Thursday, February 10, 2011

Real Food? Cut the Fake Vitamins and Minerals Out of Your Basics

As you can see in the previous post, I really did go to town on the juicer.  I keep expecting to turn orange since after making more carrot juice than the crowd wanted to drink, I drank it myself, along with more fresh apple juice than I should have.  I've upset some of my friends by telling them that their "juice diet" isn't natural. 
"Juicing is processing, too."
It is.  I look at the mush that comes out of the juicer, wondering what can be cooked with it.  But I was at a party, and compared to all the other food, the unsweetened freshly squeezed juice was the best act in town.

I have fits when trying to buy other basics like, cottage cheese and tomato paste.  I don't want extra calcium in my dairy products nor glucose and salt in my tomato paste nor all sorts of artificial vitamins in the cereals.  And natural full, or partial fat dairy products has the vitamins. They are eliminated with the fat making them harder to digest.

I was disappointed that the New York Times article about "real food" doesn't mention this.  I have a sneaking suspicion that scientists will someday reveal that many of the vitamin and mineral additives to basic foods, especially for kids, are the causes of serious medical problems.  It's better to play outside than have artificial vitamin D in food and walk to school or a friend's house to strengthen bones, rather than have all that extra unabsorbable calcium.

Fresh fruit and raw salad are best for Vitamins, A, D etc. 

All those fake eggs, oxymoron fat free half & half etc should be banned.   I'll never forget my father's explanation on why he doesn't like mayonnaise:
"Read the ingredients."
Yes, that's just it.  Start reading the ingredients.

4 comments:

Tzivia said...

I used to have a juicer, and I kept thinking about what I could make with the pulp. Never used it very often, because it just seemed like throwing away a ton of fruit to get a bit of juice that wasn't all THAT good.
As for additives, I sent dh out for tofu this evening and he came home with LOW-FAT tofu. Like it wasn't healthy enough. It did have half the fat, so I read the ingredients to see what they do differently and it looks like they replace some of the pure soybeans with a purée of (presumably fatless) pure soy protein.
Yuck.
It has taken a lot to get me to come around to eating and slightly enjoying tofu in the first place... I don't want to have to learn to love FAKE tofu!
And don't get me started on calcium or omega-3's or whatever in OJ and other places it doesn't belong...
Definitely a post to include in the next kosher cooking carnival.

Batya said...

I'm against juicing in principle for those reasons. Tofu isn't all that healthy. My neighbor hwo's a dr thinks it's awful, and she has common sense. I can only eat tiny doses or my stomach hurts.

Hadassa DeYoung said...

Shalom!
Perhaps tofu is suited to the peoples of the region where it was created and not to others? I remember reading some years ago that ice cream was becoming the new fad food in Japan, even though the vast majority of the population is lactose intolerant. Stick to what works!

Batya said...

Hadassa, what's our native/suitable food? Simplifying meals, so you don't combine dairy with meat/poultry, or fish with them. Some Sfardim are strict about not eating dairy with fish.

Oh, yes, it's kosher this way...