The Godzilla of Food Triggers

Conspiracy theorists are always warning about back room deals that expose us to some threat or another. In the case of the processed food industry, they’re probably right.

The “back room” in this case, however, is actually a lab. In that lab, food manufacturers’ technicians are hard at work every day developing new foods with visual and palate appeal consumers will find irresistible (and will therefore buy by the minivan full).

According to Dr. David Kessler, author of The End of Overeating and former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, it’s not just the look and taste of food that is “addictive,” to use his word; processed food is engineered to assault your senses from every angle and leave you virtually helpless to resist it.

We’re not just talking about “food triggers” anymore; food manufacturers have unleashed Godzilla.

Similarly, in Salt Sugar Fat, author Michael Moss speaks to the processed food industry’s manipulation and collusion to get us all hooked on their products. He makes well-researched and persuasive arguments as to the industry’s complicity in the nation’s obesity epidemic.

Heavy stuff. (Ahem, sorry. Bad pun.)

These books were life-changing for me. For years I felt a slave to the pull of the salty/sugary/fatty foods that are everywhere in our world. The Cinnabon, to be sure, but also the piping-hot pizzas dripping in cheese, the buttery-rich bakery treats beckoning me at Starbucks, the Cool-Ranch-Nacho-Cheese-Jalapeno-Popper flavored Doritos (I’m making up the flavor, but you get the point) in the mega-sized “value” bag.

It all tastes so damn good, right?!?

Yeah, they know that. And yeah, you just bought it hook, line and sinker.

So did I.

Let me just say, I am a cantankerous old broad. (Okay, not so old, but definitely cantankerous.) I do not like being manipulated. When I realized the insidious nature of this deceit, I was appalled.

I don’t like being played for a fool.

Once my eyes were opened, I stopped playing their game. I stopped buying most processed food and concentrated more on whole foods, mostly from the produce section. I have never looked back.

Processed food manufacturing is a multi-billion dollar industry in America. The companies are making money for their shareholders and creating jobs; that’s fine. That’s the way it works.

But that doesn’t mean I have to buy it.

That’s also the way it works. I get to vote with my dollars which businesses I will support.

I will not support those who create these chemical concoctions that are better suited for a horror movie than my family’s dinner plate.

This is a weight loss issue, but it’s also a matter of food quality, transparency and personal decision.

I decided that my family and I are gonna take a pass on most of the crap food in the grocery store’s center aisles and at restaurants everywhere. Are you with me?

C’mon, we got this!