Aquaponics USA/World
June 2015 Newsletter
#18
Table of Contents
A Word From Our Editor
History of Fast Food in America
History of McDonald's
What's in the Hamburger Bun?
What's in the Pasteurized Cheese?
What's in the Sauce?
Is Pink Slime Hiding in your Hamburger?
What's in that Hamburger Patty?
How bad are the Fries?
Why are Soft Drinks called "Soft"?
We're Being Hit by a Fast Food Storm!
Coming in July. Obesity in America Part 4
Get our Free Aquaponics Course by mid month!
A Word From Our Editor, Grace Sylke
We bit off a big chunk when we started this Series on "Obesity in America" back in December. That's why it took so long to move forward into Parts 2, 3 & the up-coming Part 4. 

This topic is so huge and important, we needed to make sure we could give it the time and research it deserved. 

Some of the most important information is still coming so please stay tuned; and thank you for being one of our valued Subscribers.
Get Links to all of our 2014 Newsletters from our December 2014 Edition. This is also the Newsletter where you'll get, Obesity in America, Part 1
Here they are all in one place. Our first year of Newsletters full of incredible information about Aquaponics and our Food System.
Here's our May Newsletter in case you missed it. It's Part 2 of the Obesity in America Series.
Don't miss this important information about High Fructose Corn Syrup. HFCS is in just about everything that's processed and packaged. Beware, it's as bad as alcohol for our livers.
Here's our April Newsletter in case you missed it.
We declared April to be Food Revolution Month in honor of the Annual Food Revolution Summit sponsored by John and Ocean Robbins. Then we gave the history of Earth Day in Honor of that day, April 22, 2015.
Here's our March Newsletter in case it was missed.
To honor National Nutrition Month, we look at all of the Food related Programs that we are running in the U.S. including who these programs serve and the costs of those services.
H ere's our February Newsletter in case it was missed.
This Newsletter is all about our enclosed growing and fish raising areas, which include our Growroom and Fishroom featuring our latest evolution in Seed Germination, the SIT (Seed Incubation Table).
Here's our January Newsletter in case it was missed.
This Newsletter features our latest change in the Greenhouse, and it's a real innovation. Our retired aerospace engineer turned Aquaponics System Designer, Oliver Duffy, just keeps improving his designs. See what he's up to now in this informative Newsletter.
Be sure to get the Ap for the Aquaponics Digest Magazine!
Catch all 4 Parts of Grace's Series on the FOOD REVOLUTION!

The Aquaponics Digest Magazine features an advanced digital magazine and publishing and marketing platform for the 21st century; and it's just getting started. 

Click on the Link to learn how/where to get the Ap for iPhone and iPad.

Aquaponics Digest Magazine is a must read for any and all Aquaponics enthusiasts.

It features articles by the field's leaders like:
Sylvia Bernstein
Aaron Woolf
Glenn Martinez
and our own, 
Grace Sylke
Check Out our
We have several Videos on How To Do Aquaponics including two on installing our Food Forever Growing Systems in two schools in Tucson, AZ.
Here comes Aquaponics 101. Look for it under the drop down "AP Info" Menu on our Aquaponics USA website.
This is some of the best information you'll ever find about Aquaponics and How to build an Aquaponics System. It's coming to our website this month complete with Quizzes and a Certificate of Completion.
Be Sure to Visit our
It's full of Original Art by our Editor, Grace Sylke, including the new Pixton Cartoons she created for this Newsletter.
 
Watch for the new Food Documentary,
It's still in production but coming out soon. It features famous food activists like Jeffery Smith, Vandana Shiva and We're in it. Click the Link to Check out the Trailer.
We now have QUICK KITS!
And they're all about saving money on one of our Food Forever? Growing Systems and saving money to get it shipped! 
"You Build A Little,
We Ship A Lot For Less!"
Obesity in America Part 3
Fast Food Nation
 
Dear Subscriber:

This month as promised, we're writing about Fast Food in America in Part 3 of our Series on Obesity in America. We all know that we are the originators of the Fast Food concept and have imported this unhealthy food idea around the world.

With almost 321 million Americans, we are the third most populated country in the world behind India and China. Out of those 321 million people, about 50 Million of us eat from the 160,000 available Fast Food restaurants daily. That's almost 6.5% of our population. And would you believe that it's projected we will spend about $210 billion dollars in 2016 on some of the most unhealthy food we could possibly purchase and ingest.

