Nutrition 101: How Processed Foods Make Us Fat, Malnourished, and SickDaisy Luther If you arent entirely familiar with the way processed foods can affect your health, read on. This is an introduction to how processed foods differ from whole foods, based on frequently asked questions about the subject. What happens in your body when you eat processed foods? When you eat heavily preserved foods, your body cant break them down to use the nutrients in them (if there are nutrients left in the first place after all that processing). The video below compares how homemade noodles from fresh, wholesome ingredients and Ramen noodles travel through your digestive system. Do you see how it is impossible for the digestive acids in the body to break down the processed food? The Ramen noodles remain recognizable most of the way through the system until they are ready to be excreted. This means that the few nutrients that may still be present are not made available for the bodys use. The accessibility of nutrients for your bodys use is called bio-availability. This is the reason that North America is full of malnourished fat people those who rely on processed food must consume far more of it in a vain effort to get the nutrients they need. They crave food because their bodies are crying out for the vitamins and minerals that are needed to function. Mood disorders and mental illness can also be directly related to the consumption of processed foods. They are lacking in the Omega 3s and other nutrients that are vital in proper brain function and good mental health. (You can learn more about nutrition for mental healthHERE). This is not to oversimplify the seriousness of mental illness it is a crushing, debilitating experience. But the symptoms can be lessened, if not cured altogether, with excellent nutrition and the avoidance of trigger chemicals. Its not just about malnutrition, its about consuming poison. Additives like high fructose corn syrup, sugar and MSG are linked to obesity, not just because of the excess useless calories and lack of nutritional bio-availability mentioned above, but because of their addictive qualities. When you consume them, they actually trigger the release of dopamine in your brain, the same hormone that is released when an addict takes a needle full of heroin. Over time, it takes more and more of the same substance to achieve the same feeling, that of pleasure and euphoria. Foods containing these ingredients are actually engineered to create cravings and addiction. It gives a whole new meaning to the old Lays Potato Chip commercial, Bet you cant eat just one. The problems dont end with malnutrition and associated illnesses. The chemicals added to these foods are directly linked with cancer, diabetes, infertility, autoimmune disorders, and heart disease. Make over your diet Changing your eating habits will be one of the most important things your ever do for yourself and your family. While processed foods are cheap, quick, and abundant, whole foods require a little more effort. Your health is worth it! Once you cut the processed foods from the majority of your diet, you will begin to notice how awful you feel when you go off-plan and eat a bag of chips or a fast food meal. The interesting (and horrifying) thing about this is you felt that way ALL THE TIME before cutting that food from your diet, but you didnt realize it because feeling unwell was your normal baseline. Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor. Her website,The Organic Prepper, wherethis article first appeared, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy onFacebookandTwitter, and you can email her atdaisy@theorganicprepper.ca 