The perils of "fast" food. Have you considered these pitfalls to eating out?
When I say “fast” food, I am not just referring to the traditional fast food joints and drive-thru places. Even some better and high-end restaurants fall into the category of “fast” food because, well, because you aren’t slaving over the hot stove yourself.
You may be getting better quality ingredients at some of the higher end establishments, especially farm-to-table restaurants, but that isn’t all we need to consider when weighing the pros and cons of eating out.
Like you, we also enjoy the luxury of eating out. I’m not suggesting you trade in your joy of dining out, for always eating in, but with the following information, I hope you will do two things…1) balance how often you indulge and 2) perhaps you can influence some of your favorite restaurants to use healthier options.
THE OBVIOUS
Most people are aware that when they dine out, even at the pricier establishments, you aren’t eating organic and there is the potential for GMO (genetically modified food) exposures. I think most of us weighs the risk-to-benefit ratio when we indulge in a night on the town. We know we are risking exposure to ingredients we wouldn’t normally use at home, but joy is a valid argument here. We all deserve a break and a nice night out with friends and/or family. And sometimes, it just can’t be avoided. With busy schedules and travel, eating out can be more about the convenience it offers for those with a lot on their plates. Pun intended! 😆
Just to be sure we understand what it means to eat non-organic and GMO foods, let’s talk more about what that actually means in terms of exposures. For one - glyphosate! There are many pesticides and although they are all going to be problematic for your health, glyphosate (aka - an ingredient in RoundUp) is in a category of it’s own. Glyphosate was patented as an antibiotic (US Patent No. 7771736 B2), which means it kills bacteria, not selectively either. Monsanto created glyphosate in 1970 as a broad spectrum herbicide. They claim it isn’t harmful to humans, and even the EPA claims it’s safe when used carefully, although no exact definition of “careful” is provided.
Glyphosate-based herbicides have specific directions on their packaging. To be deemed “safe” these directions are to be followed:
Choose a day that is not rainy or windy;
Wear long pants, long sleeved shirt, gloves, goggles, and a mask;
Cover any other plants you want to keep safe
Hmmmm. This doesn’t look like instructions you would expect for a “safe” product, does it? Do you think every average-Joe homeowner is dressing for the occasion and paying attention to the wind? I can tell you for certain that when I have used RoundUp (before I got smart) I just grabbed a bottle and squirted the offender. 😬 Gloves, goggles and masks? Never. Whoops.
The reason Monsanto claims it doesn’t harm humans, is because glyphosate is toxic to the shikamate pathway of bugs, and humans don’t have shikamate pathways. If you don’t dig any deeper, this would appear to support their theory. But do you know what DOES have a shikamate pathway? Your beneficial bacteria! So guess what glyphosate does to your microbiome? Decimation. To add insult to injury, it also allows pathogenic bacteria like clostridia in particular, to go unharmed which means you will destroy your beneficial bacteria while allowing the pathogenic strains to overgrow in their place. Ouch. This is a recipe for chronic disease!! And guess what disorder is commonly associated with clostridial overgrowth? Autism.
Comparative studies of 14 glyphosate-based herbicides resulted in finding the heavy metals: arsenic, chromium, cobalt, lead and nickel in their formulations. Heavy metals are bioaccumulative and have significant health consequences so the last thing you want to do is load up on foods containing these metals.
Glyphosate is considered a “glycine analog” which means that it replaces or displaces glycine in the chain of amino acids leading to protein misfolding, and when this happens, glycine isn’t able to do the job it is supposed to do. Glycine is involved in protein synthesis, neurotransmitter and muscle health, the production of glutathione, and it has a role in the immune system, electrolyte levels, and digestive system. It may also improve sleep quality, reduce inflammation, and slow down cell aging.
Glyphosate formulations also contain oxalic acid which bioaccumulates and is toxic to humans in elevated amounts, it chelates essential minerals from the body and it damages organs and tissues during mobilization. The oxalic acid aggregation sites become painful due to the barbed shape of these acids, when bound with minerals.