This Newsletter is going to look at the history of Fast Food, it's exponential growth and why Fast Food is bad for our health and a major contributor to our Obesity Epidemic. 
(Statistics taken from United States Census Bureau Population Clock and Statistic Brain Research Institute)
History of Fast Food in America.

Cars not only made it possible for us to travel faster, they also contributed to our ability to eat faster. In fact "the history of fast food in America runs parallel to the invention of the car. These two industries are so intertwined that most people today think of fast food as anything being served out of a window and into an automobile." (Quote taken from the AccuPOS, Point of Sale Software website)

Many of us believe that McDonald's started the Fast Food trend; but actually it was a restaurant in Wichita, Kansas in 1921 founded by a cook, Walt Anderson, and an insurance man, Edgar Waldo. They  called their restaurant White Castle and together they turned ground beef into an acceptable way to eat beef. White Castle continues to operate a popular Fast Food Hamburger Restaurant Chain in the Midwestern and Mid-Atlantic U.S.
 

Before White Castle, people thought hamburger was made from the discarded or rotten remains of meat scraped off the filthy slaughterhouse floor. The founders of White Castle changed that belief, which was created by Upton Sinclair's popular 1906 novel, The Jungle, when he publicized the poor sanitation practices of the meat packing industry

These two restaurant innovators purposely set out to mold the public's perception of the cleanliness of the industry. "To invoke a feeling of cleanliness, their restaurants were small buildings with white porcelain enamel on steel exteriors, stainless steel interiors, and employees outfitted with spotless uniforms." They also chose their name, White Castle, to evoke cleanliness. It worked, and customers started flocking to what soon became the first restaurant chain in the world, which quickly garnered copy-cat entrepreneurs who came up with all kinds of variations on that name. 

"Anderson is credited with the invention of the hamburger bun as well as the kitchen assembly line, and the cook as an infinitely replaceable technician, hence giving rise to the modern fast food phenomenon. Due to White Castle's innovation of having chain-wide standardized methods, customers could be sure that they would receive the same product and service in every White Castle restaurant. As Henry Ford did for car manufacturing, Anderson and Ingram did for the making of burgers." And once again we see the intimate relationship between the car and the Fast Food hamburger. 

In the beginning all of the White Castle hamburger meat was freshly ground and the burgers were topped with fresh onions; but the competition for the lowest price and the demand for even faster Fast Food caused the chain to move to frozen patties and rehydrated onions, which they serve today. 
(Quotes and facts taken from Wikipedia, White Castle Restaurant, White Castle)
History of McDonald's

No history of Fast Food would be complete without the history of McDonald's. While White Castle was perfecting their kitchen assembly line and creating their chain of hamburger restaurants in the Midwest from the early 20's through the late 40's, the McDonald family moved from New Hampshire to Hollywood, CA and opened a food stand called "The Airdrome" on the famous Route 66 in Monrovia, CA in 1936. Their main item was hot dogs. Maurice and Richard, known as Mac and Dick, moved the entire building 40 miles east to San Bernardino, CA and renamed it "McDonald's Bar-B-Q". There were 25 barbecued menu items. 

By 1948, the McDonald brothers revamped their entire operation to emphasize their best selling items, which were hamburgers, cheeseburgers, french fries, shakes, soft drinks, apple pie and McDonald's was born. In 1952 with the goal of more efficiency and curb appeal, the brothers hired an architect who helped them design a building with "gleaming surfaces of red and white ceramic tile, stainless steel, brightly colored sheet metal, and glass; pulsing red, white, yellow, and green neon; and last but not least, two 25-foot yellow sheet-metal arches trimmed in neon, called ' golden arches'". By late 1952, the brothers went out seeking their first Franchisee holding only the rendering of their new building design in their hands. 




What Horrors Await Us in a Big Mac Bun! 
Let it be known that we are using McDonald's and the Big Mac as as example of common industry wide Fast Food Restaurant practices as well as fast home prepared processed and packaged food practices. These offending ingredients have become standard fair in most Fast Food establishments as well as by most processors of fast home prepared food; and it all started with the perceived need among food providers to PRESERVE the food.

