DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to the thousands of people that “give back” to others across the globe; people who encourage compassion for others in their work, sacrifice their own comforts, and even take personal risks to aid others. This country was founded and built on people fighting for every person’s rights, dignity, and pursuit of happiness.
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Introduction
PARTICIPANTS IN OUR OWN DESTRUCTION
Chapter One
FAST FOOD AND DISEASE
Chapter Two
THE BRAIN ON FAST FOOD
Chapter Three
LET FOOD BE THY MEDICINE
Chapter Four
THE LESSONS OF HISTORY
Chapter Five
DNA, SOCIAL ENERGY, AND FAST FOOD
Chapter Six
MAKING DESERTS GREEN AGAIN
Chapter Seven
FOOD FOR THE HEART AND SOUL
Chapter Eight
EATING OUR WAY TO HEALTH
Chapter Nine
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
About the Authors
Also by Joel Fuhrman, M.D.
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
INTRODUCTION
PARTICIPANTS IN OUR OWN DESTRUCTION
It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It’s that they can’t see the problem.
—G. K. CHESTERTON
We are facing a tragic and unprecedented destruction of human lives in the United States and much of the developed world. Processed, fake, and fast foods have become the primary source of calories in this country, and they’re on track to become the same in other countries. This attachment to fast food over natural foods and fresh produce is moving us toward widespread chronic disease, mental illness, and shortened life spans. I believe that the growing fast food addiction in this country and abroad is a genocide, as these foods destroy life with frightening efficiency and this damage is worsening. The food industry has evolved to effectively feed the majority of our citizens with mass-marketed, factory-produced foods that do not have the biological and chemical properties of natural produce. The result is the destruction of human potential, along with an explosion of chronic illness, human suffering, and the premature death of millions.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines genocide as “the deliberate destruction of an entire race or nation.”
On the surface it may seem that we are in control of our food choices and therefore “genocide” does not apply here. We typically think of genocide as a crime that one group commits against another. But that is not always the case; sometimes we are participants in our own destruction. Multiple factors combine to remove choice from the equation, leaving all of us in peril.
In an effort to improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness, food companies have developed ways to feed a great many people with highly processed, highly addictive foods. These foods are designed to hook us and impair our taste buds in the process. Despite the wealth of the nation, many people live in parts of the country where fresh ingredients are difficult to get. When healthy foods are simply out of reach, individuals have no opportunity to make informed choices about what they eat. Furthermore, the medical establishment offers quick-fix surgery or a lifetime supply of pills in place of a simple dietary regimen that can reverse and prevent disease and save millions of lives from medical tragedy and premature death. The harm of these medical interventions is glossed over, and the benefits are exaggerated, while this food-induced health care crisis continues to grow. Last but not least, the idea that unhealthy food leads only to weight gain and not unhappiness, disease, and death remains a permanent myth that permeates society. We need to make clear that the issues are far more than just about waistlines; they are about lifelines.
Despite the tremendous evidence coming from the worlds of nutritional and social sciences, these “Frankenfoods”—or unnatural, human-made, processed fast foods—continue to destroy the fiber of our society, creating new social problems and damaging the health and happiness of a large proportion of our population. Modern science reveals that this pervasive and serious damage to our health can even damage our genes, resulting in severe harm being passed on to future generations. This is information that everyone must know.
Most health problems facing Americans today are the direct consequence of Frankenfoods. Heart attacks, strokes, adult and childhood cancers, our growing epidemic of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, allergies, and autoimmune diseases all have their basis in the common dietary practices that are ubiquitous across the United States. According to studies, our diet, not just during pregnancy but even before conception, has profound effects in determining the health, intelligence, and immune systems of our children.1 The problem is deeper, more serious, and more pervasive than anyone imagined, and no one is safe. It is widely accepted that mental illness, antisocial behavior, reduced intelligence, and most life-altering chronic diseases are primarily genetic; that is, they are not the result of dangerous foods. But this assumption is dead wrong. Further, this false belief perpetuates bigotry, contempt, and a growing, but generally ignored atrocity occurring right under our noses in urban communities.
By itself, a single pebble is harmless. However, put enough small pebbles together and start them rolling down the side of a mountain, and suddenly you have an avalanche. An avalanche doesn’t just move earth and rocks from one place to another; it destroys everything in its path. We are already experiencing an expanding crisis of physical and mental health deterioration from an avalanche of commercially prepared convenience food. There is compelling evidence that the modern epidemic of learning disabilities, poor school performance, depression, aggressive behavior, and despair are all influenced by the avalanche of fake food that has invaded our nation and taken over our cities.
Malnutrition caused by the lack of natural food and fresh produce has troubled humanity for eons. Today, malnutrition is no longer the exclusive problem of underdeveloped nations that have poor economies and inadequate food distribution networks. It is increasingly being experienced throughout the entire modern world as people eat foods that lack the micronutrients humans need for good health. In other words, “excess-calorie malnutrition” is spreading disease to all parts of the globe.