This statement was taken directly from the patent referenced above:
Recently, oxalic acid, a dicarboxylic acid, was shown to enhance the herbicidal efficacy of glyphosate (See U.S. Pat. No. 5,863,863). The mode of action of oxalic acid, however, was attributed to its ability to interact with cationic amine surfactants and oxalic acid was formulated in the form of an enhancer composition containing oxalic acid and cationic surfactants, which was then used to dilute commercial glyphosate formulations. Oxalic acid and other polyvalent anions that are good chelators have been shown to enhance glyphosate performance by sequestering bivalent cations.
For anyone who is susceptible to oxalate accumulation, this is like adding fuel to the fire. In the chronically ill, especially those with biotoxin illness from mold exposure, I have seen few Organic Acid Tests that don’t identify oxalate problems for these people, my family included. Aspergillus produces oxalates and then the body’s own liver can also produce oxalates during oxidative stress, compounding the issues.
Thirty-three countries have banned glyphosate in some way. As you can probably guess, the US is not on that list. The International Agency for Research on Cancer categorizes glyphosate as a probable carcinogen for humans. In a landmark case, $289 million has been awarded to Dewayne Johnson, who developed cancer from occupational contact with the weed killer. It was determined that Monsanto “acted with malice or oppression” in that case, yet it’s still found on shelves here in the US!
The last point I will make about pesticides is that they are lipophilic, meaning they are fat-loving molecules, they accumulate in the fatty tissue of animals and humans. In fatty tissue, the concentrations can become magnified by up to 70,000 times higher than the background levels (http://web.worldbank.org/). The brain is a fatty tissue organ. Need I say more?
OTHER INGREDIENTS TO LOOK OUT FOR
Aside from the obvious offenders, pesticides, there are other ingredients that can contribute to poor health, that we often don’t even think about when eating out.
SWEETENERS - especially in the form of high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup solids. These cheap imitation sweeteners put a lot of pressure on the liver to detox them and they accumulate in fat tissue around the waist, creating that spare tire look. You might think you are avoiding “sugar” and eating healthier, but when you eat out, many, many sauces contain sweeteners. The liver needs 28 atoms of magnesium to process 1 molecule of glucose and 56 atoms to process fructose. Frequent sugar consumption depletes magnesium.
CONDIMENTS - which contain the above sweeteners, as well as preservatives, food dyes and more. Food dyes are excito-toxic. Food dyes are in the same category as MSG which excites brain cells (speeds them up) to the point of destruction and death. This occurs because of an increase in glutamate in the brain, which is responsible for triggering neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, as well as Schizophrenia, anxiety, seizures and autism. I challenge you to look at the ingredients for the ketchup on the table next time you are out to eat.
Too much glutamate can overstimulate nerve cells, which can lead to a number of symptoms, including:Physical symptoms
Muscle tightness, headaches, irregular heartbeat, body weakness, increased pain sensitivity, flushing, sweating, face pressure or tightness, numbness, tingling, or burning in the face, neck, and other areas, chest pain, and nausea
Mental symptoms
Anxiety, restlessness, trouble concentrating and focusing, disorganized attention, inability to turn your brain off when you want to relax, worrying too much about things you should not, getting overwhelmed easily, depression, and OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)
SALTS - it might surprise you to learn that in addition to being bleached and containing added aluminum and anti-caking agents, commercial salts can also be high in metals like lead, arsenic, aluminum and mercury, as well as micro-plastics.
SEED OILS - mounting evidence is pointing to seed oils as a significant health disruptor, and because they are cheap, they are the most commonly used oils in the food industry. Of course, they are also likely not organic and may be GMO. Triple-whammy! One of the most commonly used seed oils in the restaurant industry is soybean oil, which contributes to poor gut health, among other things. Mess with the gut, and you are creating a cascade of health consequences that will ultimately effect mental health, as well.
