By Nancy Adler
When my clients ask, “But I eat all natural breakfast cereal”. My response, It doesn’t matter. The highly deceptive tactics of the food industry have duped us. The word “natural” has been devised to mislead the consumer, suggesting that the product is free from pesticides, chemicals, and genetically engineered ingredients. There is little regulation to guide what exactly is in these so-called “natural” products, and many products labeled as “natural,” actually contain ingredients from genetically modified corn, soy, canola, sugar beets, and toxic pesticides.
During the production of breakfast cereals, grains are placed into a machine called an extruder after being mixed with water into a sludge. This grain sludge is forced out of tiny holes at high temperatures and pressure, shaping them into those cute little o’s, stars, flakes, and puffs. Then they are sprayed with a coating of oil and sugar to keep them crispy and crunchy. Much of the nutrients are destroyed in this process, and any essential fatty acids are denatured, making them useless to our bodies. The funny thing is that even the synthetic vitamins that are added back to the sludge are altered by this extrusion process. Uggh! So what I am saying is that this extrusion process essentially makes cereal unhealthy for your body. The proteins in the grains are altered into foreign compounds that your body does not recognize, making them toxic. Some research has shown these denatured proteins become neurotoxic and can adversely affect the nervous system. And what’s even worse is that because organic, healthy cereals are usually made from whole grains, they are even more toxic because they contain more of this denatured protein. BUMMER!
I have said a million times before. Just eat REAL food. There is no substitute for nature. Many cold breakfast cereal are fortified with vitamins and minerals to give you a good start to your morning. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Not really. Synthetic (man-made) vitamins and minerals are not readily absorbed by the body. Your body simply is not designed to utilize them. Many synthetic vitamins are actually treated as toxins and are eliminated by your body as quickly as possible. The other part of that is that your body needs saturated fat in order to absorb many essential nutrients. With the “low fat” craze and “low fat” milks being consumed, the vitamins and minerals in our food supply are not being absorbed and utilized. So don’t be fooled by the food industry into thinking that this highly-processed, over-packaged food product is the answer to a healthy breakfast. Our bodies need REAL food to start the day.
Hopefully by now you are painfully aware of how toxic genetically modified foods are for us. GMO’s in our food supply are causing increased allergies, digestive problems, liver problems, issues with fertility (even sterility), and much more. And unfortunately, breakfast cereals are loaded with GMO ingredients. It’s actually a really ugly truth that nearly ALL processed foods contain GMOs. Kashi brand cereals contain “high levels” of GMOs. Not just a trace of GMOs, but a high level, meaning the key ingredients are genetically engineered from the start. Whole Foods brand Corn Flakes contains “high levels” of GMOs (more than 50% GE corn). Yikes! The fact is, most cereals are shown to contain more than 50% genetically engineered corn. Try to select cereals that contain no corn or additives or, better yet, grab a bowl of fruit to start your busy day!
Nancy Adler is a certified nutritionist and practitioner in Linwood. Her office is located in Cornerstone Commerce Center, 1201 New Rd. Learn about her practice at ww.nancyadlernutrition.com (609)653-4900
You may listen to Nancy every Sunday at 2 pm Nancy Adler Nutrition LIVE! NewsTalk 1400 WOND
