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Is "Natural" Food Healthy Food?
Michael Olson's Food Chain Radio Show #1416
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Guests: Ellen Brown and Carter Williams, Food Is Health
I attended Natural Products Expo West recently in search of stories for the Food Chain Radio podcast. What I saw leads me to ask:
Michael Olson Food Chain Radio – Is "Natural" Food Healthy?
Is natural food healthy food?
There was a lot to see, taste and experience at the recent Natural Products Expo West, and it all happened right across the street from Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
The Expo is a trade-only event, meaning that if you are not a buyer or seller engaged in the natural products trade, you are not welcome – unless you are a member of the working press, which is why my associate Dave and I were in attendance.
What we saw was a giant mosh-pit of 3,000 exhibitors tempting 65,000 buyers and sellers with this year’s crop of natural foods.
You might ask: ‘What is “Natural” food?’ Good question!
Unlike the word “organic,” which does have a legal definition, there is no official definition for what is “natural.” A commonly held idea is that natural food is that which exists in its original, unprocessed form. The opposite of natural food, therefore, would be ultra-processed food.
Most of what I saw on the floor of Natural Products Expo West appeared to me to be ultra-processed food trying to be healthy with lots of added protein. I got to wondering about natural foods and wondered whether they are, in fact, healthy foods. Then, while recharging my cell phone in the press room, I met a fellow journalist who also seemed to be working on the same question.
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Three Laws of the Food Chain
#1 Agriculture is the foundation upon which we build all our sand castles.
#2 The farther we go from the source of our food, the less control we have over what's in that food.
#3 Cheap food isn't! READ MORE
