The Problems with Processed Foods

Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Salt Sugar Fat” has ruined grocery shopping for me. I’ve never been a fan of highly processed foods. I am not one to throw Kraft Cheesy Skillets, or Lunchables into my grocery cart. I know that processed foods are bad for you and full of empty calories. But this book took that point of view and radically expanded it.

So much of what we think of as “food” contains little to no actual food! And it is a worse problem than just obesity. These “foods” contribute to high blood pressure, organ failure, heart failure, altered taste buds, and even cancer! Manufacturers of these products know their dangers and don’t eat them. I wouldn’t eat a meal at a fancy restaurant that the chef wouldn’t touch, so why would I eat a meal in a box that the CEO of Kraft wouldn’t touch?

“Salt Sugar Fat” is broken up into three sections that address each ingredient’s role in processed foods. First is Sugar, and this section is a real eye opener. We all know about the sugars involved in sodas, but what was really frightening to me was the secret sugars that are added into all manner of foods in order to mask other chemical “off” flavors. This is the section that first introduces the concept of the “Bliss Point”. According to Moss’ research, people’s bliss points for sugar are higher and higher due to early exposure to high sugar foods in infancy. If you grew up drinking soda and other sweet drinks, you are doomed to crave higher and higher sugar contents in your foods for the rest of your life.

The Salt section has similar information to the sugar section. People are developing higher and higher tolerances to salts in their foods. Even children, who normally don’t like a lot of salt, are being trained by processed foods to crave it. Again, salt is added to EVERYTHING. It provides better mouth feel for a lot of products, preserves products, and masks metallic and other off flavors.

I was ready to be hit hard by the fat section, and I was not let down. Fats are not going away from processed foods. Fat is essential to their success. Moss’ research shows that when salt and sugar are combined with fats, our brains/bodies do not identify how much fat we are ingesting. Basically, the key components of processed foods work together to turn off our natural satiety. That’s terrible news for the consumer, but great news for processed food manufacturers.

Don’t read this book if you aren’t prepared to go to the grocery store armed with your new found information on processed food. You will be checking the labels on everything and evaluating and translating the information therein. Nothing is as it first appears. “Low Fat” or “Diet” varieties often harbor secret stashes of extra salt or sugar that keep the calories ridiculously high. But if you are ready for some hard truths that might just save your life, get this book today.


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Congratulations Neil Gaiman!

Neil Gaiman, incidentally one of my all-time favorite authors, just won the Newbery Medal for, The Graveyard Book. This book is one of the most unique stories I have ever read, and I loved the addition of the illustrations by Dave McKean. If any of you have not read, The Graveyard Book, a story about a boy who is raised in a graveyard and protected from assassins by members of the spiritual realm, then you must, must get a copy and read it. Now!

Congratulations Mr. Gaiman. You thoroughly deserve this prestigious honor.

Age Banding Discussed at Upcoming Conference

Thankfully, Philip Pullman is not giving up on trouncing the proposed age-banding of youth books in the UK. He will be part of a session being held during The Society of Authors' Cambridge Children's Writers & Illustrators Conference (August 29-31), along with Libby Purves, Anne Fine, Graham Marks (of Publishing News), and Beck Stradwick (the UKHQ Children's Buyer from Borders). Publishers have been invited to join this session, and the Society of Authors have expressed their desire to hear all views on the subject.

I am sure that we will hear more from Philip Pullman after the Conference, but if you'd like to find more information on the society and the conference you can visit: www.societyofauthors.org.

Book Banding

UK publishers have decided to begin age-banding their books. This means that children's and young adult books will be banded with an age level that is supposed to proclaim the appropriateness of the book for a certain age group. Books will bear a scarlet letter, declaring them fit for only those 10 +, 12+, and so on. Authors are outraged and claim that this will hurt sales and keep children from reading more challenging books, but the publisher's believe it will increase sales by directing parents to books that are at their child's age-level.

At the crux of this argument is the control that publisher's have over writers and censorship. With book-banding, publishers can now squeeze authors into tight boxes and dictate an age level at which to write. They will have margins for every age-level that will have to be met. They will be able to control content, language, voice, and vocabulary. It is a very dangerous concept, and don't think that this will end in UK. Major world-wide book publishers are leading this charge--Harper Collins, Scholastic, etc. This WILL be coming to the United States.

If you'd like to learn more about this issue and read some author's essays on the subject please read Darren Shan's essay at Soapbox and this Telegraph article about Bill Pulman's fight against the bands. If you would like to add your voice to those who are protesting, please visit: http://www.notoagebanding.org/ to sign the petition.

National Year of Reading Celebration

Waterstone's, the English book-selling behemoth is celebrating the National Year of Reading by publishing a collection of very short fiction from 13 of the most famous authors of our time. Authors like Neil Gaiman, Doris Lessing, Nick Hornby, Margaret Atwood, and J.K. Rowling are contributing this book which showcases original short stories on postcards. But they are also opening the field to all aspiring writers as well. You are invited to submit your short story to the website by June 19th for the chance to win an Arvon Writing Course. As of this posting there have been 2,707 stories submitted and that number is climbing every minute!

The 13 short stories will be available on the website for reading beginning June 11th, and the book will be available for purchase in about 56 days. You can pre-order it now, however, from Waterstone's for only 5 pounds. Go to the website and check it out. Support the National Year of Reading, and let me know what you thought of the stories!

Neil Gaiman's, "American Gods"

Neil Gaiman, one of the best fantasy fiction authors of our time (in my opinion one of the best fiction writers, period) has created a free, online version of American Gods. This book will change the way you see America. Check it out here:

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