Within the next 20 years more than half of all Americans will be obese. This will result in a dramatic rise in cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other weight-related health issues. This is shocking and it will cost the US hundreds of billions of dollars, both from a healthcare point of view as well as from loss of daily productivity. According to a report on RT, much of the blame can be laid at the door of food manufacturers ~

“What these food scientists have done is that they’ve gone to a lab and they’ve created these chemical concoctions that are very sweet, very fatty and very salty. And they call that the bliss point. Meaning they’ve created addictive foods that are going to get consumers hooked and they’re going to keep wanting to come back for more and more foods,” says Elizabeth Kucinich, of Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine.

Please click here for the full report.

The philosophy behind Food @ Home is to encourage the consumption of healthy, natural food as often as possible. I am a great believer in reading food labels and the more ingredients or additives I see, the less likely I am to purchase.

In the article quoted above, apparently one of the biggest culprits is high-fructose corn syrup, used in the manufacture of soft drinks. Back in 1980 no-one had ever heard of it. If I think back to that time when I was still at school, I only met two obese people during my entire high school career and there were absolutely no obese children when I was in primary school. People just weren’t fat.

So what has happened since then? Are the food manufacturers to blame? Possibly, but perhaps it also has something to do with the fact that television did not run 24/7 and consequently, we all simply had more activity and exercise in our daily lives; and eating out, as well as our penchant for fast food, did not seem to be nearly as prevalent as it is today. It is well-known that people who regularly prepare their own food at home with fresh ingredients, are generally healthier and less likely to be overweight.

I don’t know whether food manufacturers are making us fat or not but I do think that, as with most things in life, this is largely a matter of balance and choice. If we choose fresh, healthy and natural most of the time and consume the occasional item of processed food or drink, we will not succumb so readily to the dangers of obesity.