It's funny to see your attempt to justify your beliefs. Humans are strange creatures.
> Or because the final product is so loaded with preservatives that its not as healthy as its fresh alternative.
You said this line is because you believe in magic. Not sure if pointing it out can help. But I'll try anyway.
There's nothing "magic" or "unscientific" about preservatives being bad for you. Not all of them, but a hell of a lot are. Chosing between a fruit or a meat with and without preservatives, it's a no brainer which is healthier (unless the latter is rotten to begin with).
Besides food processing is not "science" (which is all about understanding and analysing things) it's technology (which can be informed by science, but can also be all about being able to manipulate things for a quick buck, understanding or morals be damned).
This magic belief system is ridiculous to have in this day and age, and is dangerous.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preservative
You might argue sugar is a preservative, but I'd call it more filler. I think the science is out on salt but other wise, preservatives are fine. This backwards based beliefs that scary sounding names are bad for you is ridiculous.
People fear industrial farm products because they fear science, they are luddites, that's all there is to it.
Strawman attempts to justify it are just part of that fear. Seriously who's more likely to illegally under pay workers, Joe Blow or Ronald McDonald? It doesn't even make sense for a big company to risk breaking the law. Look at the crap McDonalds is currently getting about Qatar.
And lets not get started about people driving all around town to buy local. (Although to be fair buying local is a large part racism)
Not even sure what this is supposed to mean. Of course even water can kill you if you take it in large does, so that statement is trivially true, but doesn't say anything much.
There is such a thing as food with harmful (cancinogenic, bad for the heart, causing higher pressure, etc) additives, and there is such a thing as the same food without them. There are cows and chickens stuffed with growth hormones and there are others without them.
Sure some perfectly untouched foods can be harmful in themselves too -- e.g. eating lard. That's OK, seeing that not selling food at all is not an option, whereas not selling food with additives is.
And it's not that those are needed because else food would be prohibitevely expensive. A lot of additives and preservatives those are used to squeeze extra profit margins -- while keeping prices the same or even raising them.
People ate just fine even before the rise of corn syrup in the 70s. It's not like all these HFCS industry and invansion on the american diet "had to happen" because "the poor where starving".
>People fear industrial farm products because they fear science, they are luddites, that's all there is to it.
Some do.
Not all, and there are people well versed in the science and actual processing of food (people working in food chemistry, food industry etc.) that can assure you that's not the only case.
The belief described above -- that complaints against anything "scientific" come from luddites and people who fear -- is a pseudo-scientific ideology, where science is some pure ideal, and not a pragmatic, human driven endeavor.
That kind of belief in this abstract "science" is no less magic and unicorny than believing that the government or the police are good guys always there for the good of society. (And usually serves as a substitute for religion).
The worst thing is that it cannot separate "science" (which is mostly a method, that can also be followed imperfectly, and often has) with "technology" (which is the application of knowledge in building things, and can very well produce harmful stuff either by intention to cause harm, or by intention to cut margins).
Why do we add preservatives? To prevent the food from rotting in the first place, which means that fresh food vs food with preservatives will always be rotting food vs food with preservatives, unless you want the poor to starve.
It's a very simple concept, and it has nothing to do with Luddism. It's the reason that I eat "fresh" Foster Farms chicken breasts instead of the frozen Foster Farms chicken breasts.
Sudden increases in sodium intake cause you to retain water, but as long as your sodium intake stays fairly regular, it doesn't really matter how much you consume. This is because the body responds to sodium intake by adjusting the production of aldosterone, which controls water retention and sodium excretion in the kidneys. Thus, if you regularly eat more sodium, your body responds by excreting more sodium.
This is the reason that bodybuilders will sodium load for 4-5 days before competition, then cut all sodium 24 hours before competition. The loading phase causes the body to readily excrete sodium, and when sodium is suddenly cut from the diet it takes time for the body to start retaining sodium, producing a short-lived diuretic effect.
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