THE NOT-SO-OBVIOUS CONTENDERS
You might have thought about many of the above exposures when contemplating eating out, but the next items on the list are things you might not have ever considered, because out of sight, out of mind. We take some of these variables for granted in our home environment, not thinking much about the varying exposures we might come into contact with when someone else is making our food.
COOKWARE & PACKAGING - OK, you might have considered this one…and most likely the higher end places are using a decent American-made stainless steel, but I would bet that at least some restaurants are exposing your food to cookware toxins like aluminum, cadmium, nickel and/or PFOAs via cookware and foil use. Heating your food in aluminum foil exposes you to leached aluminum in your food and the higher the heat, the more aluminum leaches into the food. Take-out containers usually contain either aluminum foil or plastics, which also leach into food, and are endocrine disruptors.
ACCIDENTS - like dropping your food, using dirty water or ingredients causing food-borne illness, especially during travel to other countries. We hate to think about someone dropping our food and putting it back on the plate, but it happens, more than you would think. Just ask anyone who has worked in the food industry. It’s scary-common, actually.
GERMS - this pairs with the above, but also from hands, unwashed food and prep sites, and even environmental exposures.
CROSS-CONTAMINATION - with allergens or foods you might be sensitive to. Even when you let them know about your allergens, some cross contamination is hard to avoid, especially in restaurants that bake their own breads, if you are gluten-sensitive or have celiac disease. Using apps like Find-me-gluten-free are very helpful, because the reviews can give you clues about cross-contamination from other customer experiences.
WATER - if you are health conscious, you probably filter your water at home for many reasons. Some of those reasons are chlorine, fluoride, microbes, chemicals, parasites and more. Some restaurants may filter their water, but not all do, and even if their water IS filtered, the odds that they have an effective fluoride filter is pretty slim. It’s expensive and requires the use of safe materials to be effective, without contributing another toxin to the water, like aluminum. We try to bring our own water from home, whenever possible and avoid drinking tap water. Sauces, soups and foods cooked with water like pasta, rice and mashed potatoes are probably going to be your biggest offenders. It’s hard to avoid all water while eating out, but again, this is yet another reason to limit eating out, in general.
ENERGY - this might seem like a stretch, but if you have read any of Dr. Emoto’s work about how water holds the memory of words, I think it’s also possible for a chef to impart his/her “mood” into the food. I did a rice experiment with our boys when they were younger and it was incredibly eye-opening, shedding light on the power of the vibration of words. We cooked white rice, split it evenly into two identical glass jars with metal lids and kept them side by side on a surface in the kitchen. One was labeled with the word “love” and the other, “hate.” Each day, we would hold and speak correspondingly to the jars, the love jar receiving words of affection and love, and the hate jar receiving negative and angry words. It felt silly, but we kept up with it and were astonished by the results! Within 24 hours, the hate jar was cloudy, yellow and foggy, growing green mold within days. The love jar remained free of mold and stayed white and clean for 60 days! Imagine what this could do to your mind and organs since we are predominantly made up of water. I try to keep my mood consciously in mind when cooking, serving and eating food. This would carry over into the service and food industries, with so many people unaware of how they might effect the product they are in contact with. Here is an example of the rice experiment.
Busy days and the desire to enjoy something a little different makes eating out a luxury we all love, but we really should consider limiting how much we cave to the cravings. With popular delivery services like Door Dash and Grub Hub, it becomes even harder to avoid falling prey to the ease of ordering out. If you want to prioritize your health though, this really does need to be a consideration.
You can minimize some of the above exposures by consciously choosing restaurants that care about health, and it’s always a good idea to voice your opinions about the menus at establishments you visit frequently. We have a few places locally that we love and some of them are very receptive to our needs. They can’t effectively cater to their clientele unless the clientele are vocal. Consider sharing your thoughts on take-out packaging, cooking oils, organic versus non-organic (the dirty dozen might help), sourcing, and even offering some ingredient alternatives like using coconut milk instead of dairy or gluten-free substitutions that are easy to swap in recipes like pasta or breads, etc. The more we provide feedback, the more aware the industry will be.