However, this new widespread malnutrition—what I call “fast food malnutrition”—is not as obvious as it would be without the influence of conventional medicine. Fast food malnutrition creates chronic inflammation and causes weight gain, but subtle micronutrient deficiencies disproportionately target the brain. Fast food malnutrition goes largely undetected because conventional medicine has developed its quick-fix solutions that allow us to destroy our bodies with fast food even as we appear perfectly healthy. Prescriptions and pills have created a new normal; our blood vessels and organs are routinely damaged by our chemical- and calorie-dense diets, but the medical establishment persuades us that our health is beyond our control and we need its pharmacologic solutions in order to thrive.
But the truth is this: Our diets are the primary driver of our health and longevity, and the medical community is doing us a disservice when it entices us to pop pills in answer to all that ails us. Disease is not inevitable. People are now enslaved to their illnesses and food addictions, accompanied by years of chronic suffering and medical dependence before a premature death, and this problem has become ubiquitous. The wrong food damages the brain, too, and is destroying lives and the American dreams of liberty and success.
Fast food malnutrition is resulting
in fast food genocide.
America’s future is being threatened by pebbles.
The choice to eat unhealthy foods may seem inconsequential. Yet this choice doesn’t just make us fatter; it also contributes to an avalanche of health and social problems, including chronic disease, diminished intelligence, attention deficits, reduced educational and occupational opportunities, and even increased drug addiction, violence, and crime. In the following pages, I share the details of how unhealthy food has affected our nation and the devastating consequences that have followed. Escalating health tragedies are worsening in all demographics and regions of the country, and more so in younger people and in impoverished communities with poor access to fresh produce.
Robert Phillips, my collaborator, and I want to shine a light on the challenges of these impoverished communities and specifically the African American urban community now and in the past. However, as you read the data, the studies, and the history presented throughout this book, remember that this damage is occurring today all over our country, to all ethnic and racial groups where fast food consumption is high.
But without question, it is clear from the evidence that the African American urban community has suffered greatly. Compared with white Americans, if you are African American and live in an urban area in the United States:
•You are less likely to complete high school.2
•You have a 47 percent greater chance of having high blood pressure.3
•You have an 80 percent greater risk of experiencing a fatal stroke.4
•You have a 50 percent greater risk of dying from heart disease.5
•You are twice as likely to have diabetes.6
•You are more than four times more likely to have severe kidney disease.7
•You are more likely to get cancer and die of it.8
•You are more than twice as likely to get Alzheimer’s disease.9
Studies show again and again that in every health and social category, African Americans generally fare worse than whites. A primary reason is that systemic racism has led to disenfranchisement, decreased school funding, and decreased economic opportunity that perpetuate poverty and ill health. This is certainly a multifactorial and complicated issue, but I would like to propose and prove to you an additional reason for these dismal statistics that may change the way that you see the world. Mounting scientific evidence suggests that each and every point listed above is directly linked to diet and to social forces that perpetuate unhealthful eating.
This does not mean that there aren’t many other contributors to the persistent poor health we see in certain communities, or that people bear no responsibility for their own circumstances. Still, the evidence is unmistakable: An unhealthy diet conspires to unfavorably transform our DNA. Fake food alters us, both mentally and physically. It affects the way we act, and it undermines our health. None of us is immune to the destructive impact of this devastating problem.
Even though African Americans are disproportionately affected, fast food addiction, fast food malnutrition, and fast food genocide are not just an African American problem. Millions of Americans of all skin colors and economic strata are eating a dangerous diet loaded with soda, sweets, toxic additives, and junk food. And the more harmful foods you consume, the higher your risk of developing the physical, intellectual, and emotional problems they cause.
Our love for and acceptance of fast food as part of an everyday diet and our obsession with unhealthy foods (like bacon, cheese, white bread, and ice cream) blind us to other, even bigger problems. Diminished concentration and intelligence are consequences that we don’t currently associate with an unhealthy diet, but we should. Sadly, we live in a world where the vast majority of people have been conditioned to believe that what we put into our mouths simply doesn’t matter. However, whether one is considering serious disease, premature death, or functional intelligence, dietary influence—not heredity—is the major factor governing every outcome. The idea that individuals or ethnic groups have inferior genes is demonstrably false.
Furthermore, current science indicates that diet and lifestyle behaviors play a larger role in overall health and function, and genetics a smaller role, than was widely believed in the past. This means that health, brain function, and chronic diseases are primarily the result of environment and diet exposure, with a relatively small component of genetic predisposition. Nutrition overpowers genetics. For example, even in certain more genetically homogenous populations, such as American Indian tribes with an enhanced proclivity to develop obesity and diabetes, these conditions will only develop given a low-nutrient, high-calorie diet.
