Wrapping up Summer, Ultra-Processed People
Amy here this week. Has this summer been a whirlwind for anyone else? I feel like time moves so quickly and I just can’t keep up. We were back to summer weather and I’m soaking up all the sunshine I can.
Monday Wren and Carter made a few meat deliveries with me. Every fourth Monday we deliver to Chilhowie and Abingdon. So if Saturday’s aren’t ideal for you to pick up meat, choose the Monday delivery when you check out from our online store.
Afterwards we enjoyed a delicious fish fry with some neighbors in the valley. I truly love get-togethers. Nothing better than eating and laughing with people you don’t get to see very often.
On Wednesday we processed 252 chickens. We cut up about half of them. I’m so thankful for our tireless helpers that come out to work hard. We wouldn’t be able to offer you all chicken parts if it weren’t for their help. Hallie has really impressed me most this week. She usually has a good attitude and will do what she’s asked, but this week she was doing what needed to be done without being asked. All with her joyful spirit.
Thursday I did computer work most of the day. Quickbooks, paying sales tax, paying bills… all the fun stuff. Will’s mom keeps all the kids for me once a month so I can have a full “office hours” day without distractions. But I always seem to find plenty to distract myself. God bless you all that have to stare at a computer screen all day. My head is always splitting by the afternoon.
Will has been keeping the cows, pigs, and chickens moving. Our rental cabins had no water pressure yesterday which meant there was a leak somewhere in the water system. He spent half the day yesterday working on trying to fix it and got home after dark. He’s not sure if it’s completely fixed, so he’s back at it again this morning.
What am I reading you ask? Well, Will is always amazed that I have about 5 books going at once. In the summer I have very little time to read, so I pick what I’m in the mood for and only read a few pages before my eyes shut every night.
I just finished reading “Ultra-Processed People: The Science Behind Food That Isn’t Food” by Chris van Tulleken. I grabbed it from the library last month, and it had me very intrigued. It gives a history of how and when processed foods came about. He also talks about the marketing that goes into us believing pre-packaged food is better, cleaner, tastier, easier… And then he gets into the real health issues with ultra-processed food. The majority of food found in a grocery store is ultra-processed. These foods (that aren’t natural foods) have become so normal in our diets, but most of which have lots of sugar or sugar substitutes and very little nutritional value.
“These products are specifically engineered to behave as addictive substances, driving excess consumption. They are now linked to the leading cause of early death globally and the number one cause of environmental destruction.”
He also tells a story about how Germans developed the first fake butter. In 1940 during WWII the Germans were trying to produce their own oil. They came up with a system of smashing coal with steam and oxygen to extract the carbon monoxide and hydrogen. With these molecules they would pass gasses over the catalyst and recombine these elements into liquid fuel. The process produced a byproduct which they called ‘slack wax’ or paraffin. Someone decided to use this waste sludge and add glycerin to produce an edible fat. The Chemist then added diacetyl (which has a buttery taste and is still used in microwave popcorn), water, salt, and beta-carotene and they created “coal butter”. A fully synthetic food product.
What I learned throughout the book is that I’d really like to know what I’m eating and feeing my family. All those labels are too hard to understand and many of those ingredients are not food, they are chemicals combined together to make a food product. Have you looked at the ingredient list of Velveta or American cheese slices. I want to eat cheese, not a “pasteurized process cheese product”.
This book led me to watch a documentary called “That Sugar Film”. What another eye opener. Even foods that are marketed at healthy are often full of sugar. We have a real sugar addiction problem (I’m speaking as a full fledged addict) and I think it’s going to take some serious education about what we’re eating to start changing our diets.
The best thing we can do is to eat whole, real foods. Not things from boxes and packages. Ok, I’ll step off my soapbox now and go clean out my pantry.
Have a great week!
Amy