The recent brush up over the financial struggles experienced by Hostess elicited a sense of sorrow from many Americans. It’s as if we would be losing an important cultural icon. Besides the fact that those cakes with the silly names like Twinkies, Ding Dongs, and Ho Hos will likely be picked up by someone willing to continue their “legacy,” is it really sad if we had a few less processed foods on our store shelves?
While proper nutrition may seem confusing at times when we read about all the studies that come and go that sometimes conflict earlier studies about what we should and shouldn’t eat, if you take a step back from the noise, and take a deep breath, basic healthful eating is not rocket science. Just ponder the simplicity and pure logic of what healthy eating is and always has been: natural foods.
If you’re a spiritual person, how much more logical is it to think we should be eating what God put on the Earth for our sustenance? And if you’re not spiritual, well, it’s still perfectly sound to make your diet about simple foods that are as untainted as possible.
That’s a pretty long-winded way of saying, when in doubt, always fall back on fruits, vegetables and lean protein sources. And don’t totally deprive yourself, a little moderation goes a long way for lasting diet success.
Back to Hostess…
If Hostess products are anything, they are not “simple.” There are dozens of ingredients in a Twinkie and virtually none of them are natural. In essence, this is Frankenstein food, born in a laboratory. And the shelf life… When a food is joked about as being able to survive a nuclear holocaust, something is not right.
Is eating a Twinkie on rare occasion going to kill you? Probably not. But think about all the processed and preserved foods we eat every day. They add up. Even if none of the ingredients in a Twinkie or any of the other processed foods don’t directly cause a health problem, they are taking the place of those nutritional ingredients we should be getting from healthy whole foods.
Here’s food for thought: Some of the ingredients in Twinkies have very unappetizing non-nutritional uses. Take a look at some of what makes up the anatomy of this spongy yellow cake:
Source: WeightWise Bariatric Program
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