The answer to that need is PRESERVATIVES which birthed crazy to pronounce additives like Calcium Propionate and/or Sodium Propionate. The scary Big Mac Bun contains them; and they are known to "permanently damage your stomach lining by exacerbating gastritis and inducing severe ulcers. You should avoid fast-food products that have a high ratio of calcium propionate, such as buns, pastries and pizza. Typically, freshly baked bread products avoid the addition of calcium propionate, which is why they tend to spoil more quickly" as this PRESERVATIVE is all about preventing the growth of mold.

Watch this mind boggling Video Clip from the TV Show, The Doctors, about a man who kept a McDonald's Burger for 14 years.

Burger From 1999 Almost Looks New
Burger From 1999 Almost Looks New


So what else does the scary bun contain? Here's the whole tongue-tying list:

Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water,  High Fructose Corn Syrup and/or Sugar, Yeast, Soybean Oil and/or Canola Oil, Contains 2% or Less: Salt, Wheat Gluten, Calcium Sulfate, Calcium Carbonate, Ammonium Sulfate, Ammonium Chloride, Dough Conditioners (May Contain One or More of: Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, DATEM, Ascorbic Acid, Azodicarbonamide, Mono and Diglycerides, Ethoxylated Monoglycerides, Monocalcium Phosphate, Enzymes, Guar Gum, Calcium Peroxide), Sorbic Acid, Calcium Propionate and/or Sodium Propionate (Preservatives), Soy Lecithin, Sesame Seed.
CONTAINS: WHEAT AND SOY LECITHIN. (Ingredient List and idea to go through each part of the Big Mac taken from Food Matters.tv)

This bun is a far cry from what grandma made with flour, water, salt and yeast in her kitchen back in the day. So let's just look at a couple more of these ingredients like Ammonium Sulfate

That gem is also "a fertilizer that's sometimes used in making homemade explosives." Ready to blow up your intestines? It is "also used as an herbicide because it will burn the leaves of plants and either kill them outright or at least weaken them for easy removal. This compound is used in the production of printed circuit boards. It's also in flame retardant materials because it lowers the combustion temperature and increases the production of residues or chars. Ammonium sulfate activates yeast, so it helps to get industrially produced bread to rise, and it's also a general-purpose food additive." What a lovely cross-purpose abomination to be putting in our Big Mac buns and many of our other processed breads. (Quotes taken from the Aluminumsulfate.net website)

Then there's the High Fructose Corn Syrup and/or Sugar, which we talked about at length in our May Newsletter. HFCS, like sugar, is a known toxin that acts just like alcohol in the body and is causing an epidemic of Obesity and non-alcohol related fatty liver disease in thousands of people; and it's addictive. Have you ever wondered why you just have to have that Big Mac?
 
We've spent paragraphs just talking about three of the nasty ingredients in the Big Mac Bun. Keep reading to find out what's in the cheese, the sauce and the meat.
What, pray tell, is in the Pasteurized, Processed American Cheese?
Floating innocently above the white background is what looks, and to many tastes, like a little slice of heaven. But, the truth be known, this Pasteurized, Processed All American Cheese is more likely responsible for sending many of us to heaven because it is laden with a dangerous  PRESERVATIVE known as Sodium Phosphate.

Food producers like our Fast Food Conglomerates and many other packaged processed food pushers would rather PRESERVE
their food using whatever monstrous additive they deem useful than to PRESERVE the health of the people they are feeding.

Here's the Ingredients List for Pasteurized Processed American Cheese, which is the cheese in a Big Mac:

Milk, Cream, Water, Cheese Culture, Sodium Citrate, Contains 2% or Less of: Salt, Citric Acid, Sodium Phosphate, Sorbic Acid (Preservative), Lactic Acid, Acetic Acid, Enzymes, Sodium Pyrophosphate, Natural Flavor (Dairy Source), Color Added, Soy Lecithin (Added for Slice Separation). CONTAINS: MILK AND SOY LECITHIN (Ingredient List and idea to go through each part of the Big Mac taken from Food Matters.tv)

We are going to look at just one of these ingredients; and it's the ubiquitous PRESERVATIVE Sodium Phosphate. And once again, we are blowing our own minds as we research this additive. 

