You are what you eat....

Gillian Mckeith made these words famous on Channel 4 Series of the same.... but think about it, you eat food to replace dying cells and help repair and grow. If your body were a F1 car would you really put the cheapest fuel in it you could possibly find? You are literally, what you eat.

Many people buy ready prepared or packaged foods for convenience. But many of these contain what Paul Chek refers to as 'non foods'. A 'non food' is any food that costs more in nutritional value to digest, absorb and eliminate than it delivers.

Do you know the difference between strawberry flavour, strawberry flavoured and strawberry yoghurt?

Look in your fridge or freezer and pull out all the prepackaged foods. Then turn to the ingredients. How many do you not know what they are or can't pronounce?

The Food Standards Agency list a range of products which can be legally added to you food. A list can be found on the Food Standards Agency website

http://www.food.gov.uk/safereating/chemsafe/additivesbranch/enumberlist#h_2

Don't be confused about the term natural. Insects, insect larvae, monkey guts and even mercury are all 'natural' and are just a few of the ingredients which can end up in your food. [Paul Chek]

Always eat foods that are as natural as possible and have very little use of chemicals such as pesitcides or fertilizers in their creation. The Soil Association certifies produce which have passed a strict assessment in terms of how produce is grown and how animals are fed and treated..

The media often reports that there is no significant difference between organic foods and conventionally grown crops.

The Soil Association analysed 109 studies on conventional and organic foods. They determined that only 27 of these studies were valid comparisons - almost all of which found orgnaic foods to be significantly better. In many of the other studies, the organic produce was flowin in and was much older than the locally grown conventional crops, therefore decreasing it's nutritional value. [Paul Chek]

Typically, organic food as well as having less use of fertilsers and pesticides has higher levels of secondary nutrients such as phenolic compounds which are antitoxidants. According to research, phenolic compounds are ten times more efficient at mopping up cancer - causing 'free radicals' in the body than other antitoxidants such as vitamin C and E. [Paul Chek]

Organic foods have better protein quality due to the soil not being depleted of nutrients from the over use of fertilisers and pesticides.

Organic foods should also be free of pesticide and fertiliser residues present on conventional farms. This alone makes them worth the extra time and money they take to acquire. However, due to the amount of polution in the air and in the water system (nowadays, there is no totally pure source of water), organic foods are sometimes in contact with chemicals. So, it's hard to say they are totally free of chemicals.

Therefore, if we are what we eat, then we should always eat from the best sources of food, which typically means certified organic, locally produced and grown, which should always be thoroughly washed before use.