of quality nutrition, the term “mechanically separated” sends a chill through my bones. It reminds me of the 1972 movie Prime Cut, in which Gene Hackman and Lee Marvin had starring roles. There is a terrifying scene in which a cattle rancher throws a man into a wood chipper food type of industrial food processor and grinds him into sausage.
#2: Can You Guess This Faux Food?
Corn Syrup Solids, Vegetable Oil (Partially Hydrogenated Coconut or Palm Kernel, Hydrogenated Soybean), Sodium Caseinate, and less than 2% of Dipotassium Phosphate, Mono- and Diglycerides (prevents Oil Separation), Sodium Aluminosilicate, Artificial Flavor and Annatto Color. Is this:
A) Craft Marshmallows
B) Twinkies
C) Coffee Mate
D) Kellogg’s Corn Flakes
The answer is C. Ahh, there is nothing like waking up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee and dipotassium phosphate in the morning!
#3: Can You Guess This Faux Food?
Whey, Canola Oil, Milk, Milk Protein Concentrate, Maltodextrin, Sodium Phosphate, contains less than 2% of Whey Protein Concentrate, Salt, Lactic Acid, Sodium Alginate and Mustard Flour. Is this:
A) Cheese Wiz
B) Hellmann’s non-fat mayonnaise
C) Cheese Doodles
D) Frito Lay French Onion Dip
The answer is A, Cheese Wiz. I found this fascinating because nowhere in the first dozen ingredients does the word “cheese” appear. Perhaps this product should be called “Science Wiz.”
#4: Can You Guess This Faux Food?
Light Bologna made with Mechanically Separated Chicken, Water, Pork, Corn Syrup, Modified Food Starch, contains less than 2% of Salt, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Phosphates, Sodium Propionate, Sodium Diacetate, Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Ascorbate, Flavor, and Sodium Nitrite. Is this:
A) Hormel Spam Lite
B) Hamburger Helper
C) Taco Bell Firecracker Stuffed Jalapenos with Chili Con Queso
D) Oscar Mayer Lunchable Cracker Stackers with Light Bologna and American Cheese
The answer is D. This was an easy one…the first ingredient is a dead giveaway. When you send your children off to school, nothing says, “I love you and have a great day,” more than sodium phosphates, sodium propionate, sodium diacecate, sodium ascorbate and sodium nitrite.
Our immune systems constantly run in a battle stations mode when these chemical weapons appear on our radar. This is why many scientists say cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, thyroid disorders and obesity can be traced to our bodies not being designed to digest such highly processed ingredients.
The best bet is to prepare your own food, using ingredients as close to the natural source as possible. If you have to buy prepared foods, read the ingredients label carefully. If the first few words would be unfamiliar to your mother or grandmother, don’t buy it. Your body will thank you for eating foods prepared by chefs rather than chemical engineers. After all, you are what you eat.
What are some of your favorite faux foods? And what substitutions can you make to avoid them.
Great article, Trainer Joe.
More people need to read the labels. You may be surprised what you’re eating.
Thank You Ms. Schwimmer! If people only knew! Folks might change their eating if they were not so locked into convenience. Convenience = highly processed = lots of chemicals = faux food. Thank goodness there is a resurgence of quality home cooking in some segments of society.
Have you seen the documentary “Forks Over Knives?” I understand it can be viewed free vie Netflix. I mostly eat vegan, my husband 100%. Downside … most of the typical American diet is full of faux food. I crave and enjoy real food, but this is an anomaly in our culture governed by big food business.
Hi Maxine, I have not yet seen “Forks over Knives” yet, though it is on my to-see list. Unfortunately most American’s taste buds are being overstimulated by highly processed foods, leading to the inability to truly taste natural foods. So when they taste natural, real food, it seems bland.
Though not a vegan, I am a plant-based flexigenarian, who sometimes eats fish and chicken and tries to eat as “clean” and local as possible. It is more difficult and and a little more expensive to do so, but it’s worth it. Big Food knows that people are inherently lazy and caters to this. As practitioners in the field of wellness, we have to show that the efforts to eat better are worth the results.
Hi Joe,
I tend to agree with you that these manufactured foods
don’t sound very palatable. I certainly prefer the simple
foods made in our kitchen at home from the uncooked farm
and orchard and sea products bought at our local grocery
stores.
But I think it is somewhat uncharitable and inaccurate
to call them “faux foods” because they do have some real
nutritional value. Processed chicken and pork and milk
proteins (casein and whey protein) are still proteins
that can meet your nutritional needs. Processed animal
and vegetable oils (partially hydrogenated and/or
digested to mono & diglycerides) retain the nutritional
value of oils and fats. Sodium Ascorbate remains a usable
form of Vitamin C.
Other ingredients in your lists provide as safe a form
of flavorings and colorings (annatto, mustard flour, salt,
etc.) as most people normally use in home cooking.
And still others of these ingredients are very natural
products present in many natural foods you eat (e.g.,
Potassium Chloride & Sodium Acetate & Lactic acid & the
various sodium phosphates). But the FDA doesn’t require
milk and vegetable vendors to specify all of the un-added
ingredients in over-the-counter milk and spinach.
And while a few food additives you have listed should
give us pause, most of those you list are demonstrably
innocuous. And many natural foods (and their many components)
are more prone than many of the food additives you list here
to cause allergic reactions.
So I guess, despite my Ph.D. in bio-organic chemistry,
I tend agree with your sentiment to avoid manufactured and
highly processed foods. {But foods they are!} Rather aim
for a good variety (nutritional balance) of simple foods.
— John Heidema
Hi Dr. Heidema,
Only a PhD in bio-organic chemistry could be so passionate about sodium propionate, sodium diacetate and sodium nitrite!
Your comments are well taken and do provide a balance of opinions. Thank you for your insights.
Great blog article! Always best to look for natural, unprocessed food… farm to table.
This is great stuff!
I agree. Best to eat as natural and as close to the source as possible. But, if you must eat highly processed food, best to keep it infrequent and portions reasonable.