According to the conclusion of a study discussed in an Article published in aerzteblatt-international.de: "In view of the high prevalence of CKD [chronic kidney disease] and the potential harm caused by phosphate additives to food, the public should be informed that added phosphate is damaging to health. Furthermore, calls for labeling the content of added phosphate in food are appropriate." They also explained in this article that: "Foods with added phosphate tend to be eaten by persons at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale, who consume more processed and "fast" food. The main pathophysiological effect of phosphate is vascular damage, e.g. endothelial dysfunction and vascular calcification." EGAD! There's one more killer to watch out for on your labels.
So what horrid ingredients are in the Sauce?
(Disclaimer: This is a generic bottle of sauce. We have no idea what a Big Mac's sauce looks like thanks to our having walked away from a Big Mac addiction many years ago.)
Here's another one of those never ending lists of ingredients:

Soybean Oil, Pickle Relish, Diced Pickles, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Vinegar, Corn Syrup, Salt, Calcium Chloride, Xanthan Gum, Potassium Sorbate [Preservative], Spice Extractives, Polysorbate 80), Distilled Vinegar, Water, Egg Yolks, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Onion Powder, Mustard Seed, Salt, Spices,  Propylene Glycol Alginate, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Mustard Bran, Sugar, Garlic Powder, Vegetable Protein (Hydrolyzed Corn, Soy and Wheat), Caramel Color, Extractives of Paprika, Soy Lecithin, Turmeric (Color), Calcium Disodium EDTA (Protect Flavor).
CONTAINS: WHEAT, EGG AND SOY.  (Ingredient List and idea to go through each part of the Big Mac taken from Food Matters.tv)

Once again, let's start with the PRESERVATIVES, Propylene Glycol Alginate and Sodium Benzoate. Propylene Glycol Alginate is found in everything gel-like including commercial jams, salad dressings, yogurt, toothpaste and cosmetics. It serves two purposes. It thickens and it preserves color and consistency of whatever contains it. 

"Although it is considered a safe additive, there have been reports of negative side effects. It can produce stomach upset and nausea, whether it's ingested or used on the skin as a cosmetic. When it is only used cosmetically, it can cause allergic reactions that include hair loss, rashes, and eye irritations. Cosmetic use is the most common cause of side effects. Other skin-related allergies can occur when household cleaners that contain this ingredient are used."

 

"It is unclear if this chemical additive should be used by expectant mothers because it is thought to be a teratogen, which means that it might cause birth defects. Because it is easily absorbed into the skin, it is thought that exposure can cause damage to the kidneys as well as the liver. High doses can cause seizures in children. Despite these potential problems, propylene glycol alginate is one of the most commonly used chemical additives." (Quotes taken from the wisegeek website)


 

Then there is Sodium Benzoate. Besides the Big Mac sauce, soy sauce, soft drinks, pickles, catsup, mouthwashes, toothpastes, creams, lotions and other cosmetic products contain it. "Though regulations only allow a small percentage of sodium benzoate to be added to products (.1% by weight). The concentration may vary depending on what country you live in. However, the effects of repeated doses of Sodium Benzoate over time are unknown. Professor Peter Piper a molecular biology expert at Sheffield University found that Sodium Benzoate damaged the mitochondrial DNA of yeast cells. (Mitochondria are free floating elements in each cell with multiple functions. They are associated with cell metabolism and aging). He concluded that it may do the same to human DNA."


 

"One known cancer danger exists related to sodium benzoate. If you combine ascorbic acid (vitamin C) with sodium benzoate and potassium benzoate (another preservative), you get benzene. Benzene is a known carcinogen. Most of the benzene exposure comes from the environment including cigarette smoke, car exhaust, industrial waste and service stations. Some benzene exposure can also come from contaminated food and water. Some soft drinks have been removed from the market when they were found to contain benzene." (Quotes taken from Spa From Scratch website)


 

The sad fact is we have no idea of what the long term affects are to the human body of all the additives, chemicals and preservatives that we are putting in our food and in our cosmetic products; and we're beginning to see why the Paleo Diet, which stays clear of all processed food is a smart idea.
 


 

We've already spoken about the High Fructose Corn Syrup. Be sure to check out our May Newsletter for the whole story. There's so much of it in the Big Mac Sauce that it's listed in the Ingredients twice. One of the rules of listing ingredients is you have to list the largest amounts first so the first listing of High Fructose Corn Syrup is number 4 on this List of over 30 ingredients and sugar is right behind it at number 5.

