Propaganda ... in the Grocery Store? Food rating systems discourage consumer empowerment

A. Anderson, Contributor

We have been hearing a lot about genetically modified food lately. Stories are coming out about their environmental impacts and the role they play in a war waged on our health and the health of our children.

We have also been hearing a lot of other stories about our food – antibiotics and growth hormones in meat or radiation and chemicals in fish from the sea. From the news sources to which I subscribe, the truth is clear and simple: we need to consume nutritious, whole foods that are grown organically. Our future and our family is worth it. It is a choice between weakness and strength for our bodies and our minds, an issue of black vs. white. We do not get the newspaper at my house, but I have been known to snag the occasional grocery store flyer from the recycling and have a look. The other day something was in there that made me think.

Join me as I pick apart this PROPAGANDA TRASH which has been designed to make us blindly ingest without using our brains.Flyer Front Page:

Let me start by saying that if you eat KFC and McDonald's every day then, yeah, going to the grocery store and buying some stuff to cook yourself a ‘nutritious’ meal is a decent idea. But it’s just the first step in a long journey towards a new attitude about health. I also do not dispute that grocery stores do carry some healthy whole foods. My point is that you have got to find these for yourself.
Making informed choices is one way that we can influence what kinds of food are showing up in our stores. Just because ratings claim to be “Based on Canada’s Food Guide” or “Endorsed by Experts” does not mean a food will benefit you nutritionally. If we buy into a system like this we are simply buying whatever they tell us is good. And if you still think that the government wants you to be healthy and prosperous, you are living in a dream world.
Centerfold:

First of all it’s a 3 star system. It’s a “scientific three star system.”

Just how scientific can we be with only three stars to work with? Since the system evaluates “nutrients, fats, sugars and salts,” should it not have at least four stars?

What I am getting at is that an overly simplified rating system is disconnected from reality. I can place no faith in a system that values equally corn chips and yogurt, for example. This marketing scheme shoves all food items into categories of good, better, or best, and shows no documentation of why and how an item earns it stars.

Let's see what items are being advertised as very nutritious, having been labeled as three star items.

Cereal: Featuring Quaker Oatmeal. Quaker is owned by Pepsico, who are currently involved in fighting GMO labeling acts in California. In Canada, modified corn appears on the ingredients list of several varieties of Quaker instant oatmeal; and whether or not Quaker uses GMO oats remains a point of contention.

Produce: I was not surprised to see no mention of organic fruits and vegetables in this area at all. One would think that a so-called ‘impartial’ nutritional system would make at least some mention of the known benefits of choosing organic. Loblaws in fact has one of the largest selections of organic produce in the city, which made me think about why they did not advertise it here. This is where the flyer looses a lot of its credibility for me. Loblaws does not advertise the true value of organic food because that would devalue the rest of the produce department, causing them to lose money. A system in which crucial information is deliberately omitted does not serve the best interest of the consumer. It serves to enforce status-quo thought patterns about food and encourage thoughtless purchasing.

Meat: Featuring Pork Sirloin Chops. Pork chops got three stars, making them among the most nutritious foods in the store. The flyer recommends trimming the fat off of meat before cooking it, which could be OK I suppose, if you’re going to eat meat at all. We all know that most meat is full of antibiotics and growth hormones. We all know that food animals live in squalid conditions and suffer atrocious horrors we do not dwell on in our thoughts. Fine. If you think that meat is good for you, get real. Not only are you ingesting chemicals, drugs and meat that ate GM food to become meat, you are ingesting cruelty, fear, sadness and hatred. Also, pigs are the closest related animals to humans! They have emotions and families and they cry when their babies are taken from them. EW! Personally, I won’t eat that. You do what you want, but know the fact: meat is murder. Next time you take a bite think. Really taste it, and think. Is it worth it? I think not.
Seafood: Featuring Salmon. I read that most seafood today contains high levels of mercury, with salmon actually being among the most highly contaminated species. The mercury comes from pollution in the water and plant life that the fish eat. Even farmed fish have mercury, PCBs, and other issues like parasites and artificial coloring. Not to mention the cruelty issue again. A lot of people talk about the health benefits of fatty acids found in fish, but do the benefits outweigh the risks? A quick Internet search revealed a government guide to eating salmon and other fish: Still eat the fish, but only eat these kinds; do not eat them if you are pregnant or breastfeeding; eat it under the advice of a physician; etc. If the government is admitting that a food supply is contaminated to the point where they issue a guide to eating it ‘safely’ I no longer trust that food supply. And knowing what we do about the radiation that continues to spread through the ocean from Fukushima, I think it is safe to assume that by avoiding fish and seafood we also avoid consuming radioactive materials that can cause cancer and birth defects.

