Читать книгу Freedom from the Diet Trap: Slim for Life - Jason Vale, Jason Vale - Страница 38

It is time to wake up and realize that the livelihoods of many people depend on keeping us none the wiser when it comes to just how harmful and addictive certain foods and drinks can be. It is often their job to keep you hooked – without your knowledge of course – on what I will continue to refer to as drug foods or junkie foods. They are constantly trying to change the way you think in order to give you the very false impression that you are choosing to eat and drink their druggy-like foods. As I mentioned earlier, and as I will repeat, you cannot have freedom of choice without the freedom to also refuse. When do we know it’s our genuine choice?

The tobacco companies played the same game for years. They kept very quite about the fact that their product is addictive, controls lives and kills people – and all the while it was advertised on television and radio (and of course the government got its share of the profits). Many doctors even suggested smoking to their patients as a good way to relieve stress from their lives. Doctors at the time were actually suggesting a known stimulant will relax a person. It is now known that many tobacco companies were deliberately adding chemicals to tobacco in order to make then even more addictive. My question is a simple one: is it possible the same thing is happening in some areas of the food and beverage industry? Is it possible that there could be some unscrupulous characters in the industry who would, like the tobacco companies, deliberately add chemicals to their food simply in order to make them less satiating and thus sell more to an unsuspecting public?

We have a situation where it is fairly widely accepted that the vast majority of ‘food’ sold in a McDonald’s isn’t exactly the healthiest on the planet. Yet some years back, planning permission was given to have a McDonald’s in the grounds of the Tower of London. BIG FOOD often have good contacts and, like the tobacco companies of old, they seem to be able to get their food sold in the most unlikely of places. Having a McDonald’s in a sacred place such as the Tower Of London is bad enough, but did you know there’s even a McDonald’s in Guy’s hospital in London? Yes, a McDonald’s in a blooming hospital!

You may think it’s unfair to put junk food in the same category as cigarettes. After all cigarettes kill people, often control their lives, cost them a fortune and are highly addictive. But where exactly is the difference? As a nation the UK spends £7 million a day on fast food. Second only of course to the good ol’ U.S of A. This money is spent on ‘foods’ that are known to be addictive and are known to cause all kinds of diseases, including cancer and heart disease – the two biggest killers in Western society. Just table salt alone is known to kill over 40,000 people a year in the UK, that’s more than 100 people a day. This is virtually the same number as alcohol. White refined carbohydrates and refined sugar are known to be a major cause of diabetes and a whole host of other diseases (which I will explain later). Aspartame (the artificial sweetener found in diet drinks etc.) has been linked to ninety-two different adverse symptoms and all kinds of health problems. This stuff is known to tighten blood vessels, cause additional thirst and has even been linked to brain tumours. Yet not only is it being sold as a ‘food’ stuff, but is promoted as a product that will help people who have a weight problem. (I will cover aspartame and products like it in depth later so you’ll never want to touch them again.)

The point is this, in my estimation the wrong kinds of food overall actually kill more people than all other drugs combined. And yes that includes heroin, crack, cocaine and even cigarettes. Yet there is not one single drug food product that has a warning on it.

We banned direct cigarette advertising, yet BIG FOOD spend literally billions advertising products that have been linked to major diseases and hardly any restrictions are put on them. These are ‘foods’ that can and do cause premature death, just like cigarettes; control people’s lives, just like cigarettes; and products which, I estimate, slowly kill two-thirds of those who are hooked on them (which is more than cigarettes).

You cannot open a magazine, switch on your TV, or go to the cinema without being bombarded with images of drug-type foods. The government of course is not about to do anything about it as they earn billions in tax revenue from people’s addictions to these heart-disease causing, stroke-inducing so-called foods. Their argument is always the same and runs along the lines of ‘people are not stupid, they know the facts, we advise them to eat five portions of fruit and veg a day. If they choose to eat junk, then it’s up to them’. Yet they make it law to wear a seat belt. Why isn’t it our choice then? Because people are not addicted to putting on or leaving off their seat belts, but they are addicted to trashy foods. To say to someone like Barry Austin, (reportedly the fattest man in Britain) who I believe, at the age of 29, was 50 stone (317 kg) in weight and had a 82 in. (208 cm) waist, that it’s his genuine choice to be like that is ludicrous. Given the genuine choice I imagine he would love to end his addiction to crap foods and he would love to be slim.