Is Pink Slime Hiding in your Hamburger Meat?
As of 2012, McDonald's (to their credit) Stopped Using Pink Slime!
Thanks to a flamboyant young English Chef named Jamie Oliver who came to America and produced an incredible TV Series called Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, the meat product euphemistically named "Pink Slime" took a big hit in the U.S. market resulting in Safeway pulling it from their offerings and McDonald's vowing to never use it again after having used it as a filler in their hamburger patties from 2004-2011.

The best way to describe Pink Slime is to show you the YouTube Video which aired on Jamie's TV Show in April of 2011. 

Jamie Oliver Exposes
Jamie Oliver Exposes "Pink Slime"

In spite of the fact that these scraps from the meat packager's floor are not suited for human consumption and have to be washed in ammonia to kill the bacteria, ecoli and salmonella to make them edible by humans, the FDA has deemed that a toxic brew of 15% Pink Slime can be used as a  food additive  to  ground beef  and beef-based  processed meats without labeling it. They also deemed that because the addition of the ammonia is a part of the process rather than an additive, the ammonia need not be put on the label either. 






He went on to explain that " research has also highlighted the effects of pink slime's ammonia, often found in cleaning products, once it comes into contact with water. Exposure to the compound can cause long term damage to parts of the human digestive system, blood vessels, liver, and kidneys. Plus, studies in recent years, including one  conducted by the Center for Science in Public Interest in 2013, found that leftover pathogens in processed meat and poultry accounted for a third of hospitalizations from foodborne-illnesses, like listeria, salmonella, and E.coli."

In spite of these warnings, school officials in Texas, Virginia, Illinois and Pennsylvania all allowed Pink Slime back onto our children's lunch trays in 2013; and, as we stated earlier, three school systems,  Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota never banned it in the first place.

 

Cargill, Inc. is still running a robust Pink Slime business shipping beef products containing Pink Slime to nearly 400 retail, food service, and food-processing customers. And in spite of the fact that Beef Products, Inc. (BPI), lost three of its four plants due to lack of demand in 2012, it also continues to produce it in large quantities with the hope of re-opening several of those plants using the $1.2 billion dollars they also hope to get from ABC News when their lawsuit against the news outlet is won. (Quotes and facts taken from Think Progress website)

 

Fighting Big Food is not easy. We'll watch for that lawsuit, which should be coming up soon. Let us repeat, McDonald's says they have stopped using Pink Slime after 2011. Many of the other Fast Food conglomerates say the same thing; but we don't know where it is because it isn't being labeled. 

 

We're just glad we're making turkey burgers tonight. 

So What's In That Hamburger Meat Patty?

Now that we've dealt with the Pink Slime issue, what about Hamburger meat without Pink Slime. Is it good for us? 

Firstly, we need to point out the obvious, which is this: The ubiquitous Hamburger appears to be misnamed. It is not made of Ham, which comes from a pig. It is most often made of Beef, which comes from a cow. However, it wasn't named after it's meat contents. It's named after the city, Hamburg, in Germany where the Hamburg Steak was popular and brought to America by German immigrants. Now that that's out of the way: 

Why the bad rap around red meat? 

1. "Red meat has been linked to cancer for decades, with research suggesting that eating large amounts of pork, beef or lamb raises the risk of deadly tumors. But for the first time scientists think they know what is causing the effect. The body, it seems, views red meat as a foreign invader and sparks a toxic immune response.

 

Now they have discovered that pork, beef and lamb contains a sugar which is naturally produced by other carnivores but not humans. It means that when humans eat red meat, the body triggers an immune response to the foreign sugar, producing antibodies which spark inflammation, and eventually cancer. In other carnivores the immune system does not kick in, because the sugar - called Neu5Gc - is already in the body." (Quote taken from article in The Telegraph dated December, 2014)

 

WOW! That's a whole new and recently discovered reason that we should avoid red meat not to mention the: 

 

2. High levels of saturated fat in red meat, which contribute to Obesity, cancer and cardiovascular disease. "A recent National Institutes of Health-AARP study of more than a half-million older Americans concluded that people who ate the most red meat and processed meat over a 10-year-period were likely to die sooner than those who ate smaller amounts. Those who ate about 4 ounces of red meat a day were more likely to die of cancer or heart disease than those who ate the least, about a half-ounce a day." (Quote taken from WebMD)

 

Then there's the research reported by the JAMA Internal Medicine Network that concluded the following:

 

3. "Increasing red meat consumption over time is associated with an elevated subsequent risk of T2DM [type 2 diabetes mellitus], and the association is partly mediated by body weight. Our results add further evidence that limiting red meat consumption over time confers benefits for T2DM [type 2 diabetes mellitus] prevention." (Quote taken from JAMA On-line Network)

 

Then there's this research:

 

4. "Although the results vary, studies from around the world have suggested that a high consumption of meat is linked to an increased risk of colon cancer. In all cases the worry is confined to red meat, not chicken.