Deli: In the area of the store where they sell coldcuts, I am somewhat pleased to see a recommendation to consume meat alternatives often, but did they have to include tofu? Tofu has actually become one of the worst things you can eat. At this time we know that around 90% of the North American soybean crop has been genetically modified, and that genetically modified crops have been tied to a host of atrocious, freak-show-esque horrors! Environmentally, there are mutant insects, superweeds and proprietary pesticides. In regards to our health, the risks include genetic disorders and birth defects.

Tofu, aside from being almost exclusively GM, is also loaded with estrogen. High concentrations of estrogen can feminize the male body and psyche. It is also known to contribute to the growth of cancer cells on the female cervix. Just two more ways our oppressors continue their campaign to sterilize the general population. This is where the flyer gets scary. It is truly misleading. Advertisers will supply a small piece of truth to help us swallow a bigger lie. In this case they remind us to eat meat alternatives like beans and lentils which are generally good, but they lump in tofu, which has actually become quite dangerous to our health. These are not bald-faced lies; they are omissions of the truth, truth mixed with lies, or a little truth and a lot of lies. That is why it is so important to scrutinize and be mindful of each word we read. We must use our heads and think carefully for ourselves about what we consume and ingest. Do not be fooled by propaganda and lies.

Dairy: Featuring Yoplait Source 0% Yogurt. The diary department is another minefield for the health conscious shopper. Like meat products, dairy products come from unhappy animals and are highly contaminated with antibiotics and growth hormones. If you must consume, doing so sparingly; and choosing organic is the way to go. The yogurt they chose to showcase is another slap in the face of common sense and truth. It is sweetened with “Sucralose,” which is a deceptive name for the sweetener Splenda. Splenda claims to be a natural sweetener based on sugar, yet real nutritionists have described it as a toxic synthetic chlorocarbon. Splenda also essentially bypassed all clinical human trials, and the mere 23 actual human subjects tested were evaluated only for tooth decay and not for any real medical complications. In lab rats the effects included swollen liver and gastrointestinal problems. Just Google it.

Back Page

On the back page we are reminded that healthy eating and shopping can be confusing and that Loblaws is there to help. They have installed professional dietitians in all their stores. But what is a dietitian? A registered dietitian is a medical professional regulated by the government. A lot of people believe that the dietitian's job is to tell us what foods will benefit us personally and what foods will not. This is an ideal. The truth is that the dietitian is regulated by a government and medical system which profits from our reliance on it. The dietitians job is to recommend a balanced diet from Canada’s Food Guide. The Food Guide is managed by a government whose aim is to keep us weak, sick and reliant on its services. I do believe that there are real nutritionists out there, whose goals are truly benevolent, who have our best interests in mind. That interest would be to direct us to the foods that will nourish us and make us well and strong so that we no longer need them. If you believe that the dietitian’s goal is your good health, check out the bottom of the last page of the flyer. The in-store dietitian’s “Top Pick” was green and yellow zucchini. Zucchini is on every top ten list of the most highly GM foods that I’ve read, cited in particular for the lack of regulation on what kinds of modifications exactly are being done. My body is not a government-mandated science experiment. My body is not a cash cow for the food and medical industry. Join me as I strive daily to make informed, truly health conscious food choices. It is not easy, but I will tell you the truth: It feels so good.

Quotable Quotes (centerfold bottom strip):

One of the best things about the guiding stars program is that it is in no way influenced by any brand, industry, or a given food.

Rather, it is influenced by a corporation that profits from your mindless purchasing and a corrupt government whose plans are to keep you weak and sterile.

Navigating through a grocery store, trying to sort between the healthy food and the not-so-healthy stuff seems to get tougher all the time. But a new nutrition rating scoring system that’s just arrived in Canada promises to make it a little easier.

…Just close your eyes and hold out your basket!

Canadians are becoming more health conscious, but there’s a lot of confusing information out there. A great place to start identifying healthier choices is grocery store shelves where brands and retailers are emphasizing these options more prominently.

In other words, “Don’t think for yourselves. If you want to know what's good, we’ll tell you what's good. Continue living in denial. Just buy what we tell you is good.

This article first appeared at Truth11

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