Lives are being destroyed daily by food choices. If we accept the untruth that people are just “born with” these problems, then we don’t have to face the truth that food is the real cause. The role of genetics has been grossly overemphasized in the study of disease. Genetics plays a role in a person’s susceptibility to a toxic nutritional insult, but that role is a relatively small one. This misplaced emphasis on genetics has led us to a larger cultural ignorance about environmental influences that can be modified. For example, the amount you smoke, and the number of years you smoke—not your genetics—are the major determinant of your risk of getting lung cancer.
We have the daily ability to positively affect our lives and overall health. And yet the importance we place on something we can’t control—our genes—absolves us from taking responsibility, personally and collectively.
Humans were designed to eat specific natural substances in a balanced way, but we now eat a wide array of unnatural substances in an unbalanced way. And we have done so to such a degree that most people have lost their taste and desire for life-giving, whole foods.
As a result, most Americans now prefer to eat foods that we know shorten our lives and damage our brains. This damage also alters our genetic structure. Changes to our DNA accumulate from eating commercially designed foods that are incompatible with our genetic design. These gene defects have devastating consequences for us, but also can be passed on to our children and grandchildren. If nothing is done, the harmful effects of our fast food diet style today will continue through future generations, creating a decline in population intelligence and an increase in autism, learning difficulties, childhood cancers, diabetes, and other serious metabolic abnormalities as people mature, further weakening the delicate fabric of our society.
This fast food genocide is fueled by a vicious cycle in which the food industry, the medical establishment, and society at large turn a blind eye to the real cause and effect of our nation’s dietary patterns. The food companies profit from producing low-cost, low-nutrition Frankenfoods designed to be addictive. The medical establishment profits from treating disease on a cause-by-cause basis, refusing to acknowledge, prescribe, or enforce effective lifestyle changes that actually prevent and reverse symptoms and diseases. And last, as a culture we continue to embrace unhealthy foods as if the data on how these foods are destroying lives do not exist or do not apply to us.
We have been in similar situations before. It took us decades to combat cigarette addiction, despite ample evidence that smoking caused heart disease and cancer. The fight against corporate greed, lies, and apathy is an uphill one. We may be the victims here, but we have the power to change this dangerous reality.
If we are to survive in good health, enjoy economic prosperity, and live in peace and harmony with each other, we have to consider the damage that poor food choices inflict on our society. We have to learn from our past mistakes and cultivate a nutritionally adequate diet for all, to enable people to live up to their potential for productivity, kindness, and happiness. Food can destroy the world, but food can also heal it.
This book addresses the many different issues that are influenced by our food choices: health, education, productivity, intelligence, economics, crime, and even drug addiction. To change society in a positive fashion, we have to explore from whence we came—and we have to stop fast food genocide.
My books have reached millions of people over the years with this simple message:
The secret to achieving your ideal weight, reversing disease, and delaying aging is consuming a diet that has the full spectrum of nutrients humans need, without consuming excess calories.
I offer a no-nonsense approach to eating and health that eliminates toxic substances and loads your diet with a variety of high-nutrient foods. I’m proud to say that many people who have read my books have lost the weight they needed to lose and, more importantly, regained their health.
However, most people are looking for an easier, almost magical approach that does not involve eating so healthfully. They prefer to maintain their current food behaviors and falsely believe that they are fine. To attract this audience, most “health” and diet books have catchy titles that feature weight-loss programs, gimmicks, and promises. Not many people are as interested in books about maintaining and earning health through excellent nutrition; instead, they seek short-term fixes and expect doctors to prescribe their long-term medical difficulties away. This just complicates the problem, adding the toxic insults from medications, while the poor dietary exposure continues—an approach that accelerates the deterioration of mental and physical health.
This book looks at the foundation of our nutritional beliefs, how these beliefs developed, and their broad effect on society. By understanding the concepts presented here, and the widespread benefits to society of those concepts, you can improve your personal health and achieve a healthy weight. This will happen despite the fact that the main focus of the book is not weight loss or dieting. We need to see how and why we have come to the place where we are today, and where we are headed. This is necessary if we are to change.
According to my standards of ideal weight (a body mass index of 23 or less), more than 80 percent of people in the United States are overweight, not just two-thirds, as is commonly claimed.10 This statistic demonstrates the ubiquitous nature of unhealthy eating across our country. However, this epidemic weight gain now sweeping across the globe is only a single consequence of unhealthy eating. It overshadows a constellation of more serious problems: the widespread occurrence of chronic degenerative diseases, including intellectual and mental disorders associated with these foods. The impact on society caused by this human suffering is incalculable. Fundamentally, we have eaten our nation into a medical and social crisis. And much of this crisis is neither understood nor appreciated.
Fast Food Genocide Page 1