 

The best evidence comes from a pair of large 2005 studies, one from Europe, the other from the United States. The European research tracked 478,000 men and women who were free of cancer when the study began. The people who ate the most red meat (about 5 ounces a day or more) were about a third more likely to develop colon cancer than those who ate the least red meat (less than an ounce a day on average). Their consumption of chicken did not influence risk one way or the other, but a high consumption of fish appeared to reduce the risk of colon cancer by about a third." (Quote taken from Harvard Health Publications On-line)

 

And what about Mad Cow Disease? The fears surrounding Mad Cow disease have largely dissipated but Mad Cow disease has not been eradicated, and it's cause is still mysterious. 

 

5. "Researchers believe that the infectious agent that causes mad cow disease is an abnormal version of a protein normally found on cell surfaces, called a prion. For reasons still unknown, this protein becomes altered and destroys nervous system tissue--the brain and spinal cord" of the infected adult cow. 

 

"A human version of mad cow disease called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) is believed to be caused by eating beef products contaminated with central nervous system tissue, such as brain and spinal cord, from cattle infected with mad cow disease. For this reason, the USDA requires that all brain and spinal cord materials be removed from high-risk cattle -- older cattle, animals that are unable to walk, and any animal that shows any signs of a neurological problem." (Quote taken from WebMd On-Line)

 

An article published on the NPR News On-line site entitled 'Mad Cow' Disease in Texas Man Has Mysterious Origin' goes on to report the sad story of a 40 something year-old man who recently died of Mad Cow disease. Dr. Atul Maheshwari, a neurologist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, was one of the doctors who took care of the patient with vCJD, and he led the study. 

 

"Maheshwari hopes the case will have a few repercussions. First off, he hopes doctors and nurses will be more aware that vCJD, although extremely rare, can occur, even in people in the U.S.

And the case will help remind health officials around the world that watching out for mad cow disease is still critical. It can crop up in new places, at any time."

 

" 'Since 1996, there have not been any known large epidemics in cows,' Maheshwari says. 'But the U.S. has been monitoring the beef industry to make sure another epidemic does not occur.' " (Quote taken from NPR's Goats and Soda Stories of Life in a Changing World)

 

Continuing to eat beef in light of this mysterious disease that "can crop up in new places, at any time" and relying on the FDA or the USDA to make sure it doesn't is too much of a gamble for our tastes. 

 

Most meat cows are being factory farmed today. As the demand for Fast Food went up with more Moms in the workforce so did the demand for Fast Beef and factory farms took over the family farm where traditionally meat cattle were grass fed and raised naturally over about a 3-year timeline. For the most part, this idyllic family farm is just a memory today.

 

6. "Today's beef industry process brings cattle to slaughter weight in just one or two years. But it reduces the nutritional value of the meat, stresses the animals, increases the risk of bacterial contamination, pollutes the environment and exposes consumers to a long list of unwanted chemicals."

 

"The U.S. beef supply contains traces of hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals that were never produced by any cow. That hamburger looks fresh, but it may be two weeks old and injected with gases to keep it cherry red. Take a closer look at that 'guaranteed tender and juicy' filet of beef. The juiciness may have been 'enhanced' with a concoction of water, salt, PRESERVATIVES and other additives." (Quote taken from Mother Earth News On-line Magazine Article "What You Need To Know About The Beef Industry")

 

And here's the clincher. This horror show of factory raised cattle being jabbed with hormones and antibiotics resulting in meat that is further enhanced with PRESERVATIVES, it's all 100% Pure USDA Inspected Beef just like McDonald's claims it's hamburger patty to be.

 

If you take all of the above six reasons into consideration, do you really need another reason to quit eating red meat or to at least cut down your consumption of it? Okay, so here's one more:

 

7. Cows feed our children one of the only drinks that Dr. Lustig has left on the table next to water, and that's Milk. Dr. Lustig exposed the dangers of Fructose that comes in the form of High Fructose Corn Syrup in soft drinks and just plain Fructose in both pure and sugary fruit drinks. See our May Newsletter for the whole story. 

 

We're not going to go into the horrors of the factory Dairy Farm here. We just want to suggest that it might be time to thank the cows and then give them a break at least in the meat department from being the primary food animal in the U.S., and you have six really good reasons to do so. 

 

We also want to make it clear that we're not vegans or saints around here. We're raising our own fish, and we eat chickens and turkey, which are also being raised in terrible conditions on factory farms. 

 

We do our best to purchase organic chicken meat from Whole Foods; but when we eat out, we're supporting the factory chicken farms.

 

So far, we've only been talking about the Hamburger, using the Big Mac, that is served at McDonald's as one example of the many Fast Food burgers out there; but it's a rare customer who only orders a Hamburger when they go to a Fast Food Restaurant. The most popular combination meal includes French Fries and a Soft Drink. 

 

So let's take a look at the French Fries.


Do We Really Want to Know How Bad The Fries Are?
If your answer is "No", stop reading right here because the fries are really bad.
"In the USA about one quarter of the vegetables consumed are fries.  That's not one quarter of potatoes, that's one quarter of all vegetables in total!"

"Americans now eat an average of four servings of french fries every week for every man, woman and child. Do we really have to ask why there is an epidemic of Obesity and its related diseases?"

If the above statements didn't shock you, nothing will. It seems we're all French Fry addicts. 

A small serving of fries from any Fast Food Restaurant contains between 200 and 340 calories. Large servings of fries contain between 370 and 730 calories. The fat content in a small serving is between 8 and 17 grams and between 11and 37 grams in a large serving.  Out of those grams of fat, small servings contain around 1.5 to 3.5 grams of saturated fat and in large servings, the saturated fat goes up to 4.5 to 8 grams. The only good news here is at least French Fries don't contain High Fructose Corn Syrup.

"French fries served in American restaurants often come dipped in corn oil even before they are fried. Processed corn oil is considered one of the worst kinds of oils for the human body. Aside from the saturated fat, corn oil has 60 times more inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids than Omega-3s."

"Foods that have been fried in hydrogenated vegetable oils like corn, canola and soybean oil are especially damaging to our health. The polyunsaturated fats they contain become rancid with the constant heating and reheating that degrades their structure. These unnatural and heat damaged fats are strongly implicated in promoting inflammation within your body that is the starting point of many common health problems and diseases."

When we eat French Fries, we're eating a high glycemic carbohydrate, which means we immediately start producing fat storing insulin. "These quickly digested carbohydrates themselves are converted into glycogen, which, if you don't eat them with a lot of exercise, is stored very easily in your body as fat, so you're getting double the weight gain potential with every 'happy' meal."
(Quotes and facts taken from Health Ambition Article entitled "Are French Fries One of The Most Unhealthy Foods You Eat?")
Then there's the Soft Drink!
Have you ever wondered why Soft Drinks are called "Soft"? It's all about them being the opposite of "Hard Liquor". Unfortunately, they are far from the opposite of "Hard Liquor"; and, in fact, they are as hard on the liver as "Hard Liquor".

Let us repeat that just in case you missed it. Soft Drinks are as hard on the liver as Hard Liquor.

The biology and chemistry behind this statement is all explained in our May Newsletter in Dr. Lustig's YouTube Presentation called Sugar: The Bitter Truth so we won't go into the details here.

So let's just talk about the basics. "Soda is one of the most consumed beverages in the United States, second only to water. Here in the States, Americans guzzle 57 gallons of soda per person every year, as if it wasn't full of sugary calories." 

"But what's happening inside the bodies of soda consumers with each sip? As soon as soda's swallowed, the pancreas is notified and rapidly begins to create insulin in response to the sugar. Insulin is a hormone the body uses to move sugar from food or drink into the bloodstream, where cells are then able to use sugar for energy. Within just 20 minutes, blood sugar levels spike and the liver responds to the insulin by turning sugar into fat for storage."

 

"Within 45 minutes of gulping down a single 20-ounce glass of soda [with caffeine], caffeine from the drink is fully absorbed, and as a result your pupils dilate and blood pressure rises. The body produces more dopamine, which stimulates the pleasure centers of the brain - just like a low-grade line of cocaine." 

 

Most of us know that in the 20's when Cocaine was legal, Coca Cola, nick-named Coke, contained it and got it's name from that drug, which is also abbreviated to Coke. And just like with the drug, "When the hour chimes, the body begins to experience a blood sugar crash, which is around the same time a person reaches for their second soda, or for another sweet and sugar snack to suffice. Soda's connection to the obesity epidemic is so intertwined, Harvard researchers have calculated each additional soda consumed increases the risk of obesity 1.6 times."

 

"In addition to the threat of reaching obese levels, researchers also found after following 40,000 men for two decades, those who drank a sugary beverage each day had a 20 percent increased risk of having a heart attack. The high fructose corn syrup - a cheap replacement for cane sugar - has been associated with increased risk of metabolic syndrome, which leads to diabetes and heart disease." (Quoted Segments taken from Medical Daily On-line Article entitled, "Soft Drink Dangers: 8 Ways Soda Negatively Affects Your Health"

We're Being Hit By a FAST FOOD STORM and our Carnival Ship is Going Down!
Alone, each one of these Fast Food products or add-ons to a Fast Food product are unhealthy and most often loaded with High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar and fandangled PRESERVATIVES.
But together, in what is often called a Combo Meal, they make a perfect FAST FOOD Obesity Storm that we as a country cannot survive. 

We are now raising children whose life expectancy is less than their parents. We are on the top of the List of the world's most obese countries. We are sicker and dying younger than the people in other nations and the statistics are getting worse not better every year. 

And what's even more distressful about this self created slow genocide compliments of Fast Food is that we're exporting this bad outcome of a good idea all over the world. Obesity is not just an American problem. It's a planetary problem. 

The revealing YouTube Video below called "Fast Food Babies" tells the sad story. Only the BBC would publish a Video like this about their own Fast Food problem which is going generational.
 
Fast Food Babies
Fast Food Babies

Our Fast Food conglomerates continue to shamelessly market to children and are doing their best to get them hooked on this addictive and toxic combination of fats, sugars, High Fructose Corn Syrup and PRESERVATIVES. This will insure they have customers for their lifetimes even if their lifetimes are cut short. 

How do we change this bad eating pattern? We start by spreading the word. We have to understand why Fast Food and fast home- cooked processed food is bad for us and then substitute it with REAL Food. 

Big Food has gone too far. They can no longer to be trusted to feed us. They don't care about our bodies. We have to care about our own bodies and the bodies of our children. We have to turn back the clock and learn to grow our own food, freeze it, can it, prepare it without the processed packaged poisons. This is what we're being called to do. Let us pray we can rise to the occasion and right this once great ship called America. 
Coming in July! Obesity in America Part 4
Don't miss Part 4 of this Series on Obesity in America. We're going to look at some of the worst additives that are hiding in our food including Aspertame, MSG and GMO's. We'll examine what they are, where they're hiding and why they're so bad for us.
Our FREE Aquaponics 101 Course is coming to our Aquaponics USA website on or before June 15th.
It comes with some of the most valuable FREE Aquaponics System information on the web, follow-up Quizzes and even a Certificate of Completion for your wall. You'll find it under our Drop Down Menu called "AP Info". Just pull down the Menu Bar and click on Aquaponics 101 Introduction; and have fun learning all about Aquaponics.

Teachers, this is a great Course for your students. Just send them to our website or Print Out the Course and administer it in your classroom. 

It really is time for a Food Revolution in America; and learning Aquaponics is a big part of taking a stand for REAL Food.

Please FORWARD this email to your colleagues, friends and family who need to become aware of the dangers of Fast Food. We can't make the changes we need to make without first understanding why the changes are so important. We can save lives with this information.

Thank you for following our Newsletters. We so appreciate your interest in our two cutting edge Aquaponics Companies, Aquaponics USA and Aquaponics World, LLC. We'll continue to bring you important information about Aquaponics, our Food and our Food System, which right now is broken. 

Please help us turn the tables around and become the healthiest country on the planet instead of the sickest.

Aquaponics USA/World

Get Your 10% Discount on any of our Food Forever Growing Systems!


 

Offer ends July 15th at Midnight